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Women have had to fight long and hard for the rights that they should have already had. If you actually sit back and think about it women have just gained the right to speak freely recently. It was not until the 1900s’ that women had the right to speak out and express her feelings. To disagree with a man and decide what she wanted to do for herself was unheard of. But not every woman has the same rights that you may have. Many women in other countries still live in a world where a mans’ word is golden and set in stone. They live a life to obey and to please their men in their life. For me being able to express my thoughts freely without being punished or looked down upon never felt so rewarding. I know appreciate and take advantage of the fact that I have these rights that women before me have fought for. All women should have these rights and take advantage of them. Don’t sit back and let people talk for you. Express how you feel and let people know that you do have a voice. Stand up for what you believe in. Don’t let the women who fought so hard for these rights waste their time.  

The women’s right movement was marked by the Elizabeth Cady Stanton in Seneca Falls, New York.  She set up a convention by passing a public notice that stated “A convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious rights of women will be held in the Wesleyan Chapel…”.  Later on Stanton along with Susan Anthony ( a long time teacher) teamed up to join the fight of equal rights for women. They set up hundreds of meetings, petition drives, and lectures and throughout eleven years they organized a national convention.  Later on they realized that in order to succeed they had to follow the footsteps that the Abolition Movement has taken.  Thus the Revolution was born.  Their headlines read “Men, Their Rights and Nothing More; Women Their Rights and Nothing Less”.  It took until the year of 1919 that American journalism began to treat the “Women’s Right Movement as the major social and political revolution”. In a 1893 interview with the Chicago Tribune Anthony stated, “ If the man own the paper- that is, if the men control the management of the paper- then the women who write for these papers must echo the sentiment of these men. And if they do not do that, their heads are cut off”. What she stated is the truth. If a man doesn’t approve of something a woman wants to do then it is dismissed.

Streitmatter, Rodger. Mightier Than The Sword. 2nd. Westview Press, 2008. 41-57. Print.

Even though many women and men joined the fight for equal rights many did oppose.  The media was the main attackers towards the Women’s Right Movement. “The first generation of women’s magazines emphasized that a girl must learn her proper place in a society by an early age”. Women were not allowed to consider put themselves first. One paper by the name of “New York Tribune” wrote “Our hearts warm with pity towards these unfortunate creatures. We fancy that we can see them, deserted of men, and bereft of those enjoyments and exalted privileges which belong to women, languishing their unhappy lives away in a mournful singleness”. In this statement they labeled women as creatures not human beings that have rights. They believe that the only role for a woman is to be a wife and to take care of the household and their kids. To put her husband, father, brother, and sons’ rights before her own. She was to please the life of a man and acknowledge when one spoke.  Some men praised this practice and saw no other way of living. Women kept their mouths shut in fear of punishment and losing their family. The media described women who fought for equal rights as abandoning their wifely responsibilities.

Streitmatter, Rodger. Mightier Than The Sword. 2nd. Westview Press, 2008. 41-57. Print.

The topic I'm choosing to write about is Slowing The Momentum For Women's Rights. I'm writing about this topic because I think it's fasinating that women had to go through so much just to gain rights that they should already have. For a long time women had to obey the law of a man. They had to obey everything that a man told them to do and was forced into marriage at young age. Women have been though so much and the media has helped to make people aware of it. As women faced the tough struggles towards freedom of speech they received help from the media as well as from other men. Its amazing to know that something like a female expressing her thoughts was unheard of years ago.

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