Women’s Rights = Human Rights?

Salons at Stowe

Women’s Rights = Human Rights?

March 26, 2015

Author Susan Campbell facilitated discussion with Kyle Turner, writer, editor, and film scholar, and Carolyn Treiss, Executive Director of the Connecticut Permanent Commission on the Status of Women. The audience discussed the stigma of describing yourself as “feminist,” feminist values, the importance of allies, the role of men in the feminist movement, politics and the role of presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and the gender wage gap.

Inspiration to Action

Hold policy makers accountable: email, call, and attend hearings on issues that matter to women
Have conversations about women’s rights and feminism, even with those who may disagree
Educate yourself and work to pass the Equal Rights Amendment
Encourage men to get involved in the movement for women’s rights
Understand the impact of language and be intentional with language use

Location Harriet Beecher Stowe Center

Doors Open 5-7 PM

Program 5-7 PM

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Isabella Beecher Hooker

Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker (1822-1907)
An ardent member of the woman’s suffrage movement, Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker joined in the cause along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Isabella was the first child of Lyman Beecher and his second wife, Harriet Porter Beecher.

Isabella began her education at Catharine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary and lived with her sister Mary Perkins. In 1841 she married John Hooker, a descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford. John Hooker was a lawyer and an abolitionist.

In the early 1860s Isabella got involved in the woman’s suffrage movement. Isabella joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as a member of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in 1869. She was a founding member of the Connecticut Woman’s Suffrage Association. Isabella’s ideas of equality were influenced by John Stuart Mills’ On Liberty and the Subjection of Women.

In 1871, Isabella organized the annual convention of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in Washington D.C. and presented her argument before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Her husband, John Hooker, believed in his wife and supported her activities. He helped Isabella draft a bill to the Connecticut Legislature giving married women the same property rights as their husbands. The bill passed in 1877. Isabella annually submitted a bill granting women the right to vote, but it did not pass in her lifetime.