stanton

Elizabeth Candy Stanton is fighting for equal rights for women.  She has decided to do this through the power of her words not her actions.  One of these groups of words is her speech to several people at different locations.  The speech was about woman’s rights, not only in America, but the world.  Woman has long in the history of the world had been considered inferior to men, but Stanton asks why this has to be.  They have the same facilities as man, with arms, legs, and intellect.  While woman’s rights have improved in England, because they can vote and hold some offices, the condition of women in U.S is less then that without the ability to either vote or hold office.  A comparison can be made of the intellect, but it would be considered unfair until women are allowed to be in college for a century, so they have the same advantage as men.  It is unfair that would have to pay for an institution they themselves can’t go to.  The judgment of who is the emotional sex is called into question.  While Eve was tempted by the Snake through knowledge, it was Adams emotional connect to Eve that lead to him biting the apple.  Man’s claim to physical supiority can also be called into question.  Just because women (back then) were usually smaller then men, doesn’t mean they were weak.  Men like John Quincy Adams were small but had more courage then the tallest man.’

            I agree with most of Stanton’s ideas about woman’s right.  I grew up with a mom who held down two jobs, one of them being a Prison Guard, and a sister who was in the Airforce.  So the whole idea of women being weaker in any way sort of just skipped me. (I’ll still hold open a door for a woman though.)  But do wonder if it was dangerous for her to preach woman’s rights in comparison to the civil rights movement in the 1940/50s?

I also like how she covers some of her bases and deals with obliviously stupid questions.  She said that her goal is not to have women wear dresses or do what is considered Woman’s Work (I just consider it work)  She wants the relationship between men and women to be equal.  She doesn’t want henpecked husbands or unhappy spouses.  She wants the duties to be shared.  Unlike Emerson and his universal truth, I think this is an idea that can be applied to the real world.