Quaker views on women have always been considered
progressive in their own time (beginning in the 17th century), and in the late 19th century this tendency bore fruit in the prominence of
Quaker women in the American
women's rights movement
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
.
The early history of attitudes towards
gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures ...
in the Religious Society of Friends (i.e. Quakers) is particularly notable for providing for one of the largest and most equitable roles for women in the Christian tradition at the time, despite not endorsing universal equality until much later.
History
For many outside observers during the first hundred years of Quakerism, the most surprising aspect of Quakerism was that "ministry" – the prerogative to speak during a Quaker
meeting – was open to women from the very beginnings of the movement in the 1650s.
One of the earliest to formulate direct biblical justification for this was
Sarah Blackborow.
Margaret Fell
Margaret Fell orMargaret Fox ( Askew, formerly Fell; 1614 – 23 April 1702) was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends. Known popularly as the "mother of Quakerism," she is considered one of the Valiant Sixty early Quaker preachers and m ...
, one of the
Valiant Sixty
The Valiant Sixty were a group of early activists and itinerant preachers in the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Mainly from northern England, they spread the ideas of the Friends in the second half of the 17th century. They were also call ...
and referred to as the "Mother of Quakerism", argued in favor of women preachers in her work ''Womens Speaking Justified''. Her work on the subject is considered to have been among the most comprehensive at the time. In
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 ( N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the English writer ...
's ''
Life of Johnson
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy tran ...
'',
Samuel Johnson's opinion of a female Quaker preacher was recorded thus: "Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all." Especially in the early years, a large number – even possibly the majority – of traveling Quaker preachers were women. Out of 141 traveling Quaker ministers from America to England between 1685 and 1835, 34% were women. While some radical
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
sects allowed women to preach, the conception of
gender equality
Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...
in Quakerism was unparalleled by other groups at the time. Aside from ministry, Quaker women traveled alone and published their writing, which was also unusual for the time. Several of the Valiant Sixty were women.
For many Quakers, both historical and contemporary, the inclusion of women is part of what is now called the "
Testimony of Equality". However, despite that testimony, women's roles were not completely equal for many years.
In the beginning,
meetings for worship for business were dominated by male Friends, but within twenty-five years, George Fox ordered establishment of separate women's meetings when he faced challenges to his leadership. Particularly controversial was his decision that women's meetings for discipline should be the first to pass on a couple's intention to be married. Separate meetings declined by the 19th century and were eliminated later. Having authority over any business at all – let alone authority over men (in the form of approving or denying marriages) – was a radical move in the 17th century, and gave women then-rare experience in running organizations. Concerning the introduction and much later dissolution of separate meetings, one historian writes,
:"On balance, and in the long run, I believe that the separate women's meeting was good for women; indeed, it may be said to have been a cradle not only of modern feminism but of the movements of abolitionism, women's suffrage, and peace activism, all of which were, and are, enlivened by the presence (even predominance) of Quaker female leaders."
In the United States
Quakers were heavily involved in the 19th-century movement for
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
in the United States.
Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony (born Susan Anthony; February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to s ...
, who was born into a Quaker family, is a prominent example. She founded the
American Equal Rights Association
The American Equal Rights Association (AERA) was formed in 1866 in the United States. According to its constitution, its purpose was "to secure Equal Rights to all American citizens, especially the right of suffrage, irrespective of race, color ...
. The Progressive Friends, a radical Quaker group which supported
women's empowerment
Women's empowerment (or female empowerment) may be defined in several ways, including accepting women's viewpoints, making an effort to seek them and raising the status of women through education, awareness, literacy, and training.Kabeer, Naila ...
, were formed shortly before the
Seneca Falls Convention
The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman".Wellman, 2004, p. 189 Held in the Wesleyan Chapel of the tow ...
.
The landmark
1848 Seneca Falls Declaration was in large part the work of Quaker women, and has numerous Quaker signatories, well out of proportion to the number of Quakers in American society at large.
Lucretia Mott
Lucretia Mott (''née'' Coffin; January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was an American Quaker, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position of women in society when she was amongs ...
, who co-wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, was one such individual. Their influence was felt at the
Rochester Women's Rights Convention of 1848
The Rochester Women's Rights Convention of 1848 met on August 2, 1848 in Rochester, New York. Many of its organizers had participated in the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention, two weeks earlier in Seneca Falls, a small ...
not long after the Seneca Falls Convention.
Radical
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
Quakers, including those who were conductors on the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...
, exhibited principles of gender equality through their aggressive recruiting of both men and women.
The tradition of Quaker involvement in women's rights continued into the 20th and 21st centuries, with Quakers playing large roles in organizations continuing to work on women's rights. For example,
Alice Paul was a Quaker woman who was a prominent leader in the
National Woman's Party
The National Woman's Party (NWP) was an American women's political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women's suffrage. After achieving this goal with the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the NW ...
, which advocated for the
Equal Rights Amendment.
See also
* ''
Daughters of Light''
*
Ordination of women
References
Further reading
“Women in the Society of Friends”, by Janet Scott in ''A Quaker miscellany for Edward H. Milligan'', edited by David Blamires, Jeremy Greenwood and Alex Kerr, published by David Blamires (1985)
{{Religious Society of Friends
Quaker practices
Christianity and women
Women's rights in religious movements
History of women in the United States