A little over one hundred years ago Harriet Martineau, a deaf but gifted English spinster, toured the U. S. equipped with reforming zeal, a philosophical and inquisitive mind, and a huge, old-fashioned ear trumpet which she aimed like a blunderbuss at the people she questioned. She discovered that only seven occupations were open to U. S. women: domestic service, keeping boarders, teaching young children, needlework, weaving, typesetting and bookbinding.* In 1840 two U. S. ladies, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, attended a World's Anti-Slavery Conference in London, were first barred...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
