On May 28 and 29, 1851, the Ohio Woman's Rights
Convention met in Akron. Mrs. Frances D. Gage, convention president, began the proceedings with a stirring call to arms: Are not the natural wants and emotions of humanity...shared equally by both sexes? Does man hunger and thirst, suffer cold and heat more than woman? Does he love and hate, hope and fear, joy and sorrow more than woman? Does his heart thrill with a deeper pleasure in doing good? Can his soul writhe in more bitter agony under the consciousness of evil or wrong? Is the sunshine more glorious, the air more quiet, the sounds of harmony more soothing, the perfume of flowers more exquisite, or forms of beauty more soul-satisfying to his senses than to hers. To all these interrogatories every one will answer, No!"Opening Address," The Proceedings of the Woman's Rights Convention, held at Akron, Ohio, May 28 and 29, 1851, published 1851.
Votes for Women, 1848-1921The convention's Report on Labor noted the following statistics: the average seamstress earned between $.75 and $1.50 per week for 15-18 hours of labor; domestics about $6 per month; and a female teacher in Ohio on the average of $21.49 per year. Statistics also showed that most female teachers in the state were paid less than one-half the salary of their male counterparts.
The conference resolved to work for gradual change urging religious groups, the press, and legislatures to discuss and support women's rights. Mothers were instructed "to teach all children the principles of natural justice which should govern the whole subject of Human Rights . . . " Women, particularly seamstresses, were urged to form "Labor Partnerships" to strengthen their ability to attain just and equitable wages.
Although not in attendance, Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote to conferees that a young woman "must be taught to . . . prepare herself for some lucrative trade or profession." She noted:
The manner in which all courage and self-reliance is early educated out of the girl . . . is melancholy indeed . . . [a] girl must be allowed to romp and play, climb, skate and swim, -- her clothing must be more like that of a boy; strong, loose-fitting garments . . . Let the girl be thoroughly developed in body and soul,-- not moulded like a piece of clay . . . with a body after some plate in Godey's book of fashion."Letter from Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton" in The Proceedings of the Woman's Rights Convention, held at Akron, Ohio, May 28 and 29, 1851, published 1851.
Votes for Women, 1848-1921
- Read the full text of the conference proceedings, which includes reports on education, labor, and common law, as well as letters from Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Amelia Jenks Bloomer. The American Memory collection Votes for Women, 1848-1921 consists of 167 books, pamphlets and other artifacts documenting the suffrage campaign. They are a subset of the Library's larger collection donated by Carrie Chapman Catt, longtime president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, in November of 1938. The collection includes works from the libraries of other members and officers of the organization including: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Alice Stone Blackwell, Julia Ward Howe, Elizabeth Smith Miller, Mary A. Livermore. Search the collection on these names or browse the author index.
- For an overview of the women's suffrage movement, see the Time Line: One Hundred Years Toward Suffrage, part of "Votes for Women" Suffrage Pictures, 1850-1920.
- Find a bibliography for the Votes for Women, 1848-1921 Collection in Read More About It, a feature of the Learning Page. The bibliography was developed by the Center for the Book.
- See the Today in History feature on Elias Howe, inventor of the sewing machine and learn more about how it transformed the way women worked in America. Search the Today in History Archive on women's rights for more information on the long campaign for women's suffrage.
- Emergence of Advertising in America presents over 9,000 images relating to the early history of advertising in the U.S. Much of that advertising was directed at women. Search the collection on terms such as education and women, or Sewing Equipment and Supplies. See, for example, A Grandmother's Story, an elaborate multipaged advertisment for Clark's ONT spool cotton tread.
