Feminism

However futile and unnecessary such specu lations may appear to the 20th century under standing, it is indisputable that in nearly all ages and among most peoples —ancient and modern — women have been more or less kept in a state of tutelage and dependence upon men. So far back as records exist do we find a con stant stream of depreciation leveled against women, in theology, philosophy and literature. The old Chinese classics contain numerous dis paraging references to women, such as "long is her hair and short her understanding," despite the dictum of Confucius that "Woman is the masterpiece.° With deeper insight, Socrates re marked that "woman, once made equal to man, becometh his superior." The contradictory ab surdities of Rousseau were sufficiently answered by the tender profundity of Jean Paul. Lord Chesterfield ranked women as below men and above children; Tennyson says, "Woman is the lesser man"; Lessing wrote, "nature intended that woman should be her masterpiece," and Herder called her "the crown of creation. Sheridan states that "on the cultivation of the mind of women depends the wisdom of men, a truism elaborated by President Garfield, that "the most valuable gift which can be bestowed on women is something to do, which they can do well and worthily, and thereby maintain themselves." Horace Greeley expressed the opinion that nothing "will render the condition of our working women what it should be so long as the. kitchen and the needle are substan tially their only resources," while the late G. W. Curtis declared that "the test of civilization is the estimate of woman.° That education must be the foundation stone of woman's rights was already realized in 1697 by Mary Astell, an Eng lish authoress, who published a work entitled, (A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, wherein a Method is offered for the Improvement of their Minds.' She propounded a scheme for a ladies' college, which was favorably received by Queen Anne and would have been carried out but for the opposition of Bishop Burnet. A noteworthy phase in the history of woman was the so-called "age of chivalry," from the 10th to the 15th century, a time in which it was the duty and pleasure of every gentleman to be the slave of some lady. Though there can be little doubt as to the lax morality which accompanied it, that chivalry resulted in the modern ideali zation of women, and awakened in them the consciousness of their power and latent re sponsibility. But a formidable barrier of age long custom and prejudice stood in the way— especially the "man-made laws.° An old philos opher once remarked that "nature had already invested woman with such tremendous power ;hat the law, wisely, gave her less.° While it is true that, among some of the ancients, women exerted enormous influence in matters of state and inheritance of thrones and property, the vast majority of the sex were unaffected; dis tinctions fell to the favored few, either through lineage — relationship with men — or the nat ural gifts of intelligence and beauty. Homer sang— "What mighty woes To thy imperial race from woman rose," which leads to the conclusion that the heroines of antiquity were more absorbed in their pri vate affairs than in those of the state or of their inconspicuous sisters.

The °Rights of Man," born of the French Revolution, kindled a feeble but inextinguish able rushlight which was sedulously fanned for over a century by an ever-increasing army of pioneers before it burst into flame. The Eng lish Reform Bill of 1832 prevented woman suf frage by the insertion of the word male before person. The advocates of feminism met with the most strenuous opposition alike from clergy and laity, and particularly from' "the man in the street." There were those who prophesied the loosening of family bonds and the general collapse of human society if women were raised to a social and politicalequality with men. As was inevitable, the problem of sex became the predominant factor in the contro versy. A strong grievance of the feminists was the stringency of the English divorce laws, at all times unjustly severe upon the woman. In 1854 the Honorable Mrs. Norton privately circulated a pamphlet entitled; cEnglish Laws for Women in the 19th. Century'— a painful episode of personal history more weighty and pregnant in its simple details •of much wrong and suffering than• sheaves of subtle contro versy. In July 1855 Mrs. Norton addressed a letter to Queen Victoria on the "Laws of Mar riage and Divorce," in which she laid bare her own domestic unhappiness. The letter was dissected and analyzed in periodicals and press, attracting sympathy both for the writer and the feminist' cause. At that time a special act. of Parliament was necessary in each case to annul a marriage. In 1869 John Stuart Mill's Sub jciction of Women) appeared, a work marked by generosity and love of justice. He made a most effective protest against the prejudices which stunted the development and limited the careers of women on no other ground than 'the accident of sex." Notwithstanding that it en countered much criticism, the book gave a strong impetus to the feminist movement throughout the world, being also translated into other languages. In 1867 Mill had intro duced in Parliament a bill for female suffrage for imperial'affairs, which was defeated by 196 votes against 73. Mrs. Mill wrote an able essay on The Enfranchisement of Women,? and numerous pamphlets and magazine articles spread the propaganda. In 1868 the Court of Common Pleas in London decided female suf frage to be illegal, and in the following year the State of Wyoming granted women the vote.

By degrees the scope of women's activity wid ened in those fields for which their endow ments peculiarly fitted them,' in all that involved moral superintendence and personal administra tion — in educational, charitable, penal and reformatory institutions. From the original "emancipation" and "politico-social equality" stages the feminist campaign assumed a definite economic aspect. With the growth of popula tion it became increasingly necessary to provide employment for women and girls. Hitherto there had been little or no choice for women to earn their living beyond domestic service, in factories, as governesses or teachers. Men resented the invasion of their spheres by women on the ground that the cheaper female labor would cause a lowering of masculine wages. To the male argument that "woman's place is in the home," the feminists retorted that not all women had homes, husbands and children, and that a woman should be as free to choose her • career as any man. Especially hard was the lot of the single woman and the widow left un provided for in the days when there were so few avenues for female activities. Jules Simon, • French philosopher and statesman, pointed out in (1861) that woman is a being naturally fond of work, uneasy of inaction, and loving employment for its own sake. A woman writer of that period expressed this restlessness: "How many women are now waiting, with empty hands and longing hearts! Will not good men lend us their aid to bring us and our work together?" The numerous be nevolent societies that were necessary in Great Britain during the early Victorian era for the relief of "distressed gentlewomen," governesses and female invalids bore testimony to the pa thetic helplessness and silent suffering of gen teel poverty among single women and widows. The Society for Promoting the Employment of Women labored to open out for them less thronged and footworn tracks. than those of tuition and needlework, by directing their forts toward printing and the semi-mechanical arts; above all, in facilitating emigration to the colonies by supplying agents to receive and pro tect them on their arrival overseas. The lack of• educational opportunities was the severest handicap to woman's progress. "In imaginative strength she has been proved deficient," wrote a critic; °she unfolds no new heaven, she breaks into no new world; she discovers, invents, creates nothing." After the repeal of the "combination laws" in 1825, British workmen gradually began to build up those trade unions which later became • such a powerful factor in industrial life. Women were not slow to perceive that organi zation meant strength, political as well as indus trial. Public meetings were arranged and the first meeting of the Manchester National Soci ety for Women's Suffrage was held in 1868, exactly 20 years after a similar convention the first of its kind—had assembled at Seneca Falls, N. Y. In 1869 a Women's Club and In stitute was opened in London, much to the sur prise and consternation of the male element. The theory of "the weaker vessel" became an exploded myth. Nearly 200 years earlier, Anne Hutchinson had started the first women's club in America, and French women had formed themselves into clubs in Paris during the Revo lution. The feminist movement gathered in strength and momentum among the English speaking peoples. One barrier after another was broken down by indefatigable and deter mined women leaders supported by many prom inent men. Women had played a most im portant part in the abolition of black slavery; they were now bent on destroying what the extremists called "white slavery"— their own emancipation. Quite a large number of women were unconvinced of the wisdom of the move ment, forming "anti') societies and declaring that most women did not want the vote and had no desire to "mix in politics." Not a few of these objectors were ladies of high station and titles. While fully agreeing that the deliv erance of women from early prejudices and unnatural trammels was a necessity which the development of culture and the altered condi tions of industrial relations were bound to bring about in time, they were "convinced that the pursuit of a mere outward equality with men is for women not only vain but demoral izing," and that it led to "a total misconception of woman's true dignity and special mission." It was pointed out that the question was pre eminently one for the middle classes to decide. While the ladies of the "upper ten" stood aloof, it could have no interest for the women of the lower orders, whose right to help their hus bands in providing a living was, unfortunately, but too well established. Particular stress was laid upon the danger of economic competition, of overflooding the labor market. "Women take the places of men for less pay," wrote a lady anti-feminist 25 years ago; °the lower a man's earnings, the less is he able to make a home for a wife Competition between men and women would but tend to still further lessen the ever-decreasing number of mar riages. • . • And it is just this decrease in mar riage . . . which is the sore point in womares emancipation. The decrease in marriages first started the question of Woman's Rights?' The words quoted were written by Mme. Adele Crepaz and received the commendation of Gladstone.