They Call Her “The Woman They Could Not Silence”
Issue 265 — July 8, 2024
If Elizabeth Packard were alive today, she would be on our Panel “Together We Lead for Health” at Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference and Concert this August 25th evening and 26th all day, in Washington DC and accessible virtually. The theme is “Together We Lead.”
Elizabeth Packard’s life story, while appalling, is inspiring. And it’s a reminder of why Women’s Equality Day on August 26, 2024 will be the most consequential acknowledgment of that date so far in the 21st century.
In 1860, Elizabeth Packard was committed to an insane asylum by her husband because her beliefs regarding religion differed from his more conservative ones. He packed her and her belongings off to an institution and they admitted her without questioning.
She had no legal agency.
While institutionalized, Elizabeth refused to admit her insanity or change religious views. She also witnessed cruelty towards her fellow prisoners and relentlessly fought for humane treatments. As a result, her personal circumstances worsened. Yet she persisted.
Never underestimate the power of a woman who refuses to be silenced.
— Elizabeth Packard, quoted in The Woman They Could Not Silence
In 1863, she was released as incurable — in truth, just too much trouble — and remanded to the custody of her husband who imprisoned her in a room of their home, nailing the doors and windows shut.
She succeeded in securing a jury trial. At the end of a five-day trial and seven-minute jury deliberation, Elizabeth secured her physical freedom (not divorce) from her husband. She was immediately homeless, penniless, and without legal custody rights of their six children.
So, she set out to publicize and lobby for better sanity laws. In 1869, 51 years before women could even vote, Elizabeth persuaded both the Illinois and Massachusetts legislatures to allow married women equal rights to property and custody of their children. She later successfully worked to pass similar laws in other states.
Although these were important legal victories, Elizabeth understood that societal norms endured. So, she founded the Anti-Insane Asylum Society and published numerous books to further legal parity for men and women. Her biography is entitled The Woman They Could Not Silence.
The issues may be different, and let us appreciate that women have come a very long way since Elizabeth Packard’s day, thanks to the work of many courageous women like her.
But our bodily autonomy and equal rights are once again in peril. Consider that it was exactly 100 years between the passage of the infamous Comstock Laws that make it illegal to send birth control or abortifacients or even information about them through the mail, and the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion. Roe v. Wade was decided based on the 1963 Court decision in Griswold v. Connecticut legalizing birth control.
It’s important to note that most of the legal expansions of gay rights have been built on those two rulings.
All of these rights Americans have come to take for granted, and that have given women quite literally a right to their own lives and health decisions, are at risk since Roe was overturned in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
That’s why we look forward to honoring the Equal Rights Coalition with the Leading Advocate Award at the Power Up Conference and Concert.
Full disclosure, I’m an advisor to the ERA Coalition; it’s a cause I’ve been working for since the same year, 1971, when a joint resolution of the U.S. House and Senate was introduced to designate August 26 as Women’s Equality Day. The day commemorates the anniversary of the date in 1920 when women’s right to vote was certified into the Constitution.
One-hundred and one years after suffragist Alice Paul wrote these simple words as a proposed Constitutional Amendment, women’s equal civil rights are still not certified and published into the Constitution even though the required number of states have ratified it:
“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
Don’t you think it’s about time all of us emulate Elizabeth Packard and do not allow our voices to be silenced?
After we kick off with a joyous concert on the evening of August 25, we’ll make plans on August 26 to achieve gender parity in policies, health, wealth, careers, and more.
Join the conversation and Together We (will) Lead for Impact.
Register today to attend in person or virtually on August 25 and 26. I can’t wait to see you there!
GLORIA FELDT is the Cofounder and President of Take The Lead, a motivational speaker, a global expert in women’s leadership development and DEI for individuals and companies that want to build gender balance. She is a bestselling author of five books, most recently Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take The Lead for (Everyone’s) Good. Honored as Forbes 50 Over 50, and Former President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, she is a frequent media commentator. Learn more at www.gloriafeldt.com and www.taketheleadwomen.com. Find her @GloriaFeldt on all social media.
