Declaration of Rights for Women - American Education

A statement demanding equal rights and justice for women, issued on July 4, 1876, the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and other champions of women’s rights in the United States, the declaration demanded for women “all the civil and political rights that belong to citizens of the United States.” At the time, girls had yet to obtain equal rights to education at the elementary and secondary school levels, and women were barred from all but a few colleges. Although it did not have an immediate impact on women’s education, the declaration marked the beginning of the national debate over women’s rights that would continue for a century thereafter. By the end of the 19th century that debate had opened up the doors of almost all public elementary and secondary schools to girls, and two decades later opened the ballot boxes to women. (See also WOMEN’S EDUCATION.)