The Status of Woman – Susan B. Anthony

The status of woman, past, present, and future. By: Anthony, Susan B., published in the

Arena, May 1897.

A REQUEST from THE ARENA to state what really has come of our half-century of

agitation, and what is sure to come in the near future, will be used as the basis of this

article.

Fifty years ago woman in the United States was without a recognized individuality in any

department of life. No provision was made in public or private schools for her education in

weaving, making the butter and cheese, knitting and sewing, working by day and night,

planning and economizing, to educate the boys of the family. Thus the girls toiled so long as

they remained under the home roof, their services belonging to the father by law and by

custom. Any kind of a career for a woman was a thing undreamed of. Among the poorer

families the girls might go about the neighbors and earn a miserable pittance at housework

or sewing. When the boy was twenty-one, the father agreed to pay him a fixed sum per

annum, thenceforth, for his services, or, in default of this, he was free to carry his labor

where it would receive a financial reward. No such agreement ever was made with the girls

of the family. They continued to work without wages after they were twenty-one, exactly as

they did before. When they married, their services were transferred to the husband, and

the daughters out. Where, however, the daughters received property, it passed directly into

the sole possession of the husband, and all the rents and profits belonged to him to use as

he pleased. At his death he could dispose of it by will, depriving the wife of all but what was

called the "widow's dower," a life interest in one-third of that which was by right her own

property. She lost not only the right to her earnings and her property, but also the right to

the custody of her person and her children. The husband could apprentice the children at an

early age, in spite of the mother's protest, and at his death should dispose of the children by

will, even an unborn child. The wife could neither sue in legal decisions was, "The wife is

dead in law," or, "Husband and wife are one, and that one the husband." According to the

English common law, which then prevailed in every State in the Union except Louisiana, a

love, for the sake of support, or be doomed to a life of utter dependence, living, after the

death of parents, in the home of a married brother or sister, the druge and burden-bearer of

the family, without any financial recompense, and usually, looked upon with disrespect by

the children. Women might work like galley slaves for their own relatives, receiving only

their board and clothes, and hold their social position in the community; but the moment

they stepped outside of the home and became wage-earners, thus securing pecuniary

independence, they lost caste and were rigidly barred out from the quilting bees, the apple-

parings, and all the society functions of the neighborhood. Is it any wonder that a sour and

crabbed disposition was universally ascribed to spinsterhood, or that those women should

be regarded as most unfortunate, doomed to a loveless, aimless, and dependent

house, or bring up children, and her name in such connection suggested at once an

appaling scene of disorder and discomfort. This belief prevailed, to a great extent, in regard

to a woman who attempted any vocation outside of domestic service, that by so doing she

became at once and forever unfitted for the duties of wife and mother. Of all the old

prejudices that cling to the hem of the woman's garments and persistently impede her

progress, none holds faster than this. The idea that she owes service to man instead of to

herself, and that it is her highest duty to aid his development rather than her own, will be the

last to die.

In that day not even woman herself had so much as a dream of entering the professions of

law, medicine, and theology. When the genius of Harriet Hosmer impelled her to take up

any by-law, Miss Brown, by which you could be shut out, you would not be admitted."

As for the profession of law, nobody lived in those times who had even a vision of a day

when woman would enter that domain which seemed so sacredly the exclusive possession

of man. Politics seemed a great deal farther away than paradise, and the most radical

reformer had not the prophetic eye which could discern the woman politician.

Such was the helpless, dependent, fettered condition of woman when the

first Woman's Rights Convention was called just forty-nine years ago, at Seneca Falls, N.

Y., by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Half a century before this, Mary

Wollstonecraft had written her "Vindication of the Rights of Woman," that matchless plea for

the equality of the sexes. A quarter of a century before, Frances Wright, in connection with

formulate a declaration of the rights of women was the one which met at Seneca Falls, July

19-20, 1848, and adjourned to meet at Rochester two weeks later. In the Declaration of

Sentiments and the Resolutions there framed, every point was covered that, down to the

present day, has been contended for by the advocates of equal rights for women. Every

inequality of the existing laws and customs was carefully considered and a thorough and

complete readjustment demanded. The only resolution that was not unanimously adopted

was the one urging the elective franchise for women. Those who opposed it did so only

because they feared it would make the movement ridiculous. But Mrs. Stanton and

Frederick Douglass, seeing that the power to make laws and choose rulers was the right by

which all others could be secured, persistenly advocated the resolution and at last carried it

have been granted. The great exception is the yielding of political rights, and toward this

one point are directed now all the batteries of scorn, of ridicule, of denunciation that formerly

poured their fire along the line. Although not one of the predicted calamities occurred upon

the granting of other demands, the world is asked to believe that all of them will happen if

this last stronghold is surrendered.

There is not space to follow the history of the last fifty years and study the methods by

which these victories have been gained, but there is not one foot of advanced ground upon

which women stand to-day that has not been obtained through the hard-fought battles of

other women. The close of this nineteenth century finds every trade, vocation, and

profession open to women, and every opportunity at their command for preparing

in any line of work receives commendation instead of condemnation. woman is no longer

compelled to marry for support but may herself make her own home and earn her own

financial independence.

With but few exceptions, the highest institutions of learning in the land are as freely opened

to girls as to boys, and they may receive their degrees at legal, medical, and theological

colleges, and practise their professions without hindrance. In the world of literature and

art women divide the honors with men; and our civil-service rules have secured for them

many thousands of remunerative positions under the Government.

It is especially worthy of note that along with this general advancement of women has come

a marked improvement in households methods. Woman's increased intelligence manifests

common law has been annulled by legislative enactment, through which partial justice, at

least, has been done to married women. In nearly every State they may retain and control

property owned at marriage and all they may receive by gift or inheritance thereafter, and

also their earnings outside the home. They may sue and be sued, testify in the courts, and

carry on business in their own name, but in no State have wives any ownership in the joint

earnings. In six or seven States mothers have equal guardianship of the children. While in

most States the divorce laws are the same for men and women, they never can bear

equally upon both while all the property earned during marriage belongs wholly to the

husband. There has been such a modification in public sentiment, however, that, in most

cases, courts and juries show a marked leniency toward women.

beg, petition, and pray. Can it be possible it is for this reason that men have been so

determined in their opposition to grant to womenpolitical power?

But even this stronghold is beginning to yield to the long and steady pressure. In twenty-five

States womenpossess suffrage in school matters; in four States they have a limited suffrage

in local affairs; in one State they have municipal suffrage; in four States they have full

suffrage, local, state, and national. Women are becoming more and more interested in

political questions and public affairs. Every campaign sees greater numbers in attendance

at the meetings, and able woman speakers are now found upon the platforms of all parties.

Especial efforts are made by politicians to obtain the support of women, and during the last

campaign one of the Presidential candidates held special meetings for women in the large

and engrossing clerks in the Legislatures.

It follows, as a natural result, that in the States where women vote they are eligible to all

offices. They have been sent as delegates to National Conventions, made Presidential

electors, and are sitting to-day as members in both the Upper and Lower Houses of the

Legislatures. In some towns all the offices are filled by women. These radical changes have

been effected without any social upheaval or domestic earthquakes, family relations have

suffered no disastrous changes, and the men of the States where women vote furnish the

strongest testimony in favor of woman suffrage.

There is no more striking illustration of the progress that has been made by woman that that

afforded by her changed position in the Church. Under the old regime the Quakers were

Christians, Free-Will Baptists, and possibly a few others ordain women as ministers, and

many parishes, in all parts of the country, are presided over by women preachers. The

charitable and missionary work of the churches is practically turned over to women, who

raise and disburse immense sums of money. While many of the great denominations still

refuse to ordain women, to allow them seat in their councils or a vote in matters of church

government, yet womenthemselves are, in a large measure, responsible for this state of

affairs. Forming, as they do, from two-thirds to three-fourths of the membership, raising the

greater part of the funds and carrying on the active work of the church, when they unite their

forces and assert their rights, the small minority of men, who have usurped the authority,

will be obliged to yield to their just demands. The creeds of the churches will

for women have been for the betterment of society, the next decade ought to see the

completion of the struggle for the equality of the sexes. The hardest of the battles have

been fought, and, while there is still need for both generals and soldiers, the greatest

necessity is for the body of women to take possession and hold the ground that has been

gained. It is not sufficient that women should fill positions as well as men, they must give

vastly better satisfaction in order to prove their claims. There is an urgent demand

for women of the highest character and intelligence, because the whole sex will be judged

by the few who come forward to assume these new duties.

While by the momentum already gained the reforms demanded would eventually

come, women have learned the value of organization and united, systematic work in

will be complete equality until women themselves help to make laws and elect law-makers.

In view of this indisputable fact, the advanced thinkers are agreed that the strongest efforts

should be concentrated upon this point.

From that little convention at Seneca Falls, with a following of a handful of women scattered

through half-a-dozen different States, we have now the great National Association, with

headquarters in New York City, and auxiliaries in almost every State in the Union. These

State bodies are effecting a thorough system of county and local organizations for the

purpose of securing legislation favorable to women, and especially to obtain amendments to

their State Constitutions. As evidence of the progress of public opinion, more than half of

the Legislatures in session, during the past winter, have discussed and voted upon bills for

for women cannot fail to descend upon all the Western and Northwestern States. No one

who makes a careful study of this question can help but believe that, in a very few years, all

the States west of the Mississippi river will have enfranchised their women.

While the efforts of each State are concentrated upon its own Legislature, all of the States

combined in the national organization are directing their energies toward securing a

Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The demands of this body

have been received with respectful and encouraging attention from Congress. Hearings

have been granted by the Committees of both Houses, resulting, in a number of instances,

in favorable reports. Upon one occasion the question was brought to a discussion in the

Senate, and received the affirmative vote of one-third of the members.

the uplifting of humanity. It may be delayed longer than we think, it may be here sooner than

we expect, but the day will come when man will recognize woman as his peer, not only at

the fireside, but in the councils of the nation. Then, and not until then, will there be the

perfect comradeship, the ideal union between the sexes, that shall result in the highest

development of the race. What this shall be we may not attempt to define, but this we know,

that only good can come to the individual or to the nation through the rendering of exact

justice.

The Essential Documents of American History was compiled by Norman P. Desmarais and

James H. McGovern of Providence College.

Also The Education of Women