When women can support themselves, have entry to all the trades and professions, with a house of their own over their heads and a bank account, they will own their bodies and be dictators in the social realm.
Elizabeth Cady StantonRead
The greatest block today in the way of woman's emancipation is the church, the canon law, the Bible and the priesthood.
Interpretation
The quote critiques religious institutions as obstacles to women's freedom and equality.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton argues that many religious beliefs and structures have historically restricted women's rights and freedoms, suggesting that the church and its doctrines serve as significant barriers to genuine emancipation. She highlights the influence of the Bible, canon law, and priesthood in perpetuating societal norms that limit women's roles and opportunities.
In practice
During a discussion about gender equality in a public forum, this quote can highlight the historical role of religion in women's oppression.
When women can support themselves, have entry to all the trades and professions, with a house of their own over their heads and a bank account, they will own their bodies and be dictators in the social realm.
To live for a principle, for the triumph of some reform by which all mankind are to be lifted up to be wedded to an idea may be, after all, the holiest and happiest of marriages.
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... is the solitude and personal responsibility of her own individual life.
Only those who have lived all their lives under the dark clouds of vague, undefined fears can appreciate the joy of a doubting soul suddenly born into the kingdom of reason and free thought.
We demand in the Reconstruction suffrage for all the citizens of the Republic. I would not talk of Negroes or women, but of citizens.
Come, come, my conservative friend, wipe the dew off your spectacles, and see that the world is moving.
It was not until after the coming of Christ that time and humans could breathe freely. It was not until after him that people began to live toward the future. Humans do not die in a ditch like a dog-but at home in history, while the work toward the conquest of death is in full swing; they die sharing in this work.
Through endless night the earth whirls toward a creation unknown.
A narrative that branded Africa as little more than an economic, political and social basket case was not likely to provide the investment needed to drive development.
Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!
I sometimes wish that people would put a little more emphasis upon the observance of the law than they do upon its enforcement.
If you strive only to avoid the darkness or to cling to the light, you cannot live in balance. Try striving to be conscious of all that you are.
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