Before the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, women discovered their ability to influence society through their experiences in organizational movements such as the Abolitionist and benevolent movements, as shown in the writings of Mary P. Ryan and Katherine Henry. Ryan argues \u201cthe origins of American feminism lay not in the abolitionist movement but in the women\u2019s benevolent organizations that flourished in the nineteenth-century city.\u201d Through her examples of benevolent organization and action in Utica, we can see how the avenues which women used to exert influence in society acted in accordance with Henry\u2019s presentation of Grimke\u2019s ideas of the public and private spheres of society. These women in Utica had power in the private spheres of their home, and through their shared experiences they came together publically. They carried out their actions against immoral sexual behavior successful in an extremely public fashion, forcing the public to garner a degree of respect for the female activists.<\/p>\n
Henry portrays Grimke\u2019s beliefs and actions in an extremely positive light, and provides evidence for Grimke\u2019s ability aid the feminine cause while striving for abolition. Regardless of the type of activism, temperance, abolition, or benevolence, women in the early 18th centuries began to organize and realize their abilities to exert influence over society. Women were entering the public sphere for the first time in a political fashion; they were attempting to improve their society through historically political institutions such as the petition, public speech, and social networks.<\/p>\n
Their entrance into the public sphere encountered expected resistance, even from other women. There was a delicate balance between entering the sphere of man while also being respected as a woman. Grimke noted in her relationship with Wald that in order to receive respect from her male peers, she felt she had to be a dutiful wife and care for her household chores. She would then be able to attract the attention of men, who would be impressed by her public speaking and reasoning. She was therefore able to enter the public sphere of man while keeping her female identity. Female activists, however, would come to find that they had to establish themselves even more into the public sphere of man, through education, work, and political activism, to eventually gain societal status in the later 19th century and eventually the right to vote in 1920.<\/p>\n
The social organization emphasized by Ryan reminded me of the neighborhood loyalty in the Bowery. Organizations such as the firefighters became significant in-group efforts for a single cause, politically or otherwise. Both the firefighters and women\u2019s organizations for benevolence were social groups influenced by public issues.<\/p>\n
These female activists set the stage for eventual Feminist Movement that would take place. Ryan and Henry did well to demonstrate what it took to get females involved in the early movements that would lead to feminism, both ideologically and socially. The procedure would eventually become more drastic in modern terms, but in the early 19th century these actions by women were unprecedented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, women discovered their ability to influence society through their experiences in organizational movements such as the Abolitionist and benevolent movements, as shown in the writings of Mary P. Ryan and Katherine Henry. Ryan argues \u201cthe origins of American feminism lay not in the abolitionist movement but in the … <\/p>\n