Follow Up: Responding to Julia

While reading The Declaration of Sentiments from the Seneca Falls Conference of 1848, I was particularly struck by the first sentence of the second paragraph:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”

I found this to be extremely compelling because it is so simply stated that one cannot help but read that and respond with “yes, absolutely!” If this is the case, then how is it possible that for so long in this country women have been subjugated by men and by the government, showing complete disregard for the Constitution’s demands? I also completely agree with Julia in that I find it ridiculous that men would attempt to promise such things such as equal rights for women when clearly these were empty promises. Don’t bother making a promise like that if you are clearly going to totally disregard it. Luckily, all of this engendered anger in women and gave them the opportunity to rise above and really show how powerful they are as a group to defy the odds and actually stand up to men.

After reading the list of “injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman” I too realized how far we have come. Not only have women overcome all of these boundaries that not too long ago they were unable to defeat, they have managed to go above and beyond all initial expectations. This is not to say that there is not still work to be done in terms of equality in the workplace as well as the need to banish the stereotypical expectations that men tend to hold of women, but based on The Declaration of Sentiments alone, vast progress has been made.

Women are independent beings that have come a long way, and as Sojourner Truth stated, “Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him”. So, where do men come off being the dominant sex? In response to Julia’s question, I think that whether women are “pushed” into this “second wave” of feminism or enter it on their own free will is not the issue, it’s that they do something about it when they have the opportunity rather than sitting back and letting men take control.