Week of May 1

The campaign for women’s suffrage was wound inextricably with the campaign for abolition of slavery. Many of the early abolitionists were campaigners for both causes, and women in the campaign (and some of the men, too) were quick to identify similarities between the roles of women and the roles of slaves. Consequently I thought we might begin with women’s suffrage questions first, even though it took longer to gain suffrage rights for women than it took to gain emancipation of blacks

Sarah Grimké’s letters are public statements, not private ones. They were designed to be published, much like Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, published during the Civil Rights Era in the 1960s.

Two general categories concern Grimké:

She is concerned about the ways in which the attitudes of men keep women from fulfilling their capabilities, and

she is also concerned about the way women’s own attitudes hold women back.

The document is over 160 years old, but you may be able to recognize some situations have not changed entirely in the intervening years.

Broadening the suffrage to include a greater number of white males did not require much change in the way people thought. Extending the suffrage to women, on the other hand was a revolutionary idea. John Stuart Mill was one of the earliest to recognize the inequities which marked the treatment of women, and he wrote about them with a combination of passion and cold logic. I would like to have you consider the following:

Mill remarks that opposition to women's rights is rooted in the feelings, and this makes changing people’s minds far more difficult. Understand his reasoning on this point. Why is evidence so ineffectual in changing a person's mind?

What is the relationship between "universal custom" and what seems "natural" or "unnatural?”

Mill suggests (p. 4) that there is a certain ambiguity in men's attitude towards women. Not only do men want women to be in subjection like slaves, but they want something more. What is it, and how does that complicate the relationship between them and women?

Does Mill think men "understand" women? If they don’t, why don’t they? Is this a matter of “Men are from Mars, Women from Venus,” or something a little more sinister? Do you think men "understand" women today?

What are Mill's arguments in favor of women's suffrage?

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XIX, United States Constitution (1920)

Few if any of the women in attendance at the Seneca Falls Convention lived long enough to realize their dream of women's suffrage. As we've seen often enough in this class, political change can be measured in centuries as often as it can be measured in years. But reformers are a tenacious breed, and few gave up in the face of political setbacks. Therein lies a lesson for our day and age.

John Stuart Mill was born in London on May 20, 1806, and was the eldest of son of James Mill. He was educated entirely by his father, James Mill, and was deliberately shielded from association with other boys of his age. From his earliest years, he was subjected to a rigid system of intellectual discipline. As a result of this system, according to his own account, he believed this gave him an advantage of a quarter of a century over his contemporaries....His Considerations on Representative Government belongs to the year 1860; and in 1863 (after first appearing in magazine form) came his Utilitarianism. In the Parliament of 1865-68, he sat as Radical member for Westminister. He advocated three major things in the House of Commons: women suffrage, the interests of the laboring classes, and land reform in Ireland

Edie Phillips of the University of Maryland analyzed aspects of the Women's Liberation Movement of the 1970s, comparing television images of women with the view of women promoted by persons in "The Movement". The Television image of the Ideal Woman is presented at the left. Sarah Grimke would not be surprised, I think. Click on the image to visit the website. Then, in your notebook, make a few remarks about what has changed (or not changed) by 2012. .

No New Readings for the day.ell. I’ll be showing a video entitled Half the People which highlights aspects of the struggle during what has been called the “Modern Civil Rights Era,” the "Women's Rights Movement". in the late 1960s and 1970s. How much has changed since then? Has enough changed?

Has it all been settled?

Some argue that the battle for equality of the sexes is over, done with, and won. Yet when one considers certain economic factors, one notices disparity in terms of such things as median income and percentages below the poverty level. How many of the social conventions observed by Sarah Grimké still apply today? Which gender is likely to ask the other out on a "first date"? Do women "dumb down" to preserve delicate male egos? What do you think?