Susan B. Anthony: The Biography of a Singular Feminist by Kathleen Barry ((New York and London: New York University Press, 1988), page 58, states these words of Susan B. Anthony:
Women might work like galley slaves for their own relatives, receiving only their board and clothes, and hold their social position in the community; but the moment they (women) stepped outside of home and became wage-earners, thus securing pecuniary independence, they lost caste and were rigidly banned from quilting bees, the apple-parings, and all the society functions of the neighborhoods.
This statement is from Susan B. Anthony, “The Status of Woman, Past, Present, and Future,” The Arena (May 1897): 902.
Using those words as a point of comparison to today’s women, one can see that much has changed on the one hand. On the other hand, the level of acceptance for any diversionary behavior from the norm remains a point of non-acceptance. Let me explain. In the nineteenth century, when those words were shared, it was expected that the “woman of the house” would be just that. In the philosophical world of nineteenth century thinkers of England, a demure, the stay-at-home wife was the ideal. She was in charge of the smooth operations of home life and could be seen doing her needlework when not engaged in some other domestic activity.
To work outside the home could be viewed as a bit “uppity” and not within the sphere of domestic bliss. The situation also smacked of poverty. What? Your husband isn’t man enough to provide for you? Of course, in this instance, Susan B. Anthony taught school, a noble profession, and one that helped to put bread on the table until she could not stand the confines of a classroom any longer. She attempted to find various ways of making money such as starting up a newspaper with her best friend, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. As a free-thinker and a woman who was full of revolutionary ideas, it is clear to see why she thought that she no longer fit in at quilting bees, after a time, reportedly finding no intelligence there.
These statements beg the question that is now an age-old one: Do women have to be just one flavor in order to fit in with each other? Do they have to all share the same opinion and then, gang up on the one dissenter or the one person who rattles their cages and makes them feel a bit outside their comfort zone?
To be perfectly honest, at times, I have felt exactly like Susan B. Anthony in the face of petty minds and self-aggrandizing souls. “Beam me up, Scottie! There’s no intelligent life down here!” is a saying that comes to mind. Yet, Susan spoke her mind, picked her fights, proselytized like an evangelical, and believed in rights for women (whether they wanted those rights for themselves, or not). She is my heroine, as is any woman who speaks her own mind and sticks to her principles. Hurrah for Susan B. Anthony! Life has never been the same since women finally achieved the right to vote in 1920!
Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications – read my article about Susan B. Anthony
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