How Did Women's Rights Change In Colonial Times

Women rights have certainly changed since colonial times. With upcoming elections I am very excited to vote, although I have the women of the colonial period to thank for making that possible. Being a woman in previous years meant that everything you were was irrelevant. No one cared about your race, age or wealth. Women were regarded as less than men and did not have the same rights as men. For women to become some type of higher authority it is difficult because they are looked down upon in our society, as it is still somewhat a man’s world in jobs and in politics. Before women’s rights women were just females with the responsibility to reproduce and take care of their children. Pertaining to stay at home mother who relied on her husband financially. This is no longer the case anymore. In the article "Outgrowing the Compact of the Fathers: Equal Rights, Woman Suffrage, and
the United States Constitution, 1820-1878," it discusses the emergence of women uprising to better their equal rights situation. In the article I read there is a discussion of women’s rights, individualism, and equality in the nineteenth century and how it has had an impact on women. To this I would have to say the nineteenth century was instrumental in going forward with women striving to be equal to men. I do think the actions of the women pushing for the rights of women at the time made a difference. In the article there is a mention on how white women felt when “men they considered their inferiors had been enfranchised before them” (851). This was very disappointing to especially white women living in America because back then white people in America had a big influence in the political system. So the fifteenth amendment passing allowing African-American men to vote was a slap on the face to white women. African-Americans were considered the “lowest orders of manhood,” and because of that it upset them that African-American men were able to vote before them (851). The white women yes might have been racist regarding the new amendment allowing African-American men to vote, but that was because they were brought up in this manner and racism was seen pretty much all over America at this time. Even though I do not advocate racism I see why white women were so upset with this as African-Americans were classified lower than them. By passing the fifteenth amendment this motivated women to continue to push for their rights.
Later on the nineteenth amendment passed allowing women to vote (861). This only happened because of their effort to be equal like men earning them the right to vote. One of the leaders of the movement was Isabella Beecher Hooker who took charge in the change in 1870. Before this Elizabeth Cady Stanton assembled the first convention for women’s rights in Seneca Falls (841). Stanton was the first female to make a crusade for women along with Lucretia Mott who also fought for the same cause. The convention called for there to be an inclusion of women in the Declaration of Independence. The reason they were pursing the issue was because they were done seeing women “without representation in the halls of legislation” (841). Stanton, Mott and Hooker were influential in leading the convention to the attention of others, although it didn’t take just one convention to sort out the issues women were having as there were many and the difficulty to get through to people must have been difficult to do as
well. Being a Mexican woman in college I cannot confirm the difficulties women in the past had to go through. From where I stand right now I do not have any struggles. Being colored and being a woman has not stopped me from pursuing anything. This might be different if I was born in colonial times. Maybe even if I wasn’t born in California as it different than most states I would possibly goo through some difficult time because of the hardships of either being a woman or colored may have intercepted some type of advancement in my education, job, or politics. Especially here at Channel Islands I have not experienced any harshness because they looked at my race or gender. Being anthropology major and taking classes in my major and just general education classes I have noticed the school’s enrollment has much more women than men. I think is because women are definitely being motivated to go to school more and more other than just have reproduce. This took a while for it to get this way, but it now is because slowly women took chances that were maybe at the time a little risky. Women are now able to voice their opinion as they please and not just women, but men too as it has shaped I think equality for people too. Equality may not be fixed but it is better than what it use to be. Even though wealth will always talk it seems in America, as wealth could be quite influential as well.
The women of the colonial period impacted the way we live our lives today in our society in America.