The best ?  There are so many but I credit Jane Hunt, Mary Ann M’Clintock, Martha Wright, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, true pioneers. 

The Wesleyan Methodist Church (The Wesleyan Church www.wesleyan.org/heritage)  was founded by a group who seceded from the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1843 over the issue of slavery.   It is common knowledge that the issue that brought about the separation was abolition of slavery. The Wesleyan Methodists, along with another member denomination of the CHP, the Friends (Quakers), both made a place for themselves in history with the vital role they played in the underground railroad.

This was the atmosphere in which a few courageous Christians, including Orange Scott and Luther Lee, founded The Wesleyan Church. Their purpose was both to spread "scriptural holiness over these lands" and to secure justice for their fellow human beings. But what many people do not know is that the Wesleyan Methodist Church was also at the forefront of fighting for the rights of women. In July of 1998, thousands of women gathered at the remains of a small chapel in Seneca Falls, New York, to mark the 150th anniversary of the Women’s Rights Movement. It was in that church that an unprecedented meeting was convened on July 19 and 20, 1848, to draft a "Declaration of Sentiments" calling for fairer treatment of women and their right to vote. This Chapel was a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. On July 9, 1848 Jane Hunt, Mary Ann M’Clintock, Martha Wright, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton met in Waterloo, New York. After discussing the social position of women, the group decided to hold the First Women’s Rights Convention in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York. (NPS) CREDIT: McLeister, Ira F. and Nicholson, Roy S. Conscience and Commitment (The Wesleyan Press, Marion, IN, 1976) p.81.
http://www.wesleyan.org/heritage
http://www.whwomenclergy.org/articles/article55.php
http://www.nps.gov/wori/historyculture/significant-events-of-the-underground-railroad.htm
http://www.nps.gov/wori/historyculture/the-underground-railroad-and-the-first-womens-rights-convention.htm KEEP UP THE GOOD FIGHT, IT BENEFITS US ALL !!   ;)

Well, Sam, you and I seem to be on the same brain wave this morning. As I was scrolling down reading the comments, I thought birth control, what about birth control! And then there it was, in your post, bold and black. The right to vote, however, for me, is right there with contraceptives and I’m glad I don’t have to choose one over the other. And then the heels––ah, those heels. I remember some film where the female lead was escaping from someone running down alley ways and byways in HIGH heels and I thought what the heck the director––who must have been male––was thinking and why didn’t the actress protest? And then there’s the fact that we still have not passed the ERA! And yes, I agree, our first lady is a wonderful role model––one of the best we’ve ever had.

Here’s some good news for a change.  Last night while trying to muster up enough willpower to watch the news, a wonderful story about two women came to save the day.  Apparently there is an international talent contest, and an Israeli and Arab both entered, singing a duet and representing Israel.  When they performed, people started protesting against them.  When they were interviewed and asked how they felt about that.  They said that they cried together and then wrote two songs in five minutes.  Hooray for the ladies!  Not only did they not let the protests close them down, they felt their feelings and let their creative juices help them to ride the storm.  My heart was lifted to the heavens when I heard this story.  It only makes me dig my heels in stronger and remember a great old saying, "When you’re afraid of the waves, become the ocean."

 yes, yes, yes.

Bonnie Katz

bonniekatz.com

There are many great and profound changes that came about recognizing we women as intelligent, contributing and important to our country and world. However, there was a significant happening in my life that perhaps many other women never experienced and will never have to now. When my husband and I married…way back in 1952, we decided to purchase a house in 1955. I was working as was he. I was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, as was he. However, when it was time to sign up for a loan, my status was zilch! My salary was not considered, nor was I questioned when we went to a loan officer. I was sort of like the little child, just sitting there listening to what the "grownups" were saying. I remember being very angry, but what the hell could I do? Perhaps tell them to forget it…we’d just not buy a house then..? At any rate, the world has changed, thank goodness, and those who went before…women that is…forced the status to change. Thanks again for that. Now, my daughters, and my granddaughter never need feel as though they are less than second-class citizens. I hadn’t thought about that for years. I’m glad I was reminded. I wonder how many other women felt disenfranchised, and downright treated like a big nothing!

The most important moment will arrive when the ERA becomes law. If equality under the laws is the goal then the ERA must be passed. As long as women allow male lawmakers to keep the ERA locked up in Congressional committees they will be subject to men holding them in check. If women no longer care about the ERA they will continue to experience the wage gap, glass ceiling, limited political power and need for laws like Ledbetter. In the 1970s women got close to passing ERA. Since 1980, ovefr 30 years have past and women today now have greater political power and the money needed to mount a campaign that will get the ERA enacted. The well known celebrity women who have made it along with the female Senators and Congresspeople should lead this movement and instead they do nothing. Read the article in The New York Times Sunday March 1, 2009 Business Section page 4 and you will see that the wages of men are clearly greater than the pay for women doing the same type of work. The President, Congress and the States can no longer deny the ERA, however unless woman mount a meaningful battle for their equal rights they will miss this opportunity in history. The most important moment will be now if women take the initiative and get their ERA.

I like to think that our greatest moments are to come. Or maybe they are happening now, as more and more women’s voices are being heard. Thanks, WOW, for participating in our emergence.

susangabriel.com

Women were granted the right to vote in the territory of Utah in 1870. Utah was second in the nation to give women the right to vote after Wyoming in 1869.

 Women’s Suffrage—the right of women to vote—was won twice in Utah. It was granted first in 1870 by the territorial legislature but revoked by Congress in 1887 as part of a national effort to rid the territory of polygamy. It was restored in 1895, when the right to vote and hold office was written into the constitution of the new state. 

Utah women probably succeeded in 1895 where women elsewhere had failed because their efforts were approved by leaders of the main political force in the state—the Mormon church. Leading suffragists, in addition to Margaret Caine and Emily Richards, included relatives and friends of church leaders: Emmeline B. Wells, editor of the Exponent; Zina D. H. Young, wife of Brigham Young; Jane Richards, wife of Apostle Franklin D. Richards; and Sarah M. Kimball, among many others. They could not be dismissed as fire-eating radicals. They were highly skilled at organizing women and mobilizing political support. They could also point to the period when Utah women had voted—without noticeable harm to themselves or the Territory. Thus they won a right granted at that time only in two states, in a struggle unique to Utah in its entanglement with the issues of polygamy and statehood.

 http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/statehood_and_the_progressive_era/womenssuffrageinutah.html

The best absolutely the right to vote.  The worst, I have to partially agree with Phyllis, religion has painted a picture for centuries of "the place of women". Are there female priests? Are women equal in religious societies world wide? An archeologist and ancient historian, Merlin Stone, wrote a fabulous book  called "When God was a Woman" it details a most ancient conspiracy , from a time when women bought and sold property  and traded in the marketplace.  Inheiritance was passed from mother to daughter. What happened? The woman was once revered as the one source of universal order. How far have we come backwards?