Womens Rights Movement in the 19th Century - Essay Example

How did the women’s rights movement of the 19th century emerge out of abolition activism? of the of the How did the women’s rights movement of the 19th century emerge out of abolition activism? Women in the 19th century America started identifying their submissive role in the society. The whole society was male dominant and women used to follow what was expected of them. Women were unable to get equality and fairness in the society. With the abolition movement to end slavery in America, women started participating in the problem solving procedures. However, their participation was not appreciated by the men mostly. Women were able to relate to the slaves and worked towards their improvement wholly as members of society. The women’s rights movements were for the improvement of gender realization in women, identification of their suppression in a male dominant American society, introduction of a substituted vision for future of women and working towards improvement of women’s condition in American society. All these improvements and identifications were not easy to tackle, but the women of the 19th century worked really hard for getting their rights. Abortion was a problem related to women that lacked legislation and women were unable to identify their rights related to abortion. The women’s rights movement of the 19th century emerged from abolition activism, as women working for the abolition movement were able to realize the lack of their own rights and their consciousness about their sex was improved because of participating in the abolition movement. Women were portrayed as right or wrong as per men’s defined images. Men kept all the right of describing any woman as good or bad based on their own assumptions as how should a woman exist. This consideration can be regarded equivalent to owner’s consideration about slaves. What a woman should do and how she should live her life was in the hands of a man who acted as the head of the family and a dominant member of society who used to define paths for women to follow. In the very lowest, where man, pressed by poverty, sees in woman only the partner of toils and cares, and cannot hope, scarcely has an idea of a comfortable home, he maltreats her, often, and is less influenced by her (Woodlief, 2004). According to the men of the 19th century America, women were supposed to exist as caretakers of the household and submissive servants of men who can work in houses for the happiness and comfort of men. An ideal woman as per men’s description was a lady who lives for the family and works for the family. Men were free to exercise any right on women as they regarded themselves as possessors of women. Instead of all the care and assistance at houses, women were unable to influence men. Men regarded themselves better in all domains of life and this consideration did not end here, as men also wanted the same consideration from females. Men regarded themselves as better breed than women. “This is the fault of man, who is still vain, and wishes to be more important to woman than by right he should be” (Woodlief, 2004). Men regarded themselves superior and expected women to accept their superiority. However, women in the 19th century were able to identify their submissive existence in society and were also aware of their gender. Therefore, this consideration led them to reject the very notion of female submissiveness to man, as something natural or by birth. They regarded this perception, as men’s vanity and another strategy to declining the existence of women as liberal members of society. Women were unable to have any rights as per their standing in society. Abortion was also a very dominant issue that lacked any legislation. However, 19th century America underwent a whole movement on abortion. Abortion was only regarded as a natural happening. However, the women abolitionists and other revolutionists regarded abortion as killing or infanticide, which required some legislation. The women revolutionists connected the issue of abortion to much expanded concepts. According to Rosenberg (1985), “On the broader level of demographic patterns and social policy, abortion involves issues of national commitment to population control or expansion, the acceptability of woman’s participation in the economy, and, more broadly, woman’s appropriate role with the home and society” (p. 217). Abortion was not negligible, as women being capable of increasing the population played a major role in the society and abortion is annihilation of a child before his birth. Women are able to affect America’s economy, population control and women’s existence in society and houses because of abortion. Therefore, according to activists, for abortion, whether it is there before quickening or after quickening, legislation should be there considering abortion as a crime. However, women should be allowed to make their own decisions in case of abortions or continuing their pregnancies. The American society considered abortion as affecting a women’s health after the quickening stage that comes after the first three months of pregnancy, in which, she is able to feel the baby’s movement in her body. Abortion was not regarded as illegal or criminal as per the public opinion in the America. Roughly, considering public opinion on the issue, the law did not impose any legislation on abortion. However, “the period 1860 to 1880 saw the first successful lobbying effort by the newly formed American Medical Association, with the cooperation of the Roman Catholic Church and many of the Protestant clergy, to make abortion illegal for the first time in the United States” (Rosenberg, 1985, p. 218). After describing abortion as illegal and criminal by the law, people were able to consider abortion as infanticide or murder of a new human being. Otherwise, earlier on, women were unable to recognize it as something damaging to the child or their own health. By imposing these laws, women were restricted to go for abortion unnecessarily. However, abortion was regarded a private matter of the women, but with the imposition of laws, they were threatened of going against the law. Women revolutionists also talked about freedom of women and rights for women, but they categorized abortion as illegal. Women after identification of their rights and gaining awareness of sexism showed concern towards health consciousness of females. Abortion was an issue that kept the capacity of injuring a woman’s health at all stages of pregnancy whether it takes place before quickening or after it. The women’s rights movement resulted in passing of laws related to protection of women as far as abortion was concerned. “Early laws were designed to protect women from unwanted abortion and left the determination of when life begins to pregnant women and their doctors” (Storer, 1868, p. 62). Women were facilitated to make their own choices. They were not to be forced to take any action that can harm their health. Pregnant women were given liberty in order to decide for themselves and their children. Laws were there to restrict them for taking wrong decisions imposed by external members. However, the debate and lobbying regarded to passing and imposition of laws were quite advantageous in enabling people to know about abortion, its effects and legalization associated with the issue. Because of women’s rights movement, the issue was scrutinized by critics and analysts, who came up with legislations and solutions for the problem. Overall, there was much work done on the issue considering it in relation to women’s rights in the American society. Abortion was regarded immoral and as a violation of rights of the unborn child by religious and other associated people. General public was unable to regard the issue in the light of crime. According to the law, the act of abortion resulting in killing of unborn baby was up to the mother and if the mother showed consent for abortion, law makes the act as not castigating and when abortion was done against the mother’s wish, it was open to be presented in court. Therefore, abortion was initially regarded as not a crime, however, with much debate and effort, it became a crime and law got passed for the crime considering it an act of murder or infanticide. “The law and the public sentiment, both by their theory and their practice, deny to unjustifiable abortion the imputation of crime” (Storer, 1898, p. 64). The abortion that was unjustifiable, that means without any specific reason was regarded a crime after passing of legislation. Abortion, being an issue considered in the lieu of women’s rights movement enabled women to know about their own issues considering their health and other associated issues. Abortion affects women at all the stages of pregnancy whether it is unwanted or wanted. Women were required to realize the abortion is a crime and needs to be penalized if it is done without any reasoning. Women’s rights movement in the 19th century was an outcome of women realization about their rights and existent inequality in America. Women were supposed to live as submissive and suppressed partners of men. Men considering themselves superior and much more improved than women in all domains regarded women, as created for their servitude. When women contributed in the abolition movement against slavery in America, they realized about their own status in the society. It was the time when they were interested to have gender consciousness and realization of their subjugated standing in the society. The women revolutionists while fighting for the slaves identified that they themselves are deprived of their rights and should fight for gaining their rights. With the realization of their positioning in the society, there were changes in the lives of the women. They were able to start a movement mentioning their own rights after the abolition movement. The women’s rights movement involved debating about abortion, which needed to be included in the legislation. After much lobbying efforts and criticism, abortion was legalized. Abortion was regarded as an infanticide and murder, hence a crime that required to be restricted. Overall, the women’s rights movement fought for the rights of women and also worked for enabling them to realize their standing in the society. References Rosenberg, C. S. (1985). Disorderly Conduct. New York: Oxford. pp. 217-244. Storer, H. R. (1868). Criminal Abortion. Little, Brown. pp. 62-64. Woodlief, A. (2014). Margaret Fuller--The Great Lawsuit. [online] Retrieved from: http://transcendentalism-legacy.tamu.edu/authors/fuller/debate.html [Accessed: 5 Mar 2014]. Read More