Primary Source analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Primary Source analysis - Essay Example Before our modern, liberating era, the world had no room for independent women. A little more than a century ago, women were property and were like slaves, being only allowed to do what their husbands demanded of them. They lived under the rule of their husbands and fathers, unable to escape from the shadows of men. The concept of an independent woman was nothing other than a myth, a dream that was more of a fantasy than anything conceivable. Though they were not allowed in schools, colleges, the majority of professions, or in any offices of government, Elizabeth Cady Stanton pointed out that these women were lacking something even more important, which was â€Å"no proper appreciation of themselves as factors in civilization.†1 Women were not only viewed as less than human, with men considered them to be lower than males, but it was a position that they allowed and accepted. When women today realize what they are capable of and allowed to engage in, it becomes almost baffling to remember that the majority of these options were not acceptable to women in a world that existed only a hundred years ago. Even in Stanton’s article, she acknowledges that a time would come when women can enjoy the rights of person and property. Yet despite this optimism, a stance that has proven itself real in our present day and age, Stanton still states that â€Å"the true woman is as yet a dream of the future†2. Since the post-Civil War era, women became increasingly more free. But is there still more for women to discover about themselves and their abilities? Stanton seemed to believe so. In Stanton’s words, â€Å"we have a government of the people, by the people, for the people [...] we soon shall have that important half, called women ...†3. Women of Stanton’s day and age did not have the freedom that we do now, yet even she was optimistic that one day women would be considered just as vital to society as men. Regardless of the life that Stanton herself led