Women fight for more rights
Women did not only go on strike when they felt wronged. Women also participated in conventions, speeches, and marches. Many women aimed higher than ever before. They wanted the right to go to college to become doctors (and other higher education jobs), the right to own property, the right to be independent from their husbands, and the right to vote. Many women paraded down the streets in support of suffrage, with banners with slogans such as "I wish Ma could vote" painted across them. This stirred up mixed emotions. While some men sided with woman, a lot did not. So, in hopes of finally convincing the men in charge to see it their way, they decided to make a convention advocating their views. "The first ever woman's rights convention was held in" the year 1848, near "Seneca Falls, New York". At the women's convention, women gathered to change how America worked. They sought to find ways to grant them the rights the men had but they yet did not.
The Declaration of Sentiments
At the convention, a document modeled after the Declaration of Independence was shown to the other convention goers on July 19, 1848. Written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the Declaration of Sentiments demanded Congress to give them rights, such as owning property, suffrage, and overall equality. Since women were finally allowed some freedom, they wanted even more. At this time, once they married, they lost the right to own property, and in some ways, the ability to own themselves. Women did not want their hard earned money going to a man. This was obviously not bred off of greed, but because they worked hard for the money and wanted to be able to own something of their own. They wanted their voices heard. After all, the United States of America stood for liberty, freedom, and unalienable rights for the people. Despite the statue symbolic of the freedoms America claimed to grant the people being a woman, women themselves had yet to be able to practice everything the Declaration of Independence claimed. When no one would listen to their cries during their strikes, they took it further. The Declaration of Sentiments remains a keen example on how hard women fought to be equal. Similar to a parody due to its intentional mocking of the Declaration of Independence, this document was anything but a joke. Women stated how they deserved the right to own property, have divorce rights, the right to disagree with what her husband orders, and claimed that men were guilty of oppressing women. The Declaration of Sentiments soon became a hot topic for debate, and more men started to see how women deserved more, if not more rights.
Gaining Womens' Rights
Despite the hardships women often faced, there remains a key fact that often goes unnoticed. Compared to the rate men gained rights, women gained rights at an increasing rate. The moment women gained a life in the work place, they took off running. Women strikers often gained much more attention than men. They were incredibly active in general labor rights and often spoke out against racism as well. The fact that women were no longer knitting at home and allowing themselves to be objects spoke miles. Although it was not until just after the Industrial Revolution that women gained the rights they tried so hard to receive, without the Industrial Revolution, women would have never tried to speak out as loud and hard as they did. Without the Industrial Revolution, women would have never have been given the opportunity to take a stand. The workforce allowed women to realize they could impact America more than keeping the house clean and having children. They realized they could affect the economy and productivity of America as well. Women, throughout the start to end of the Industrial Age, sought to prove that they were truly deserving to be called equals. In fact, they started to gain rights, such as the right to own property in the Married Women's Property Act, seen in the left picture, as early as the 1880s.