Stanton

Stanton seems to feel that men have had power over women by controlling what they can and cannot do. The way she describes how women were treated in this essay, it’s almost as if women were just property of men at this time and had no rights at all “In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming to all intents and purposes, her master-the law giving him power to deprive her of her liberty, and to administer chastisement” (Stanton 165). Men could control everything about women because at this time women could not do anything without men, and they couldn’t voice their opinion about it either. If the woman was married and worked, everything that was rightfully hers went to the man regardless of whether she earned it or not. It’s hard to imagine a time like this, when women had nothing without a man. Today it is not unusual for a woman to be independent and successful. Many women today are financially stable on their own and do not need a man to help them. Another thing that is surprising is that at the time that Stanton wrote this when a man and a woman got divorced, the man received sole custody of the children “He has so framed the laws of divorce, as to what shall be the proper causes, and in case of separation, to whom the guardianship of the children shall be given, as to be wholly regardless of the happiness of women-the law, in all cases, going upon a false supposition of the supremacy of man, and giving all power into his hands” (Stanton 165). It is hard to believe that this at one time was the case, when now in the majority of divorced couples the mother gets sole custody of the children. I can’t imagine living at a time like this when women weren’t considered actual people, but just the property of a man.

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions." A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. 7th ed. New York: Bedford St. Martins. 2006. pp 161-169.