“Truth is the only safe ground to stand upon.” ~Elizabeth Cady Stanton

As women in America were extended more and more opportunities for higher education, there arose a group of educated, middle class women who felt strongly about the need for women's suffrage. For Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the right for women to vote was simple, clear and vital. She dedicated her life to raising her 7 children, and putting in whatever work was necessary to see suffrage for women realized. She, and other key figures like Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul played important roles in this fight. 

In the meantime, other women like Jane Addams, Dorothea Dix, and Florence Kelly were working for the poorer and ignorant classes to improve their living conditions and opportunities. As part of an attempt to improve the conditions of the lower class, Margaret Sanger, a trained nurse, felt that birth control was the best answer. Control the population, she believed, and give the women the ability to choose when they have children, and living conditions, jobs and wages would improve for all. She devoted herself and all her energy to realizing this ambition--founding the first Planned Parenthood clinics and forming the group of  philanthropists, doctors and scientists who would develop the first birth control pill. 

In this podcast, Audrey sweeps across the history of women's issues in the last two centuries. She quickly covers key events, people and issues to create a backdrop for the modern Feminist movement that defines the way women think and talk about themselves today. Tune in next month when Betty Friedan and The Feminine Mystique take hold in the minds of women across the U.S. and change the framework of relations between men and women forever!

Listener's Guide:
Use the time stamps below to skip to any part of the podcast. 

2:00      The Vote - The Next Big Thing After Education
7:30      Elizabeth Cady Stanton - First Public Figure in American Suffrage
8:47      Susan B. Anthony
10:33    The Woman's Bible: A Classic Feminist Perspective
11:25     Alice Paul
14:09    The National Women's Party
18:28    The Woman's Era
20:53    Florence Kelly
22:48    Margaret Sanger - Birth Control
26:46    Margaret Sanger's Reasons for Birth Control
29:45    Planned Parenthood
33:47    Margaret Sanger's Reasons for Birth Control
35:05    Margaret Sanger's Personal Life
37:39    The Mike Wallace Interview
41:47    Roe vs Wade

Quotes from this episode:
“To live for a principle, for the triumph of some reform by which all mankind are to be lifted up—to be wedded to an idea—maybe, after all, the holiest and happiest of marriages.” ~Elizabeth Cady Stanton
“I would have girls regard themselves not as adjectives, but as nouns.” ~Elizabeth Cady Stanton

“Truth is the only safe ground to stand upon.” ~Elizabeth Cady Stanton

“The best protection any woman can have ... is courage. ” ~Elizabeth Cady Stanton

“The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls. Every truth we see is ours to give the world, not to keep for ourselves alone, for in so doing we cheat humanity out of their rights and check our own development.” ~Elizabeth Cady Stanton

“To think I have had more than 60 years of hard struggle for a little liberty, and then to die without it seems so cruel.” ~Susan B. Anthony

“I do not demand equal pay for any women save those who do equal work in value. Scorn to be coddled by your employers; make them understand that you are in their service as workers, not as women.”  ~Susan B.