'Woman's Hour'

The first women's rights convention opened July 19, 1848, in Seneca Falls, N.Y. To mark this important anniversary, the Monitor is running a five-part series on the status of women.

The Monitor owes its existence to a women's rights pioneer. At a time when women in the US lacked property and voting rights, Mary Baker Eddy started a church and launched this newspaper.

Her view of the issue: "In natural law and in religion the right of woman to fill the highest measure of enlightened understanding and the highest places in government is inalienable.... This is woman's hour with all its sweet amenities and religious reforms."