Letters on the Equality of the Sexes
Also known as Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, and the Condition of Woman
Sarah Grimké's 1838 letters arguing from Scripture that men and women were created equal.
At a glance
Key ideas
Created equal, Adam's greater blame, A prophecy, not a curse …
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- Grimké wrote the letters in reply to Congregationalist ministers who used the Bible to tell her and her sister to keep to "woman's proper sphere".
- Relying only on Scripture, she argues that Adam and Eve were created equal and that Adam bears more blame for the Fall.
- She sets out the wrongs done to women that the Bible does not support, and advises women how to resist them.
- She also condemns how American men treat women and slaves for their own benefit.
Why it matters
- It has been called "the first serious discussion of women's rights by an American woman".
Key facts
- Author
- Sarah Grimké1
- Serialised
- 1837, in The Spectator, a Massachusetts newspaper, and reprinted in William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator1
- Published
- 1838, in book form, Boston: Isaac Knapp1
- Addressed to
- Mary S. Parker, president of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society2
- First letter
- Dated 11 Jan 18371
Key ideas
-
Created equal2
"Men and women were CREATED EQUAL ... Whatever is right for a man, it's right for a woman."
-
Adam's greater blame2
Eve was tempted by a supernatural serpent, Adam only by a mortal, so Adam failed more.
-
A prophecy, not a curse2
Reading the Hebrew, she finds God's "curse" on woman to be a prophecy.
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Bound to God alone2
Women answer to God, not to men.
-
"Take their feet off our necks"2
All she asks of men is that they let women stand upright where God meant them to.
Connections
Written by
Links
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