Question

Catharine beecher said that women should not speak against slavery in public because:

Answer 1

The great teacher believed that women have foul tongues and that by doing so they would anger men. This would inhibit the abolishment agenda.

Answer 2

Catharine Beecher said that women should not speak against slavery in public because she believed that women should not participate in politics nor public discussions.

Catharine (1800-78) was an American educator firmly believed that both women and men had a different role in creating change in society. For Beecher, women and men had to act only within the "sphere" in which they belonged to. Women belonged to the sphere that was subordinated to the other sex, and that included private life, family the running of a home, persuasion, and living for others, and a Man's sphere included public life, politics (which also included the antislavery movement), business, ambition, and achievement. Therefore, for women to participate in any social movement, or speak against slavery in public was totally wrong.