Argumentative Essay On Women

Women have been degraded and undermined by men in the United States since the birth of the nation, especially given the fact that they were not given the opportunity to be properly educated. For years, females have been described and perceived as inferiors to men; belittled by their male superiors, although they have proved themselves to be equal in everyway. By examining articles from new sources such as The Lady’ Magazine and The Massachusetts, as well as political documents, one is able to understand that men were misogynists who thought very little of women, despite the presence of powerful, pre-civil war women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Women were basically slaves to their male counterparts, receiving unjust treatment …show more content…
“[Man] has so framed the laws of divorce… in case of separation, to whom the guardianship of the children shall be given, as to be wholly regardless of the happiness of women - the law, in all cases, going upon the false supposition of the supremacy of man, and giving all power into his hands.” Women would be separated from their children in cases of divorce because all of the power went to the ‘superior’ male, creating a parallel between slaves and women of this era. Even in cases where man and wife are still married, men continue to withhold rights from deserving women. "[Man] has made [woman], if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead,” and “has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men - both natives and foreigners.” Even in cases where man and wife are still married, men continue to withhold rights from deserving women. Despite being smarter, more dignified, and from the country where these rights were established, women were essentially denied basic citizenship. Women were most likely considered citizens for the same reason slaves were considered three-fifths of a citizen; it adds to the population of a state for legislative …show more content…
And in spite of the fact that they did not deserve it, women were often times treated unfairly and unjustly. Being raised to believe that they were placed on earth to serve man, women had little room to express themselves and do what they wanted to do or achieve what they wanted to achieve. Wives had their rights and basic citizenship taken away by and were essentially slaves to their husbands. Even unmarried women were stripped of their natural rights by men who declared themselves ‘superior’ to them. However, there were few very powerful women who challenged the society’s rules and proved themselves equal, or even superior, to men. When looking at those lives, as well as social and political documents written by other powerful women, one is able to see that women are not inferiors to men and they deserved their natural rights just as much as their male