Reference no: EM133473334

Gender Roles

• Read the  Sermon on the Duties of a Christian Woman and browse Beecher's  A Treatise on Domestic Economy.
  • Based on these readings, what were considered appropriate gender roles for women and men in early America?
  • In other words, what were women expected to do, and how were they expected to behave?
  • And, what were men expected to do, and how were they expected to behave?
  • What should the relationship between husbands and wives be like, according to these documents?

Feminist Arguments

• Read the Beecher Grimké Exchange. Angelina and Sarah Grimké frequently spoke in public, advocating for the abolition of slavery.  Beecher wrote an essay criticizing this practice, and Angelina Grimké responded by publishing a series of letters.
  • According to Beecher, what is the proper relationship between men and women?
  • In Beecher's view, how should women who have opinions about political issues go about expressing them?   What means should women use to obtain political ends?
  • How does Grimké respond? What, in her view, should women's role in politics be?
  • Summarize her argument.  What does she base her argument for women's equality on?
  • Do you think Grimké's ideas about women's political behavior fundamentally challenge gender roles?
• Read Sarah Grimké's call for women's rights.
  • How have men treated women, according to this document?  What does she think women need to do something about it, and why?
  • Note that in this document Grimké refers to John Quincy Adams.  This is the son of John and Abigail Adams.

The Women's Rights Movement

• Read The Declaration of Sentiments.
  • Elizabeth Cady Stanton here lists out the "injuries and usurpations" of male-dominated society against women. What are the key issues she raises in this document?  What are the rights that women have been deprived of?
  • What does Stanton demand at the end of the document?
  • What means does she propose to get it?
• Look again the Beecher Grimké Exchange.  The last sentence of Grimké's final letter is: "The discussion of the wrongs of slavery has opened the way for the discussion of other rights, and the ultimate result will most certainly be the 'breaking of every yoke,' the letting the oppressed of every grade and description go free - an emancipation far more glorious than any the world has ever yet seen . . ." Now, nearly 200 years later, do you think that she was right?