What Hath Eve Wrought? or W.H.E.W.!
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Today it may seem almost incomprehensible that women's brains were considered too small, too weak for learning beyond the mere basics; that her opportunities for employment were restricted to housekeeping and child-rearing; that the few rights she had as a single woman were obliterated upon marriage; that religion held her, as a descendent of Eve, the cause of mankind's sorrows; and that she was to obey the command of the Apostle Paul who prescribed her silence in church and, by extension, the unseemliness of any woman speaking in public; that society treated woman as a child or somewhat half-witted who had a "proper place" and who must adhere to a strict moral code; that the law denied her the civil, social and political rights enjoyed by men… A girl's education was generally only rudimentary. Anything beyond the ability to read, write and do simple sums was considered not only unnecessary but a decided drain on female brains. Male medical wisdom decreed that there was a vital connection between the female reproductive system and mental exercises. Any excess mental exertion could cause irreparable damage to the uterus. Knowing too much would lead to neuroses and spinsterhood. A learned woman was an absurdity, an anomaly.
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About the Book
What Hath Eve Wrought? or W.H.E.W! is an historical view of how the Creation story of Eve as the "sinner" in the Garden became an all important element in the nineteenth century to suppress the idea of the equality of womankind. Many women began to realize their sub-citizen status had been perpetrated for centuries by a myth, holding that all women, descendants of Eve, were relegated to a position below that of superior man. The first woman's convention, held in 1848, and led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton brought nation-wide attention to the demands for voting rights, for the social and legal rights that had been withheld from all women. Now the fear of what the equality of women would do to the long-held superiority of men became the basis for decades of gynephobia. Few of the events of the long struggle for equality have been reported in history text books; a paltry number of suffragists have been acknowledged; the words of the anti-feminist men have seldom been disclosed; the voices and deeds of the many pro-feminist men who bravely assisted in the struggle that eventually led to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment surfaced late in the last century. What is presented, what is read and taught in educational institutions regarding the long fought battle for equality, must become a necessary ingredient in the discipline of American History. What Hath Eve Wrought? intends to begin that process.
About the Author
For the past twenty-five years Marilyn Adams has been accumulating the words and deeds of nineteenth century feminists who fought for legal, social and political equality. She also found the words of men who used the "sin" of Eve as a legitimate reason for denying equality to the women of this republic. She then discovered in the latter years of the last century that there were pro-feminist men who, for the better part of the nineteenth century, had been largely ignored, their voices unheard, their support of woman's quest for equality suppressed. These three segments of society has formed the basis of What Hath Eve Wrought? Marilyn has had a lifetime of theatrical experiences, beginning with Children's Theatre and later with occasional forays in community and regional theatre, culminating with one-woman shows portraying Susan B. Anthony, Victoria Woodhull and Eleanor Roosevelt as a Chautauqua Scholar under the auspices of the New Mexico Humanities Council. For the past ten years Marilyn has been a walking tour guide of historic Santa Fe as the Mad Hatter, easily recognizable by the "Flying Nun" hat she wears. As a historian and performer, Marilyn is uniquely qualified to help men as well as women understand the importance of woman's past struggles for equality, her right to enjoy what is due every human being.