Welcome to WOW2!
WOW2 is a twice-monthly sister blog to This Week in the War on Women. This edition covers women and events from July 17 through through July 31.
The biggest event in Women’s History for July is the Seneca Falls Convention, which launched American Feminism’s ‘First Wave’— the long fight for the right to vote. We all owe a huge debt to Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Martha Wright, Mary Ann McClintock and Jane Hunt, who conceived and organized these two days of revelation for the 200+ women who came together.
At a time when women had no public voice; when married women were legal nonentities; when control of where and how a woman was to live; of how her children were to be brought up; of her property; of any wages she earned — all these decisions rested with a father, husband or brother . . .
Women came together.
And they spoke up. In public.
Some of them stood on the platform and gave speeches.
Women discussed and argued and hammered out, and they voted — for the first time in their lives — on how the convention would be run, on how much men would be allowed to participate in their convention, and finally, for a Declaration which would change not only their lives, but the lives of all the generations to come. They voted for a proclamation of the changes necessary so women would be no longer beholden even to the good men in their lives, and to end their subservience to the abusive ones.
Oh yes, it was a Revelation. And the start of a Revolution just as profound as America’s break with England — the ripples from Seneca Falls continue to spread in the world today.
What a long way we have come. How very far we still have to go.
This Week in the War on Women is up, so be sure to go there next and catch up on the latest dispatches from the frontlines: www.dailykos.com/...