Some 20 000 women marched in New York City on the 23rd of October, 1915. In the lead up to an election, women demanded the right to vote.
It was another five years before women nation-wide in the United States received that right.
Tag Archives: Women’s Rights
Bride Kidnapping in the Nineteenth Century
This is an early 1870s photograph, believed to be a bride kidnapping underway in Central Asia. The woman holds her whip in the direction of the men.
Despite now being illegal, to this day bride kidnapping is still widely practiced in the region. X
The twentieth anniversary of the Atlanta Olympics bombing.
Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, USA was bombed on the 27th of July, 1996. Two people were killed and 111 injured when Eric Robert Rudolph placed a US military pack containing three pipe bombs surrounded by nails in the so-called “town square” of the Olympic venue.
He later said he committed the attack because he didn’t agree with women having the right to abortion.
Rudolph later confessed to the bombings of women’s health clinics and gay bars.
On this day: Emily Davison’s collision with a racehorse
On the 4th of June, 1913 militant suffragette Emily Davison rushed onto the racetrack at the Epsom Derby, running in front of a racehorse. She was trampled by the horse and died four days later.
It is unknown exactly what her motives were, but as she had clear plans for the rest of the day and for the days immediately afterwards, it seems she had not planned to become a martyr for her cause.
The horse’s jockey got his foot caught in the stirrup and was dragged along, unconscious, but survived.
On this day: Spinsters Are Wonderful People
On the 10th of May, 1958, the Australian Catholic Truth Society released a pamphlet titled: Spinsters Are Wonderful People: In Praise of Unmarried Women.
It seems this pamphlet may have been produced a number of times, as a version dated 1950 can be read HERE.
An excerpt:
THE CHURCH MAKES A CHANGE
Whatever literature may say about spinsters, and however much history may ignore them – except for outstanding spinsters like Elizabeth of England – the Church’s attitude toward unmarried women has been, from the first, one of reverence. This I came to know when my faith emerged from mere youthful practice to intelligent study and appreciation. Among the Jews a spinster was merely an unfortunate girl not lucky enough to have won a husband for herself. Among the pagans she was usually the slave or bondmaiden, the grudgingly tolerated hanger-on in the house of her parents or her luckier married sisters.
With St. Paul all that was changed. He loved virginity, and he turned to the ministrations and loyalty – as many a parish has done since – of the splendid young and older unmarried women of his time. The legends of St. Paul and St. Tecla – whose name was the Greek word for pearl – are many and beautiful. Phoebe, to whom Paul sends affectionate messages, seems to have been one of the first consecrated Catholic virgins.
On this day: the Women’s Journal Cover
The edition of the Women’s Journal from the 8th of March, 1913 reports on the suffragette march in Washington D.C. five days earlier.
Even though it was one of the most influential of marches of its kind, more than two-hundred people had to be treated in hospital after being attacked by mostly male crowds who were against giving women the vote.
Happy International Women’s Day
On this day: the Suffrage Parade of 1913
On the 3rd of March, 1913, a parade of thousands of suffragettes marched in Washington D.C.
People came from all over the world to support the American women. Amongst the international supporters were people from countries where women had already had the vote for some time, such as Australia and New Zealand.
A plan of the march line.
However, after a successful beginning, the mostly male crowds watching began to jeer and harass the demonstrators. More than two-hundred marchers had to be treated in hospital for injuries.
Delaware’s controversial age of consent, and girl prostitutes.
Children in Delaware outside a brothel in 1910.
Technically, until 1972, the US state of Delaware had the age of consent set at seven. It was 1972 that the old law codes were completely overhauled.
It was in February 1889 that the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union submitted a petition to the Delaware General Assembly to have the age raised. The petition had ten yards of signatures of Delaware residents on it.
The age had been lowered to seven in 1871, having previously been ten. It was the lowest age of consent in the United States.
A list of the age of consent in various states.
Click to enlarge and read.
The idea of the low age of consent for girls had a lot to do with proving rape (and dealing with – or ignoring! – child prostitution). Investigators in a rape case had to prove force and lack of consent, and the changed law helped cover for men having sex with young girls.
The states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida had the age set at ten.
At the end of the 1880s, the lowest age a girl could work as a prostitute in Delaware was raised to fifteen.
Read More:
http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/yjlh/vol9/iss1/1/
http://delaware.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15323coll1/id/53650
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_the_United_States
On this day: Kathrine Switzer in 1967
1967: A race official tries to physically remove Kathrine Switzer – the Boston Marathon’s first registered female runner – from the race, while other runners try to protect her. Her boyfriend is at the right of the picture, and was later photographed shoving the official to the ground.
It would be another five years before women were allowed to join the race.
In Times Gone By... 