Women's Rights Movement: What Took so Long?

I have often asked myself why it honestly took women so long to begin the movement toward achieving for themselves civil rights. I especially found this puzzling when I learned several years ago about the Antebellum period of the United States and the extent of social reform it brought about. Placing this desire for rights in context, however, it becomes apparent that women began in the efforts to achieve their rights because of the social expectations of the time. This desire for universal freedom also came about as a result of the influence of many others social reforms occurring at the time.

Because of incredible advances in technology in the period following the American Revolution, a certain expectation of social spheres began to develop within the domestic aspect of American society. Because less time had to be spent in working, women became increasingly confined to the home. They were expected to keep the home in order, as well as provide for the nourishment and learning of their children. The opinion that women were subordinate, even inferior to men began to arise. This emerging role for American women became known as the cult of domesticity.

Because of these defined ideals and roles of society, women had very little room to resist the domestic prison in which they increasingly found themselves. Women were expected to be agreeable, temperate, and helpful. Beginning and pursuing the course of achieving women’s suffrage was a revolution of women that emerged slowly but surely over time. As with any social reform, there always come back extremes through a broad range of opinions and ideals. The coming forth of the women’s rights movement of course led to feminists. The extremity of some of their ideals has still continued to act upon society and the way individuals are viewed even today.

Another significant factor contributing to the length of time it took for the women’s rights movement to really get rolling was all of the other social reforms taking place at the same time. Many women who would become women’s rights activists were first avid supporters and contributors of the Abolitionist movement. Much of the fervor for these social reforms came about as a result of the Second Great Awakening. It was a time of change, of revolutionary ideals where people came together in new realizations about society and the potential of their respective roles within it.

Though social reform such as the Abolitionist movement did contribute to a realization among women that they were also “slaves of society,” it may have also contributed to the delay of women’s suffrage efforts. Because slavery was such an encompassing issue during this period for the United States, it may be that the time was just not quite right for the women’s rights movement. People came to terms with the idea of redefining who was accepted as “free” individuals through a gradual process. For everything there is a season. It could be that the earlier social reforms that took place were just necessary steps on the path to the women’s rights movement.

I have always greatly admired the women who took the initiative to stand up and set forth revolutionary ideas that they felt strongly about. Women’s rights and independence was so completely against the socially acceptable norm of the time period. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and several others were phenomenal women, with unsurpassed strength and vision. As many of the other social reform groups of the time period, they fell to the “spirit of ’76.” They used the principles laid down by the divinely inspired Founding Fathers of this great nation to rethink and reform universal ideals of the rights and freedoms of the individual. Women were extremely significant contributors to social reform in the United States, and thus played a critical role in the shaping of our history, country, and the ideals upon which we are founded and stand for. I will forever be grateful for the strength, courage, and zeal of these truly amazing women.