Although women have fought long and hard to be considered only as persons, they are still described as frail, incapable, and unequal to men. Women have overcome many unfair restrictions such as very few political rights and legal positions.
Even though Anne Hutchinson grew up in a time when women were treated as if they were beneath men, she was able to speak her mind. She opened the eyes of other women by letting them know that they have a voice and can be heard. Anne Hutchinson was a strong, bold woman of the early 1600s, who stood up for what she believed in and challenged male authority. She went against the Puritan orthodoxy and became a threat to the sate of Massachusetts. Hutchinson was an individualist (16) who held discussions about the sermons from the puritan church; the discussions led to criticism. Although "women were not considered fit to teach men,"(16) males did participate in her discussions. After her death, John Winthrop described her as an "American Jezebel" (23).
The 1800s opened the door for women to be given a little respect. Women's rights were a reform movement that lasted through the civil war and was on of the movements that left a lasting mark (p 163). "The Herald Angels Of Woman's Rights," women's role in society, in the 1800s, was explored. During the agrarian nation period, women played a role in the domestic farm market by making clothing and household manufactures (p 163). "The Herald Angels Of Woman's Rights," asserts urban life as the reason for change in their economic role. The introduction of urban life made women caretaker of the home without profitable commission and restrictions placed upon them became more evident (p 163). "Women could not speak in public, any wages they earned were given to their husbands, they lost control of all property upon marriage, they were excluded from the professions, and they were expected to avoid business life" (p 163).