Life is Like a Coin

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "Solitude of Self," Address before the U. S. Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage, February 20, 1892

 

The point I wish plainly to bring before you on this occasion is the individuality of each human soul-our Protestant idea. The right of individual conscience and judgement - our republican idea, individual citizenship. In discussing the rights of woman, we are to consider, first, what belongs to her as an individual, in a world of her own, the arbiter of her own destiny, an imaginary Robinson Crusoe with her woman Friday on a solitary island. Her rights under such circumstances are to use all her faculties for her own safety and happiness.

Secondly, if we consider her as a citizen, as a member of a great nation, she must have the same rights as all other members, according to the fundamental principles of our Government.

Thirdly, viewed as a woman, an equal factor in civilization, her rights and duties are still the same -- individual happiness and development.

Fourthly, it is only the incidental relations of life, such as mother, wife, sister, daughter, which may involve some special duties and training. In the usual discussion in regard to woman's sphere, such men as Herbert Spencer, Frederick Harrison and Grant Allen uniformly subordinate her rights and duties as an individual, as a citizen, as a woman, to the necessities of these incidental relations, some of which a large class of women never assume.

In discussing the sphere of man we do not decide his rights as an individual, as a citizen, as a man, by his duties as a father, a husband, a brother, or a son, some of which he may never undertake. Moreover he would be better fitted for these very relations, and whatever special work he might choose to do to earn his bread, by the complete development of all his faculties as an individual. Just so with woman. The education which will fit her to discharge the duties in the largest sphere of human usefulness, will best fit her for whatever special work she may be compelled to do.

The isolation of every human soul and the necessity of self-dependence must give each individual the right to choose his own surroundings. The strongest reason for giving woman all the opportunities for higher education, for the full development of her faculties, her forces of mind and body; for giving her the most enlarged freedom of thought and action; a complete emancipation from all forms of bondage, of custom, dependence, superstition; from all the crippling influences of fear -- is the solitude and personal responsibility of her own individual life.

The strongest reason why we ask for woman a voice in the government under which she lives; in the religion she is asked to believe; equality in social life, where she is the chief factor; a place in the trades and professions, where she may earn her bread, is because of her birthright to self -sovereignty; because, as an individual, she must rely on herself.

To throw obstacles in the way of a complete education is like putting out the eyes ; to deny the rights of property is like cutting off the hands. To refuse political equality is to rob the ostracized of all self-respect, of credit in the market place, of recompense in the world of work, of a voice in choosing those who make and administer the law, a choice in the jury before whom they are tried, and in the judge who decides their punishment.

Shakespeare's play of Titus and Andronicus contains a terrible satire on woman's position in the nineteenth century - "Rude men seized the king's daughter, cut out her tongue, cut off her hands, and then bade her go call for water and wash her hands." What a picture of woman's position! Robbed of her natural rights, handicapped by law and custom at every turn, yet compelled to fight her own battles, and in the emergencies of life to fall back on herself for protection . . . . .

How the little courtesies of life on the surface of society, deemed so important from man towards woman, fade into utter insignificance in view of the deeper tragedies in which she must play her part alone, where no human aid is possible!

Nothing strengthens the judgment and quickens the conscience like individual responsibility. Nothing adds such dignity to character as the recognition of one's self -sovereignty; the right to an equal place, everywhere conceded -- a place earned by personal merit, not an artificial attainment by inheritance, wealth, family, and position.

Conceding then that the responsibilities of life rest equally on man and woman, that their destiny is the same, they need the same preparation for time and eternity.

The talk of sheltering woman from the fierce storms of life is the sheerest mockery, for they beat on her from every point of the compass, just as they do on man, and with more fatal results, for he has been trained to protect himself, to resist, to conquer . . . . .

In music women speak again the language of Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, and are worthy interpreters of their great thoughts. The poetry and novels of the century are theirs, and they have touched the keynote of reform in religion, politics and social life. They fill the editor's and professor's chair, plead at the bar of justice, walk the wards of the hospital, speak from the pulpit and the platform. Such is the type of womanhood that an enlightened public sentiment welcomes to-day, and such the triumph of the facts of life over the false theories of the past.

Is it, then, consistent to hold the developed woman of this day within the same narrow political limits as the dame with the spinning wheel and knitting needle occupied in the past? No, no! Machinery has taken the labors of woman as well as man on its tireless shoulders; the loom and the spinning wheel are but dreams of the past; the pen, the brush, the easel, the chisel, have taken their places, while the hopes and ambitions of women are essentially changed.

We see reason sufficient in the outer conditions of human beings for individual liberty and development, but when we consider the self-dependence of every human soul, we see the need of courage, judgment and the exercise of every faculty of mind and body, strengthened and developed by use, in woman as well as man...

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I was completely moved when I read this. I had never heard of it before watching a documentary tonight on Netflix called simply: "Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony" made in 1999.

Admittedly it was rather long, but it showed me a side of my own mother's life and times that I had not much considered. My mother was born in 1910 which was ten years before women were allowed to vote for the very first time in the USA -- the home of the brave and the land of the free.

She was born before women were thought of as "citizens" in the full sense of the word, meaning, in my mind, free to choose her life style, to own property, to develop her beliefs, and take on the roles she will play in this, her individual life. Just as any man does. His life is his life and he lives it from beginning to end in his own body with his own soul. A woman does the same. We end up at the same place, just as we all began at the same place.

There are many things that influence or change or affect any person's life. Some are rich, some are not. Some are beautiful in appearance, some are not. Some have the support of a family to grow in... others do not. Any and all of these things shape us, and our decisions and our outlook. If we are not careful to seek out truth on our own, we might never find the source of life. Some people are fortunate enough to be guided into this and, of course, others are not. It is not really the past that forms a life, it is the present.

I do not have a good segue to get to the thing that I really want to say in relation to all of this except that when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ we will be there on our own. Male, female, black, white, young, old, talented, simple, strong, feeble... we will, each one of us, be there, just as we are here, just as we were born, and lived, and just as we died: individuals. The only thing of importance will be: "Whom did you love?"

You know how you can watch a movie or be talking to someone and suddenly something just really fills you with a new thought? This was like that for me. To see and get an inkling of what it was like before. Let me not take it for granted. If you are thinking that I am a "feminist" you would be making a wrong assumption. I don't want power over men... or anyone. I just want to be free. Just like you.

"Life is like a coin. You can spend it on anything you want, but you can only spend it once." I am grateful that those men voted to give women (me) the vote and the opportunity to own property. They untied my hands and set me free -- as free as anyone gets, I think. I'm grateful that God touched their hearts and they saw that all of us are in this together. That is sometimes a lesson which is a long time in coming.