In the 1800s, women weren’t considered equal to men. They had very few rights. Anything a woman had belonged to her father or her husband. Women were generally not allowed to hold jobs. If a woman had a job, any money she made belonged to her husband. He chose how to spend it. Women couldn’t own property, nor could they buy or sell land.

Women couldn’t be doctors. Medical schools would not admit women. Most colleges were for men only. There weren’t many high schools for girls and there were only a few colleges for women. Not many women had the opportunity to go to college.

Even elementary schools favored boys. They only taught girls the basics. Girls learned how to add and subtract. Sometimes they learned to multiply. Susan B. Anthony’s teacher refused to teach her long division. He said it was only for boys. The boys got to learn many things that the girls didn’t, such as Greek and Latin.

Women couldn’t be part of a jury. A jury is made up of 12 people who listen to court cases. A jury decides if a person on trial is guilty or not guilty. This is called a verdict. Women went to court for many crimes, but an all-man jury decided the verdict. This led to many unfair verdicts.

Women were not allowed to vote in local or presidential elections. In fact, men did not want women in politics at all. Women weren’t even allowed to give speeches. Well, they were allowed to give speeches to all-women audiences. But they could not give a speech to a male audience or an audience made up of both men and women.

So what could women do? They could be wives. But they couldn’t divorce their husbands if they wanted to. Only the husbands could decide to get a divorce. Women could have children. They could be schoolteachers or maids. But they made far less money than men did in these jobs. Susan B. Anthony made $2.50 a week as a teacher. A man held that job before she came. He made $10 a week. Susan would make $120 per year. The man who did the same job would make $480 per year. That is a big difference.

As you can see, being a woman in the 1800s was pretty frustrating. It makes sense that women stood up and demanded equal rights.