This Week in History

CWA # 1412
This Week in History
Five women organise the Women's Rights Convention in the US

Ronakk Tijoriwala
28 July 2024

Photo Source: Britannica

On 19 July 1848, five women organised the Women's Rights Convention in the US, which came to be referred to as the Seneca Falls Convention. It was the first women's rights convention in the US, starting a long struggle for gender equality. 

The Road to Seneca Falls
In the traditional 19th-century gender roles, men dominated the public sphere by working, voting, or participating in politics, while women stayed home to cook, clean, and raise children. There were restrictions in many states on women voting, 

owning property, and having control of their own income. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a homemaker in Seneca Falls, New York  advocated for women's rights. Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Stanton during the Tea Party lamented the injustice of a woman's unequal status in society. 

What happened in Seneca Falls
The Seneca Falls Convention, took place during 19-20 July 1848 with over 300 people in attending. Like Stanton and Mott, many were also active in the anti-slavery movement, including Frederick Douglass, a former slave and abolitionist who was one of the few men and the only African-American to attend. 

At the convention, they read the Declaration of Sentiments, a document drafted by Stanton and modelled after the Declaration of Independence. The sentiments outlined the civil and political rights denied to American women, which included education, property ownership, child custody in the event of a divorce, and, most importantly, the right to vote. On the second day of the convention, 12 resolutions were passed and signed by 68 women and 32 men.

The Seneca Falls Convention was the first time that American women demanded a change, and it caused a stir. Many newspapers mocked them with political cartoons, while columns ridiculed the convention as dull and uninteresting or insane and ludicrous. The wave of negative press was too humiliating for some of the participants to handle, particularly those who had signed the Declaration of Sentiments; several withdrew their names from the document and joined the opposition. 

Towards the birth of the women's rights movement
Post Seneca Falls Convention, a month later, a second larger convention was held in Rochester with the Declaration of Sentiments gaining 107 additional signatures. The Seneca Falls Convention would signal the birth of the women's rights movement. One particular resolution in the Declaration of Sentiments would evolve into a full-fledged crusade, the demand for women's suffrage. Decades of political organizing, marches, and protests would ultimately result in the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote something that couldn't have happened without the Seneca Falls Convention.

The declaration said: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men, and women, are created equal.” The prospect of women voting was threatening to the white men who held power. In 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott decided to organize factions across the country that were campaigning for suffrage, or the right to vote. Stanton considered it the beginning of the women's rights movement.

After the Civil War, the 15th Amendment was introduced, which would give black men, but not women of any colour, the right to vote. Suffragists were split. Stanton and Susan B. Anthony opposed the amendment, objecting to the exclusion of women. They formed the National Women's Suffrage Association, hoping to pass a constitutional amendment that included women. Others, like abolitionists Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell, supported the 15th Amendment. They founded the American Women's Suffrage Association and lobbied for the women's right to vote on a state level instead of through a national amendment. The 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870. Black men could vote, but women still couldn't. 

In 1878, a women's suffrage amendment penned by Susan B. Anthony was finally proposed to the Congress, but it was defeated on the Senate floor in 1887. Around the same time, the National Association of Coloured Women was formed, bringing together more than 100 black women's clubs. By the 20th century, the women's suffrage movement had gained renewed momentum. Parades, marches, and pickets drew great attention to the cause. Between 1910 and 1918, numerous states and territories expanded voting rights to women. 

In 1918, President Wilson argued that women had been vital in World War One, and their vote must be counted to “make the world safe for democracy”. In 1919 the federal women’s suffrage amendment written by Susan B Anthony in 1878 was passed and the 19th amendment was incorporated in the US constitution “prohibiting denying the vote to a US citizen based on gender.” It would take another for native Americans to vote and another 30 years before Asian American could vote.

The Women's Rights Convention of 1848 was a groundbreaking event that ignited a global movement for gender equality. It challenged the deeply entrenched societal norms of the time, asserting that women deserved the same rights and opportunities as men. Globally, the legacy of the convention influenced the adoption of international frameworks like the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), adopted by the United Nations in 1979. This international treaty aimed to eradicate discrimination against women and promote gender equality, reflecting the principles first articulated at Seneca Falls.

The convention's impact extended far beyond the United States, inspiring women around the world to fight for their rights and setting the stage for future advancements in women's equality. The legacy of Seneca Falls continues to inspire and remind us of the enduring struggle for gender equality and the importance of continuing the fight for a just and equitable world.

About the Author
Ronakk Tijoriwala

 

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