I survived the holidays. Mostly.
It’s always a great time to share dinner with family and friends and
recap the year. This time, the recap got interesting as I shared wine and
dessert with friends in a lively NW wine shop. Don’t ask how we got on the topic
of women in the Suffrage Campaign of the 20th Century. It wasn’t pretty. Let’s
just say it involved discussing the assault on women’s health care rights,
objectification on the internet, and how long women have had the right to vote.
To get specific, women were first allowed to vote in the territories of Wyoming
in 1869, Utah in 1870. The rest of the United States took another 50 years to
catch up. The 19th Amendment passed in time for the election of
1920.
While the apple crumble was being shared around the table, someone
brought up the current “what-is-real-beauty” campaigns in advertising. Does
eating that second serving of apple decadence support or hinder real beauty?
The innocent question morphed into diet outrage, the impact of women’s rights,
and questions about how far feminism had actually taken our society. The next
thing up was the work of Susan B. Anthony, a female leader we all know, if for
nothing else than she is on a dollar coin and the 19th Amendment is named after
her. Susan was a suffrage campaigner. Side bar – don’t call her a suffragette.
Suffragette is used to refer to women in the suffrage campaign in the UK.
Suffrage is from late 14century French meaning "intercessory prayers or pleas on
behalf of another." These women put their lives on the line to plead for the
right of all women to vote.
This led the conversation to the lesser known Marietta Holley, who was
born in 1836 and died in 1926. Marietta was an American humorist who used the
medium of poetry, articles, and novels to explore cultural and social issues of
her time – like a woman’s right to vote. She was compared to Mark Twain in
writing style and popularity. At one point she out sold him
. . . and yet, most of us have never heard of her.
Women's rights were a key issue to Marietta in a time when women had
few. Women were not allowed testify in court, sue anyone, make a contract, hold
title to property, or establish a business. This was less than a hundred years
ago! It's truly mind-boggling when you think about it.
GUIDING WOMEN TO LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF
HAPPINESS
Marietta’s first novel was released in 1872 and the full title is a
work of art in itself: My Opinions and Betsey Bobbet's: Designed as a Beacon
Light, To Guide Women to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, But Which
May be Read by Members of the Sterner Sect, Without Injury to Themselves of This
Book.
This book launched a ten-book series with world-wide distribution. The
heroine of the series was Samantha Allen, wife to Josiah. Marietta tackled the
reform issues of the day by making the character of Samantha Allen a
plain-spoken woman who used wit, gentle satire, and humor to explore the issues
Marietta was passionate about. Samantha’s humor was used to soften the blow to
the Sterner Sect so they could read Marietta’s books “without fear of
injury”.
THE ONEROUS BURDEN OF VOTING AND OTHER
NONSENSE
One of Samantha Allen's observations was relevant to the after-dessert
beauty argument. I'm paraphrasing here….although Samantha Allen appreciated the
Sterner Sect's wish to protect women from the onerous burden of having to go
all the way to a ballot box and cast a vote. At the time, this was an actual
argument used to keep women from voting. Samantha noticed that this same
sentiment of protecting women from onerous burdens didn’t seem to apply to women
having to do the laundry by hand, churn butter, or bear a dozen children.
Impressed by the eloquence of her writing, Susan B. Anthony repeatedly
asked Marietta to speak at suffrage conventions. Marietta always refused,
saying she was too shy to be on stage. The pen was the way she would
contribute. And contribute she did. She had over 20 novels published. One of her
novels, Samantha at Saratoga, spent a decade on the best-seller list because it
spoke so deeply to so many people. One report put her book sales at 10,000,000.
That’s 10 Million in hardback.
Although she doesn’t immediately come to mind when we talk of woman's
rights, Marietta should. Her books laid seed-thoughts in the minds and hearts of
women all around the world. Those seeds sprouted, blossomed, and continue to
feed the women’s rights movement. This past year has seen inspiring progress
towards an accurate understanding of true beauty. From the courageous speech at
the UN by Malala Yousafzai, to the unwavering commitment of Wendy Davis in the
Texas legislature, to Gloria Steinem being awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, we all are beautiful.
So a belated thank you, Marietta, for using the power of your pen to
help women everywhere find their beauty within.
If you’d like to learn more about using the power of the global pen on behalf of
women, go to World Pulse, a media and communication network devoted to bringing women a global voice.
It’s always a great time to share dinner with family and friends and
recap the year. This time, the recap got interesting as I shared wine and
dessert with friends in a lively NW wine shop. Don’t ask how we got on the topic
of women in the Suffrage Campaign of the 20th Century. It wasn’t pretty. Let’s
just say it involved discussing the assault on women’s health care rights,
objectification on the internet, and how long women have had the right to vote.
To get specific, women were first allowed to vote in the territories of Wyoming
in 1869, Utah in 1870. The rest of the United States took another 50 years to
catch up. The 19th Amendment passed in time for the election of
1920.
While the apple crumble was being shared around the table, someone
brought up the current “what-is-real-beauty” campaigns in advertising. Does
eating that second serving of apple decadence support or hinder real beauty?
The innocent question morphed into diet outrage, the impact of women’s rights,
and questions about how far feminism had actually taken our society. The next
thing up was the work of Susan B. Anthony, a female leader we all know, if for
nothing else than she is on a dollar coin and the 19th Amendment is named after
her. Susan was a suffrage campaigner. Side bar – don’t call her a suffragette.
Suffragette is used to refer to women in the suffrage campaign in the UK.
Suffrage is from late 14century French meaning "intercessory prayers or pleas on
behalf of another." These women put their lives on the line to plead for the
right of all women to vote.
This led the conversation to the lesser known Marietta Holley, who was
born in 1836 and died in 1926. Marietta was an American humorist who used the
medium of poetry, articles, and novels to explore cultural and social issues of
her time – like a woman’s right to vote. She was compared to Mark Twain in
writing style and popularity. At one point she out sold him
. . . and yet, most of us have never heard of her.
Women's rights were a key issue to Marietta in a time when women had
few. Women were not allowed testify in court, sue anyone, make a contract, hold
title to property, or establish a business. This was less than a hundred years
ago! It's truly mind-boggling when you think about it.
GUIDING WOMEN TO LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF
HAPPINESS
Marietta’s first novel was released in 1872 and the full title is a
work of art in itself: My Opinions and Betsey Bobbet's: Designed as a Beacon
Light, To Guide Women to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, But Which
May be Read by Members of the Sterner Sect, Without Injury to Themselves of This
Book.
This book launched a ten-book series with world-wide distribution. The
heroine of the series was Samantha Allen, wife to Josiah. Marietta tackled the
reform issues of the day by making the character of Samantha Allen a
plain-spoken woman who used wit, gentle satire, and humor to explore the issues
Marietta was passionate about. Samantha’s humor was used to soften the blow to
the Sterner Sect so they could read Marietta’s books “without fear of
injury”.
THE ONEROUS BURDEN OF VOTING AND OTHER
NONSENSE
One of Samantha Allen's observations was relevant to the after-dessert
beauty argument. I'm paraphrasing here….although Samantha Allen appreciated the
Sterner Sect's wish to protect women from the onerous burden of having to go
all the way to a ballot box and cast a vote. At the time, this was an actual
argument used to keep women from voting. Samantha noticed that this same
sentiment of protecting women from onerous burdens didn’t seem to apply to women
having to do the laundry by hand, churn butter, or bear a dozen children.
Impressed by the eloquence of her writing, Susan B. Anthony repeatedly
asked Marietta to speak at suffrage conventions. Marietta always refused,
saying she was too shy to be on stage. The pen was the way she would
contribute. And contribute she did. She had over 20 novels published. One of her
novels, Samantha at Saratoga, spent a decade on the best-seller list because it
spoke so deeply to so many people. One report put her book sales at 10,000,000.
That’s 10 Million in hardback.
Although she doesn’t immediately come to mind when we talk of woman's
rights, Marietta should. Her books laid seed-thoughts in the minds and hearts of
women all around the world. Those seeds sprouted, blossomed, and continue to
feed the women’s rights movement. This past year has seen inspiring progress
towards an accurate understanding of true beauty. From the courageous speech at
the UN by Malala Yousafzai, to the unwavering commitment of Wendy Davis in the
Texas legislature, to Gloria Steinem being awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, we all are beautiful.
So a belated thank you, Marietta, for using the power of your pen to
help women everywhere find their beauty within.
If you’d like to learn more about using the power of the global pen on behalf of
women, go to World Pulse, a media and communication network devoted to bringing women a global voice.
