Being a woman talking in 2024 has its challenges, but it was much worse in 1853. At a convention devoted to the Temperance cause (fighting for the moderation and eventual prohibition of alcohol), a young reformer named Antoinette Brown wanted to speak. Here’s how abhorrent the idea was that a woman should address an audience in public: First, they cut her name from the list of delegates, effectively saying she could not attend (no girls allowed!). Then a “furious discussion” ensued, “covering the greater part of two days” after which they determined that she could attend by vote. A second vote determined that she should be allowed to speak for ten minutes. Some men shouted words of encouragement to her. But the rest….
“The minority, however, were not to be overcome so easily. She was greeted with sneers, hisses, shouting and stamping. The confusion, appropriate only to a mob, continued for three hours, at which time the convention adjourned. During this period the courageous young woman stood first and unshaken, although the fingers of men from all over the house were pointing at her and shouts of “Shame on the woman!” assailed her continually.”
Before women could fight for their own rights, they had to fight to even be allowed to speak in public at all.