To understand why women started this movement; looking back at the basic structure of a housewife is the perfect place to start. Women were expected to carry out four main characteristics, piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity. It was thought women had to be religious (definition of piety) since they came from eve and she made life for humans horrible and it is their debt to pay. Purity referring to virginity and staying so until marriage. If they did not follow this characteristic they were viewed not as women anymore but rather as a lower being of life unfit and unworthy of the love from man. Because we all know that a man's genitals are important enough to have the power to deem woman everywhere worthless to society. Then, there is submissiveness which is essentially making sure that the husband is always happy. To ensure that nothing ever ruptured in this pattern; corsets were invented as the new fashion trend so everyone could have an hourglass figure. Women could not stand up for long amounts of time without passing out due to the lack of air getting into her system so obviously men had to look out for their female companion. Since they were so inferior by breaking rib bones and other medical injuries all in the name of fashion; what would women ever do without men helping them? Lastly domesticity, which ties into submissiveness in that they have to cater to everyone who enters their home. They have to be the perfect hostess and the house has to be in perfect order and reflect the perfect life.
Society decided to keep women even farther away from actually creating any impact in daily life that they instilled the private sphere and public sphere. The private sphere referred to the home in that it was private and kept woman away from the evils of the outside known as the public sphere or men's world. Men courageously went out and earned money for their families all just to protect the fragile soul of his wife. He knew that she obviously could not handle all the demons that came along with working outside the house.
Eventually, women became sick and tired of the way they were treated by society and teamed up together to form the Seneca Falls Convention. About three hundred people appeared for the convention most of which were women and a few men. They sat down together and constructed a document with a similar structure to the Declaration Of Independence of all the rights they felt as humans they were entitled to; it is called The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. These rights included voting, women are equal to men, if there is a divorce or the husband dies she automatically has the rights to her children, they can own their own property when married, freedom of speech, has the right to education, they be allowed to talk on stage, and she can work out in the public sphere. Fighting for women's right to vote was almost eradicated from being within these resolutions. People who attended the conference wanted women's suffrage to be legalized but they were weary on the fact that the rest of the country may find it absurd and deny to abide by their document. But, Frederick Douglass was able to convince the unsure that it was a good idea.
Unfortunately for as forward thinking the Seneca Falls Convention for it's time they fell short of equality for all. The convention neglected to include Native American women, slaves, and poor white women. The convention was created to cater to the rich and middle class white women. Which is why needs like abolishing slavery or improved working conditions were not included in the resolutions.
Of all the resolutions Seneca Falls discussed the most important one is women are equal to men. to me, it is clear we haven't reached that height of equality. Everywhere on the news I continuously see stories endorsing sexism and encouraging girls to fit a certain image. The amount of times I have seen an article titled "Women's Fashion Trends That Men Hate" is unnerving; as if they expect for women to dress for men rather than themselves. Women still make seventy-five cents to every man's dollar and that's just white woman. Woman of different cultures and skin colors make even less than that. All media does is critique women's choices and then praise men for doing the same thing. The most recent example of this is when Sam Smith won a Grammy and called out his ex in thanks because if he had not broke his heart he would not have received three Grammy's. The media went ballistic, congratulating him on being able to throw his ex under the bus. Similarly, last year Taylor Swift did the same thing and the media attacked her for it. Saying how could she ever be so rude to her ex and other things along those lines.
Society still has saved a special place for women, asking them all the ridiculously sexist questions. Which Parks and Recreation perfectly illustrates how absurd it is in their latest episode. When one of the main character's runs for Congress and they just attack his wife for not meeting the expectations of an ideal wife. Due to the fact that she has very clear stances on issues in government and world wide affairs. In the clip featured below she is able to highlight the double standards and issues with all the judgement.
(Side note: can everyone please appreciate how she call out meninists on their view of men being under women)
If this inequality between men and women is so clear cut that a very popular comedy show has to bring the issue up to reveal how ridiculous it is then it must be very relevant. Even in the show they display how even after giving these powerful statements that people still do not believe in what they had to say. Highlighting how ignorance is still a problem and how peoples' view of women's equality is a split matter.
Then there are these slam poets who also make clear the issues of how women are viewed in society. But, they also add in the mostly forgotten side of darker skinned. Pointing out the differences between the two even though they are still the same gender. Speaking out the stereotypes assigned to them based on those facts. They continue on saying that feminism is not that, feminism is made for everyone no matter who you are gender, race regardless and we should not apply hurtful stereotypes upon each other. It is important to point out that one of the girls says that women are still viewed as inferior to men. That they are delicate and are able to get out of situations but showing that side of them off. Which is an ideology that was fought against by the Seneca Falls Convention that still is present in our society today.
In all, since the 1800's the condition of how women are treated has drastically improved. This is due to the Seneca Falls Convention and women who never stopped fighting for their rights. Today women and men still fight for equality and promote the ideas of feminism. It is even seen in our pop culture. If we all come together and raise awareness of things that should not occur in 1800's, then why is it still socially acceptable to view women this way in 2015?
