Quaker views of women - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Quaker views on women have always been considered progressive

Progressivism

Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...

in their own time (beginning in the 17th century), and in the late 19th century this tendency bore fruit in the prominence of Quaker women in the American women's rights movement.

The early history of attitudes towards gender

Gender

Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...

in the Religious Society of Friends (aka Quakers) is particularly notable for providing for one of the largest and most equitable roles for women in the Christian tradition at the time, despite not endorsing universal equality until much later.

For many outside observers during the first hundred years of Quakerism, the most surprising aspect of Quakerism was the fact that "ministry" – the prerogative to speak during a Quaker meeting

Meeting for worship

A meeting for worship is a practice of the Religious Society of Friends in many ways comparable to a church service. These services have a wide variety of forms, creating a spectrum from typical Protestant liturgy to silent waiting for the Spirit .A Meeting for Worship may start with a query;...

– was open to women from the very beginnings of the movement in the 1650s. In James Boswell

James Boswell

James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....

's Life of Johnson
Life of Johnson
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. is a biography of Dr. Samuel Johnson written by James Boswell. It is regarded as an important stage in the development of the modern genre of biography; many have claimed it as the greatest biography written in English...

, Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...

's opinion of a female Quaker preacher was recorded thus: "Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all." Especially in the early years, a large number — even possibly the majority – of traveling Quaker preachers were women. Aside from ministry, Quaker women were allowed to travel alone and to publish, which was also unusual for the time.

For many Quakers, both historical and contemporary, the inclusion of women is part of what is now called the "Testimony of Equality

Testimony of Equality

Testimony of equality is a shorthand description of the action generally taken by members of the Religious Society of Friends towards equality, arising from Friends' belief that all people are created equal in the eyes of God. The word testimony describes the way that Friends testify or bear...

." However, despite that testimony, women's roles were not completely equal for many years. In the beginning, Meetings for Business were dominated by male Friends, but within twenty-five years, George Fox ordered establishment of separate women's meetings when he faced challenges to his leadership. Particularly controversial was his decision that women's meetings for discipline should be the first to pass on a couple's intention to be married. Separate meetings declined by the 19th century and were eliminated later. Having authority over any business at all – let alone authority over men (in the form of approving or denying marriages) – was a radical move in the 17th century, and gave women then-rare experience in running organizations . Concerning the introduction and much later dissolution of separate meetings, one historian writes,

"On balance, and in the long run, I believe that the separate women's meeting was good for women; indeed, it may be said to have been a cradle not only of modern feminism

Feminism

Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...

but of the movements of abolitionism

Abolitionism

Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...

, women's suffrage

Women's suffrage

Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...

, and peace activism, all of which were, and are, enlivened by the presence (even predominance) of Quaker female leaders."

Quakers were heavily involved in the 19th century movement for women's rights

Women's rights

Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...

in America; the landmark 1848 Seneca Falls Declaration

Declaration of Sentiments

The Declaration of Sentiments, also known as the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments, is a document signed in 1848 by 68 women and 32 men, 100 out of some 300 attendees at the first women's rights convention, in Seneca Falls, New York, now known as the Seneca Falls Convention...

was in large part the work of Quaker women, and has numerous Quaker signatories, well out of proportion to the number of Quakers in American society at large. The tradition of Quaker involvement in women's rights continued into the 20th and 21st centuries, with Quakers playing large roles in organizations continuing to work on women's rights.

See also