Testimony of equality

The word testimony describes the way that Friends testify or bear witness to their beliefs in their everyday life.

Margaret Fell-Fox was as vocal and literate as her husband, George Fox, publishing several tracts in the early days of Quakerism.

They were both to have dominion over all that God made... And as man and woman are restored again, by Christ, up into the image of God, they both have dominion again in Righteousness and Holiness, and are helps-meet, as before they fell.Friends' attitude towards egalitarianism is also demonstrated by their refusal to practice "hat honour" (Quakers refused to take their hats off or bow to anyone regardless of title or rank), and their rejection of styles and titles (such as Mr, Mrs, Lord, Dr, etc.

Elizabeth Hooton was possibly the first person to be convinced by George Fox and was an outspoken and daring preacher during the earliest days of the movement.

In addition, many of the leaders in the women's suffrage movement in the United States in the 19th century were drawn from the Quakers, including Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott.

Friends also eventually became leaders in the anti-slavery movement, although a realization of the wrongness of slavery did not develop for almost a century.

American Friends were prominent participants in the Underground Railroad, a transportation network for sending escaped slaves to freedom.

In the 19th Century Elizabeth Fry and her brother, Joseph John Gurney, campaigned for the humane treatment of prisoners.

In the 1960s, a Friend, Eric Baker, took part in the founding of Amnesty International, a human rights group primarily focused on the treatment of those in prison and those accused of crimes.