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Assignment #1- Martin Huynh

I think Davis is trying to tell us that the Seneca Falls Convention had brought into light many issues that were absent in the convention, which would be later be the focus in future meetings. The focus of the convention was to discuss equality for women, but most of the individuals involved wanted to deter from actually talking about women’s suffrage. Like in the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, the women did not have a voice. However, the difference between these two conventions is that in the London convention, the women did not have a say for anything that was being discussed, they were merely spectators in the crowd, while in the Seneca Falls convention, there was no primary focus regarding the rights of women, only various issues were acknowledged such as the effect marriage had on the status of women and reforming conditions for white working women. Marriage stripped away whatever a woman had to her name, such as her education background and skills. This was the case for Elizabeth Cady Staton, who had studied mathematics and Greek, and was studying law under her father, but soon after she was married, her status was changed to fulltime housewife and mother. This was known as the middle-class woman’s dilemma. Another issue was brought up in the convention, the issue of the working conditions of working-class white women. While this issue did not directly relate with many of the women in the convention and was neglected in a sense, it still affected the working women in there, such as Charlotte Woodward. The struggle Woodward had dealt with as a working woman can be compared to the middle-class woman’s struggle as both seek to be valued as equal to men, whether it be through the economic support provided or through the social status they hold in the family. Another issue that was also neglected was the struggle of Black women. The absence of this group of women in the convention showed the disregard the people have for them, when it is the Black women that suffers from both racism and sexism. However, this exclusion had brought upon a stronger presence for Black women in later years, in which Sojourner Truth would speak out at women’s rights meetings, fighting against racist and sexist oppression.