Mightier than the Sword: Slowing the Momenturm for women's rights Summary.

I had other options for this project like the slavery but what attracted me was the chapter based on the fight for women rights. Being a female, I am aware that a large majority women living in this world still live under suppression and are the denied the basic rights to vote, drive or receive an education. In Mightier than the word, Streitmatter takes us back in history when women in this country were ridiculed constantly, unable to have a career,confined to the four walls of the kitchen and perceived as unequal to men. Being able to vote and have a life separate from having kids was not a given right. And most importantly he highlighted how the American newspapers of the nineteenth century slowed the momentum for women rights through the abuse of power.

The birth of Suffrage press began when a woman's role in society was largely suppressed and shaped by the media which was largely controlled by men. Women were expected to perform certain duties and be submissive  throughout her life.  The event that marked the beginning was the women rights movement started by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and later Susan B. Anthony, Harriot Staton Blatch and Alice Paul.  The mainstream media was quick to attack Staton and Anthony's movement and campaigns.  But Staton believed that all publicity was good publicity. Despite the "failure" of The Revolution, The Women Journal was subsequently founded by Stone which was the aim of the suffrage press. To join women all over the country together even with the lack of transportation by reaching out to women through a printed publication.  It contained information of activities nationwide and reinforced her sense of purpose.

Despite that, the attacks from the media particularly the male dominated ones became more vicious and hostile. Elizabeth Cady Staton and Susan B Anthony were constantly ridiculed and depicted as extremely unattractive through pictures. It was only during an era of change and the rise of a new generation that allowed the issue of women suffrage to be taken seriously. With the lack of support from the fourth estate and with such limited and distorted media coverage, it took seventy two years before women in this country finally secured her rights.