Sharon Ketchum

Assistant Public Affairs Officer

US Embassy, Chisinau

“Women can neither take the Ballot nor the Bullet . . .therefore to

us, the right to petition is the one sacred right which we ought not to

neglect.” Susan B. Anthony

Address to the American Anti-Slavery Society

1863

All People Should Have Rights

"Where, under our Declaration of Independence, does the Saxon man get his power to deprive all women

and Negroes of their inalienable rights?"

Susan B. Anthony

Ninth National Women’s Rights Convention

1859

“When a woman married, she became “in the eye of the law,

civilly dead”Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Seneca Falls Declaration

1848

The spinning-wheel and the loom, which had given employment to women, had been superseded by machinery, and something else had to take their places. But every departure from these conceded things was met with the cry, "You want to get out of your sphere," and that was to fly in the face of Providence.

"The Progress of Fifty Years." Mrs. Lucy Stone

Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Constitution

“..inducing the community generally, and our

sisters particularly, to unite  in removing this

foul stain from our boasted land of liberty, and … bring about the

speedy abolition of Slavery.”

To not speak out would have been "…a violation of our fundamental principle that man & woman are created equal, & have the same duties & the same responsibilities as moral beings."

Anti-Slavery and the Role of Women

"Some of the abolitionists forgot the slave in their efforts to silence the women. The Anti-Slavery Society rent itself in twain over the subject.

Lucy Stone

"…this is the only organization on God's footstool where the humanity of woman is recognized, and these are the only men who have ever echoed back her cries for justice and equality….

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

“A few causes”abolition of prostitution; women’s suffragetemperance and prohibitionjuvenile justice and prison reform; equal wages, shorter work hours and occupational

safety for working womenpensions for widowed and destitute mothersimproved maternal and infant healthchild labor reform, urban playgrounds, compulsory

school attendance, public kindergartens;civil service reform; and free public libraries.

Women’s Christian Temperance Union

The most famous of the women’s voluntary movements, like many others, was based in the traditional view of women as the upholders of the home, children and morality.

The liquor industry formed a major part of the anti-suffrage movement.

Declaration of SentimentsWhen in the course of human events, it

becomes necessary for one portion of the family of man to assume among the people of the earth a position different from that which they have hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to such a course.

      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…"

“Those who took part in the debate feared a demand for the right to vote would defeat others they deemed more rational, and make the whole movement ridiculous."

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

In 1872, both Anthony and Sojourner Truth were arrested for alleged illegal voting in the Presidential Elections. Anthony was fined, but never paid.

I think, with never-ending gratitude, that the young women of today do not and

can never know at what price their right to free speech and to speak at all

in public has been earned.

Lucy Stone

Some things haven’t changedWomen politicians: follow less traditional paths into political office,

often starting with local volunteer work.are motivated more by public service and less by

power.get started in politics because of a local or a

family issue.Kunin: “Hold on to your idealism. People will tell

you you’re naïve, or you’re too innocent. Those are good things.”

We’ve got a ways to go…Womenmore than half the U.S. population,hold 17 % of congressional seats, Hold 7 of 50 state governorships.