Declaring Equality for Women

I honestly thought that today's lesson would be a tad bit boring because we were reading over the Declaration of Independence (something I had not been forced to read even in history class with Kenny K) and The Declaration of Sentiments, written by a woman named Elizabeth Cady Stanton. We got through the Declaration of Independence with a few bumps along the way, considering the formal word choices and difficulty with translating old language into something we could understand.  Then we reached The Declaration of Sentiments and I fell in love with Elizabeth Cady Stanton for being an amazing woman and an immediate role model for feminism. 

These two essays began with the same beginning lines: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty  and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed". This is pretty straightforward in the way it was written. Jefferson, who originally wrote this tidbit, was describing how the Americans came to see themselves as a separate body from England's rule and wanted to have their own independence and standards of equality to be recognized and respected. I personally think that the Declaration of Independence dragged on because they wanted it to sound so formal that they overdid it. It seemed like when one needs to write a 1,000 word essay and then you pull out random things to drag out your point as long as possible, like so:

But anyway, I digress. Cady's essay, The Declaration of Sentiments, used these beginning lines as well. But she focuses specifically on how the Declaration states how an abusive and wrongdoing government can be abolished by those governed and be rewritten in fairness for all, and how women have had to suffer under an abusive government since America gained its independence. She goes on to describe how women cannot be involved in government and political affairs without it being seen as improper. She even calls them out on giving the rights of elective and political freedoms to "the most ignorant and degraded men--both natives and foreigners". Cady bashes the "common man" and how he has systematically restrained the rights of women under the pretenses of women being an object to own instead of a free-thinking human being with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. She promises that there will be women reinforcing and pushing for this movement of equality to spread throughout the nation. Thus: feminism was born in America.

What I loved most about this essay was that there are (unfortunately) clear parallels between the sufferings of women in 1848 and 2016. Once a woman has married her ideal husband, she is expected to settle down with her white-picket-fence-dream-house and however many children her and said husband decide to have. I am not bashing this certain lifestyle; I respect women that are able to take care of children and raise them in a way that makes them feel loved. However, I hate that it seems to be the only option a woman has. Cady points out that "In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all intents and purpose, her master--". Just looking at the word "master" gives me the creeps. It just keeps pushing this idea that women are the servants to men, that we must offer our ambitions and dreams up for the wants and needs of a husband. If one is a single woman, whether she be a business owner or not, she is only valuable if she is contributing back to society. There is this constant pressure to adhere to a social mold of obedience and toxic double standards at every turn. Cady was, as Ms. Amodie said, "ballsy" to point out these glaring inequalities in 1848 America. What sucks the most is that a 2016 feminist can say the exact same things she did.