It was not until 1920, with the ratification of the 19th amendment that women could vote in national elections. However, "The Women's suffrage movement was formally set into motion in 1848 with the first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York.
The catalyst for this gathering was the World Anti-Slavery Convention held in 1840 in London and attended by an American delegation which included a number of women. In attendance were Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who were forced to sit in the galleries as observers because they were women. This poor treatment did not rest well with these women of progressive thoughts, and it was decided that they would hold their own convention to "discuss the social, civil and religious rights of women."
It took a mere 72 years, over 6 decades, for the so-called “enlightened” in America to see the need to treat women as equals, at least when it came to voting. But, I would submit to you that women in many areas of American Commerce as still pictured by most males as inferior or less qualified even though huge strides have been made 92 years are 8 plus decades after the 19th Amendment was passed.
And,
why do I find this
amazing?
…because MALES OF ALL COLORS are still suppressing women…
…in America and all over the world…
AND, while males all over the world, especially in America, claim this to be wrong still find subtle ways to perpetuate the “superior male myth.”
The Quran states both that men and women are equal, but also, that "Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient and guard in the husband's absence what Allah orders them to guard."
According to
The difference between the Biblical and the Quranic conceptions of women is not limited to the newly born female, it extends far beyond that. Let us compare their attitudes towards a female trying to learn her religion. The heart of Judaism is the Torah, the law. However, according to the Talmud, "women are exempt from the study of the Torah." Some Jewish Rabbis firmly declared "Let the words of Torah rather be destroyed by fire than imparted to women", and "Whoever teaches his daughter Torah is as though he taught her obscenity"
The attitude of St. Paul in the New Testament is not brighter: "As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church." (I Corinthians 14:34-35)
How can a woman learn if she is not allowed to speak?
How can a woman grow intellectually if she is obliged to be in a state of full submission?
How can she broaden her horizons if her one and only source of information is her husband at home?
Indeed,
and can we not still see this
even though we passed
the 19th Amendment?
Khawlah was a Muslim woman whose husband Aws pronounced this statement at a moment of anger: "You are to me as the back of my mother. " This was held by pagan Arabs to be a statement of divorce which freed the husband from any conjugal responsibility but did not leave the wife free to leave the husband's home or to marry another man. Having heard these words from her husband, Khawlah was in a miserable situation. She went straight to the Prophet of Islam to plead her case. The Prophet was of the opinion that she should be patient since there seemed to be no way out. Khawla kept arguing with the Prophet in an attempt to save her suspended marriage. Shortly, the Quran intervened; Khawla's plea was accepted.
"Allah has heard and accepted the statement of the woman who pleads with you (the Prophet) concerning her husband and carries her complaint to Allah, and Allah hears the arguments between both of you for Allah hears and sees all things...." (Quran 58:1).
Perhaps,
we are still in
the darkness…
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