Women’s Rights Around the World Theme Analysis

Throughout her 1848 “Address on Woman’s Rights,” Elizabeth Cady Stanton references the various sufferings—and triumphs—of women all around the world. For instance, she discusses women kept as “slave[s]” in the “harems” of the East who choose to see their bondage as proof of their worth (though modern readers might find this description racist or condescending), as well as the legacies of monarchs like Queen Elizabeth of England and Queen Isabella of Spain. In this way, Stanton uses her speech to broaden her American listeners’ perspectives on the wide-ranging struggles that women around the world face. The address argues that the fight for equality must be a global one—and that American women must learn from the pain and glory of their counterparts around the world in order to unrepentantly resolve to “be free or perish.”

In order to paint a holistic view of women’s rights around the world, Stanton compares the successes of liberated, empowered women to the struggles of women who remain constrained by their positions in society. “In all eastern countries,” Stanton claims, woman is a “mere slave bought and sold at pleasure.” Women are forced to perform physical labor other otherwise serve as “the idol of [men’s] lust” as a “toy for […] play.” By highlighting how women in far-away parts of the world struggled simply to be recognized as human, Stanton appeals to her audience’s sense of empathy—as well as their sense of superiority. Stanton goes on to claim that “[C]hristian countries” possess a “more advanced state of civilization and refinement”—and that although women still hold “inferior” positions in Europe, they can indeed advance in society. Women have led countries like Russia, England, and Spain—and women in Europe enjoy “literary attainments” and other fulfilling pursuits such as careers in science. Today, readers may find Stanton’s rhetoric offensive, since she suggests that white, Christian countries are superior. But to the American women she was addressing, her arguments would have bolstered her audience’s view of her worldliness and legitimized her entire address. By highlighting the experiences of women around the world, Stanton was helping her audience understand the stateside struggle for women’s rights in a wider context. “The feeling we so often hear expressed of dislike to seeing woman in places of publicity [is] the effect of custom very like that prejudice against colour that has been proved to be so truly American,” Stanton says in her speech. With this, she suggests that American women face a uniquely difficult struggle for equal rights because of the United States’ uniquely prejudiced stance against women and people of color.

American women, Stanton argues, must remain wary of the things that threaten the women’s movement, such as ignorance or complacency. “The most lamentable aspect our cause wears is the indifference indeed the contempt with which women themselves regard our movement,” says Stanton at one point in her speech. Here, she’s suggesting that many American women don’t wholeheartedly participate in the women’s right movement because they’re either hopeless about the possibility of changing their circumstances or have been duped into believing that their current station is acceptable. But Stanton believes both of these perspectives are harmful to the movement—and that they can be remedied by turning to the stories of women around the world. Women who “glory in their bondage” must shake themselves from their complacency and “demand” equality. Modern readers might find Stanton’s language outdated and racist, since she’s suggesting that women in less “civilized” countries—that is, places that aren’t predominantly white or Christian—actually enjoy their “bondage” (enslavement or oppression). But American women, she suggests, know themselves to a “somewhat greater degree” and so must not languish in obscurity and powerlessness. In other words, Stanton is suggesting American women learn from the ignorance of women in other parts of the world and use their comparatively easier circumstances to fight for their rights.

To fortify the women’s movement, American women should turn to the stories of powerful women throughout the world who have achieved power and helped their countries. Stanton suggests American women look to successful, impassioned European leaders and thinkers like Hannah More, Elizabeth I, Isabella of Spain, and Joan of Arc for guidance. (Again, modern readers may find this subtly racist against non-white women, since Stanton focuses on white European women as role models.) All of these women made major changes in their countries by leading battalions, commanding naval fleets, and serving as religious, moral, and intellectual authorities. In Stanton’s view, American women should look to less-civilized women’s ignorance as a cautionary tale, but they should view women who’ve ascended to greatness in the Western world as role models. She entreats her audience to look to the rest of the world for examples of how to pursue equality (though her argument arguably flawed, since it’s biased in favor of European women). Nevertheless, she encourages American women from all walks of life to learn from women around the world as they struggle for their own advancement.