“The true woman will not be exponent of another or allow another to be such for her.” The Solitude of Self

“No matter how much women prefer to lean, to be protected and supported, or how much men prefer to have them do so, they must make the voyage of life alone. And, for safety in an emergency, they must know something of the laws of navigation.

The talk of sheltering women from the fierce storms of life is sheer 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.

Whatever the theories may be of woman’s dependence on man in the supreme moments of her life, he can not bear her burden. In the tragedies and triumphs of human experience, each mortal stands alone.

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 birth right to self sovereignty. As an individual, she needs to rely on herself.

In age, when the pleasures of youth are past, children grown up, married and gone, the hurry and bustle of life in a measure over, when the hands are weary of active service, when the old arm chair and fireside are chosen resorts, then men and women alike must fall back on their own resources.

There is a solitude, which each and every one of us has always carried: more inaccessible than the ice-cold mountains; more profound than the midnight sea.

The solitude of self, our inner being which we call our self, no eye or touch of man or angel has ever pierced."

Elizabeth Cady Stanton Farewell address at Washington DC’s National Women’s Suffragette Association Convention 1/18/1892.

Unfortunately, it appears that not much has changed with respect to how Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony tireless advocated for not only the right for women to vote (which came in 1919, relatively recently in historic terms) but all rights for equality especially in the areas of respect and consideration.

Let’s talk about how much you think things have or have not changed since Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth had their first meeting in 1848 at Seneca Falls, NY.

Debra Whittam is the author of “I'm I Going to be Ok?" For any media inquiries or questions please contact: Contact@DebraWhittam.com