“Married women today are not the abject slaves they were fifty years ago”
Lavinia Goodell, October 1879
In the fall of 1879, Lavinia Goodell wrote an article for the Woman’s Journal titled “How it Looked to a Lawyer Half a Century Ago.” In it, she lauded the progress women had made during her lifetime (Lavinia was born in 1839) in gaining more rights.
Lavinia noted that in 1837, Timothy Walker, a professor at the Law Department of Cincinnati College delivered a course of lectures on American Law that were published in book form in 1837. Walker commented, “With regard to political rights, females form a positive exception to the general doctrine of equality. They cannot vote, nor hold office. We require them to contribute their share in the ay of taxes, or the support of government, but allow them no void in its direction.” Walker said if males were treated in this fashion, it “would be the exact definition of political slavery.” But he said, “probably the most refined and enlightened [women] would be the last to desire a change which would involve them in the turmoil of politics.”
Lavinia, who was in her sixth and final year of practicing law (she died five months later), said that Walker was sympathetic to the notion that women should have equal rights. Walker aptly pointed out that married women had even fewer rights than single women since, “While single, her legal rights are the same as those of man. When married, her legal rights are chiefly suspended.” Walker said, “I can see neither policy, justice nor humanity in most of the legal doctrines with respect to married women.”
Lavinia Goodell could not see policy, justice, nor humanity in affording any woman fewer rights than afforded to men. She said, “Since Walker wrote, the best women are coming to see that they do desire change, and there is a prospect that the change will be made.” She noted that the religious periodical “The Christian Union” told wives to submit themselves to their husbands rather than have strife. To this notion, Lavinia wrote:
Had Woman “submitted” all these years, “rather than have strife,” would the laws ever have been modified as they have been? We have to thank the women who preferred “strife” to submission on such degrading terms, that married women today are not the abject slaves they were fifty years ago, and that men today have wives “worthy the companionship” of freemen. We may be thankful also that our lawyers have a higher sense of justice than our clergymen, and so have aided women in their struggle to come up higher. If the study of theology does not cultivate the sense of justice, we would advise our ministerial brethren to take a course of law.”
Read the full article here.
In the remaining months of her life, Lavinia Goodell continued to work to gain equality for women in all spheres of life.
Sources consulted: “How it Looked to a Lawyer Half a Century Ago,” Woman’s Journal, Vol. 10, No. 41, 10/11/79, seq. 327, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
