The Separation of Women from Men

While some of the themes from the readings were repeated from the readings from last class, there were a few new ideas that I found both interesting and helpful.  The article by Ellen DuBois did a particularly good job at explaining why it was so necessary for women to split off from civil rights groups and other groups with male members.  Prior to her article, I had argued that perhaps it would have or at least could have been more beneficial to women to work with men, and to not pursue the route of black power groups.  However, DuBois does an excellent job at spelling out the multiple strikes or reasons that forced the hand of the women involved and made them separate from coed groups.  She begins by addressing how women that were participating in civil rights groups did all of the “shitwork” and that the men did all of the decision-making and received all of the public acknowledgement for their efforts.  DuBois also details the trip of several abolitionist women to London, where they were hidden behind a curtain so as to not upset the men in the convention hall.  These women went on to organize the Seneca Falls Convention, which published the Declaration of Sentiments.  Finally, DuBois gets into how women had expected some praise or reward for their participation in the Civil War, yet never received any.  Instead, women as a sex were left out of both the 14^th and 15^th amendments.  Not only did this infuriate women, but it actually left them in a worse position due to the word “male” appearing in the amendment.  After all of these transgressions against the feminist movement, women were forced to win their rights “without the help of men” because they had learned that “they could not put their faith in male reformers.”

            The second thing from the readings that struck me was the fact that the Seneca Falls Convention based their Declaration of Sentiments on the Declaration of Independence.  While it makes sense in theory, it surprised me because it shows the level of importance they consider their document to hold.  I’m sure that the fact that the document was formed in the image of the Declaration of Independence aided its success greatly. It gives it a greater feeling of importance, and the use of the same language from the Declaration of Independence makes readers recognize its worth.