“Be not ashamed, women, your privilege includes the rest....
You are the gates of the body, you are the gates of the soul....
And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man.
And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.”
Walt Whitman.
7 Carlton Terrace,
Child’s Hill.
1914.
CONTENTS
| PART I | ||
|---|---|---|
| THE PRIMITIVE FAMILY | ||
| CHAP. | PAGE | |
| [I] | INTRODUCTORY | [11] |
| [II] | AN EXPOSITION OF BACHOFEN’S THEORY OFTHE MATRIARCHATE | [26] |
| [III] | DIFFICULTIES AND OBJECTIONS: AN ATTEMPTTO RECONCILE MOTHER-RIGHT WITH THEPATRIARCHAL THEORY | [45] |
| [IV] | DEVELOPMENT IN THE PATRIARCHAL FAMILYAND THE RISE OF MOTHER-POWER | [67] |
| PART II | ||
| THE MOTHER AGE CIVILISATION | ||
| [V] | THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY AMONG THEAMERICAN INDIANS | [95] |
| [VI] | THE MATERNAL FAMILY AMONG THE KHASIS | [132] |
| [VII] | FURTHER EXAMPLES OF THE MATERNAL FAMILY | [147] |
| [VIII] | MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS AND THE TRANSITIONTO FATHER-RIGHT | [166] |
| [IX] | WOMEN AND PRIMITIVE INDUSTRY | [192] |
| [X] | TRACES OF MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS INANCIENT AND MODERN CIVILISATION | [209] |
| [XI] | THE SURVIVALS OF MOTHER-RIGHT IN FOLK-LORE,IN HEROIC LEGENDS, AND IN FAIRYSTORIES | [235] |
| [XII] | CONCLUDING REMARKS | [253] |
PART I
THE PRIMITIVE FAMILY
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
The twentieth century is the age of Woman; some day, it may be that it will be looked back upon as the golden age, the dawn, some say, of feminine civilisation. We cannot estimate as yet; and no man can tell what forces these new conditions may not release in the soul of woman. The modern change is that the will of woman is asserting itself. Women are looking for a satisfactory life, which is to be determined from within themselves, not from without by others. The result is a discontent that may well prove to be the seed or spring of further changes in a society which has yet to find its normal organisation. Yes, women are finding themselves, and men are discovering what women mean.
In the present time we are passing through a difficult period of transition. There are conditions of change that have to be met, the outcome of which it is very difficult to appreciate. A transformation in the thought and conduct of women, for which the term “revolution” is not too strong, is taking place around us; doubtless many experimental phases will be tried before we reach a new position of equilibrium.
This must be. There can be no life without movement.