In 1895 & 1898 Elizabeth Cady Stanton, along with a committee of 26 women, published The Woman’s Bible. Its aim was to challenge the prevailing patriarchal interpretation of the Christian Bible for a more radical theology liberating women. “Self-development is a higher duty than self-sacrifice,” said Stanton.

The Bible was a popular best-seller but also controversial - many younger suffragists denounced it, for fear it would harm the movement’s goal of obtaining women’s right to vote. Even Susan B. Anthony, Stanton’s long-time friend, was not in favor of it’s publication.

At that time, society was undeniably controlled by men. Women held little power, and men invoked the Bible as their guide to keep women “in their place”. Stanton felt strongly that women would never obtain the right to vote with this common practice in place - and she wasn’t alone.

Lucretia Mott, an early 19th century advocate for women’s rights, became adept at refuting male-dominated interpretations of the Bible. In her speech Discourse On Woman, Mott argued that the Bible supported women’s rights. Suffragist Lucy Stone learned Greek and Hebrew to also confirm her disbelief in this common patriarchal practice.

The quote in this artwork came from The Woman’s Bible. It had been fifty years since the first women’s rights convention and suffragists were exasperated to have failed to convince men of women’s justified suffrage.

The Women’s Political World was started in 1913 by Stanton’s daughter, Harriot Stanton Blatch, to secure women’s suffrage in NY State. That right was granted in 1917. Nationally, though, women had to wait until 1920 for their right to vote, via the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.