Summary Of On The Equality Of Sexes By Judith Sargent Murray

On the Equality of Sexes

C. This document is an essay written by Judith Sargent Murray under the pen name Constantia in 1790 about how men and woman should have equal opportunities and rights in society instead of being looked down upon. In this time period, women were not considered citizens of the United States of America. At this point, the United States had just signed the Constitution 3 years ago. The Bill of Rights was issued only the year before that in 1789. Both of these documents included rights to protect the citizens of the United States’ freedom and put limits on the government to prevent it from becoming too powerful. However at this time, the only people with rights were white men who owned property. Women did not hold any rights

This document was written by Judith Sargent Murray. Murray was a writer and considered one of the first American feminists. She received all her education at home, however she could not go to college because she was a woman. It is inferred that she did not accept this. She believed that she had the same prerequisites to go to college as any man did. So she decided to use what education she had to spread her beliefs on women's rights, making her one of America's first feminists. Since she is a woman, she feels that it is unfair that other women are looked down on in society. However she writes, “the same breath of God animates, enlivens, and invigorates us; and that we are not fallen lower than yourselves.” Even though they are born the same way, in the Bible, Eve was created using Adam one of his ribs instead of them being created the same way. She may have excluded this description to avoid it being used against her by having the men use that fact that women was created afterwards, making them less important. However the fact that she is one of the first woman to actually speak on the subject of equal rights for women gives her a unique point of view because many women did not speak on the subject of equality and no men would even think about it. Murray married twice during her life. Her second marriage, a better one, was with Rev. John Murray. When she married John, she was converted to Universalism, a faith that believed that all people could be saved and all people were equal. It is most likely that due to these believes, Murray began to see that there was no good reason that women should not be equal to