(2) Because knowing that she is not dependent upon a man for her livelihood, she will no longer have the incentive to pander to the man’s demand for virginity in his prospective wife by remaining chaste until marriage.
(3) Because a man’s abandonment of the connection which she has formed with him, a process commonly known as desertion, will not as heretofore leave her stranded without means of support.
(4) Because men will be less chary of forming temporary, sexual relationships with women, when they know that they are not expected to keep them.
In the second place the married woman will tend to mitigate her hostility to irregular unions formed by unmarried women when she realizes:
(1) That her husband’s mistress, not being dependent upon him for support, will constitute a less formidable threat to her livelihood.
(2) That the possible transference of her husband’s affections and consequent withdrawal of financial support will not leave her necessarily incapable of finding other employment.
(3) That, as the clear-cut line of demarcation between married and unmarried unions becomes obscured by the increase in the number of the latter, it will no longer be either possible or necessary to put the unmarried mistress as completely beyond the pale of decent society as has been customary in the past.
From the above considerations it will be seen that the growing economic independence of women is likely, unless counteracted by other forces, to lead to a relaxation of the marriage tie, to an increase in irregular unions, and to a growing tendency to dispense with marriage altogether.
But, some critics will object, what about the children? Hitherto, I have left the children outside the scope of the argument, and it is high time to bring them in. This leads me to a consideration of the second of the two factors which I cited at the beginning of the chapter, the practice of birth-control.
II. That the practice of birth-control is likely to increase there can, I think, be no reasonable doubt. I am aware that there is considerable opposition to birth-control at the moment, and the various arguments are brought forward to discourage people from employing its methods. These arguments are not held on rational grounds, but are dictated by prejudices based on certain religious or political opinions which those who put them forward profess. It is said, for example, that birth-control is displeasing to the Almighty, who invented sexual intercourse for the reproduction not of pleasure but of children; and it is thought, though not said, that it is injurious to the State because it will diminish the supply of cannon-fodder and cheap labour.