We would have every arbitrary barrier thrown down. We would have every path laid open to woman as freely as to man.
Interpretation
The quote advocates for the removal of societal barriers that restrict women's opportunities.
Margaret Fuller's quote expresses a desire for complete equality between men and women, highlighting the importance of removing arbitrary barriers that hinder women's access to the same opportunities as men. It asserts that women should have unrestricted paths to pursue their ambitions and roles in society, emphasizing the necessity of true equality in every aspect of life.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech advocating for women's rights during a rally.
I fear I have not one good word to say this fair morning, though the sun shines so encouragingly on the distant hills and gentle river and the trees are in their festive hues. I am not festive, though contented. When obliged to give myself to the prose of life, as I am on this occasion of being established in a new home I like to do the thing, wholly and quite, - to weave my web for the day solely from the grey yarn.
Plants of great vigor will almost always struggle into blossom, despite impediments. But there should be encouragement, and a free genial atmosphere for those of more timid sort, fair play for each in its own kind.
Two persons love in one another the future good which they aid one another to unfold.
It was not meant that the soul should cultivate the earth, but that the earth should educate and maintain the soul.
It seems that it is madder never to abandon one's self than often to be infatuated; better to be wounded, a captive and a slave, than always to walk in armor.
I now know all the people worth knowing in America, and I find no intellect comparable to my own.
My feeling is, having lived in different classes, that people want equality of opportunity... that's the thing that makes me despair: the idea that people aren't given equality of opportunity.
Women want to be free to choose from the same range of options that men take for granted. In our quest for equal pay, equal access to education and opportunities, we have made great strides. But until women can move freely and think freely in their homes, on the streets, in the workplace without the fear of violence, there can be no real freedom.
A child born to a Black mother in a state like Mississippi... has exactly the same rights as a white baby born to the wealthiest person in the United States. It's not true, but I challenge anyone to say it is not a goal worth working for.
Women must have economic and social equality with men.
In sum, the truth is that we luxuriate in the comfortable assertion that women enjoy equality. We have salved our consciences by eliminating the more obvious discriminations like unequal rates of pay for work of equal value. But, in fact, we have not eliminated the inheritance of the millennia that women are lesser beings, an inheritance which still manifests itself in a whole range of prejudice and other forms of discrimination.
In addition to being an economic security issue, the failure to pay women a salary that's equal to men for equal work is also a women's health issue. The fact is that the salary women are paid directly impacts the type of health care services they are able to access for both themselves and their families.
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