Address on Woman’s Rights Themes

In 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton delivered her “Address on Woman’s Rights,” in which she made the case that women were mocked simply for “dar[ing to] assert that woman stands by the side of man [as] his equal.” In many societies at this time, women were regarded as inferior to men in every way: intellectually, physically, and morally. Throughout her groundbreaking speech, Stanton picks apart men’s claims to superiority piece by piece—and in the process, she…

When Elizabeth Cady Stanton first delivered her “Address on Woman’s Rights” in 1848, most women around the world couldn’t vote or hold property, and only rarely could they pursue a real education. All the while, their male counterparts attended seminaries and universities, voted in elections, and lived public lives (as opposed to domestic ones). Stanton took great issue with the fact that American women were forced to languish in their homes, never meeting their full…

Throughout her 1848 “Address on Woman’s Rights,” Elizabeth Cady Stanton references the various sufferings—and triumphs—of women all around the world. For instance, she discusses women kept as “slave[s]” in the “harems” of the East who choose to see their bondage as proof of their worth (though modern readers might find this description racist or condescending), as well as the legacies of monarchs like Queen Elizabeth of England and Queen Isabella of Spain. In this…