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Pioneering American Woman
For many reasons, Clara Barton is considered a pioneering American woman by both their contemporaries and many modern people worldwide. She was hired as a clerk at the Patent Office in 1854, at the same rate of pay as the men. While her position was subject to the vagaries of politics, and she was subject to harassment from her male co-workers, she persevered and worked at the Patent Office, off and on, until 1865.
Barton was an early lobbyist, tirelessly pushing influential politicians to adopt the Treaty of Geneva and established the American Red Cross. She pursued this cause throughout the 1870s until she was finally successful in 1882. She was one of three delegates from the United States sent to the Third International Red Cross Conference in Geneva in 1884 -- and the only female delegate present. What is known as the "American Amendment," which broadens the scope of the work of the Red Cross to include natural disasters, was passed at the conference, mainly due to Barton's work in America and her advocacy of the amendment.
The rights of women were important to Barton -- "the right of her own property, her own children, her own home, or just individual claim before the law, to her freedom of action, to her personal liberty." She supported her friend Susan B Anthony, Frances D Gage, and other suffragettes in their cause to win the right to vote for American women. She also supported dress reform and eagerly embraced technological improvements throughout her lifetime. |