Women's Rights In The 19th Century

Many women fought for basic rights such as, owning property, voting and being able to divorce their husbands. Women called the “first-wave” feminists had started the idea of female civil equality in the 1840's. Why was women's rights a contentious issue for nineteenth century Americans? Women's rights were a contentious issue in the nineteenth century for many reasons. One reason was that in the Bible, both men and women were created in the image of God. Secondly, the men believed that the women had a more passive nature. Thirdly, the men did not want change in women's roles. In this period of time people believed the woman's “sphere” was in the house, raising the children and keeping a good domestic life. Fourthly, the people believed the women should have equality because they believed it

They believed God had made men and women equal, therefore they should have the same rights. Some men thought that since Eve had sinned, God would want the men to protect the women from doing any more harm. The women did not think the men should have superiority because when Eve had sinned, so had Adam. Evidence 1 Dissertation on the Characteristic Difference Between the Sexes “He is the shield of women… from the bustle and storm of active life”(219). The men speculated that the women would not be able to manage what the men had been able to encounter. They wanted the women at home because they were not as courageous or as strong as the men were. The women had to rely on the men to be those things for them. Evidence 6 Women out of their Latitude “The order of things established at the creation… would be completely broken up”(229). They thought that since the role between men and women had been the same for thousands of years, they should not change it. They also did not want change because they thought the women could not succeed in what the men