The Sexes in Science and History / An inquiry into the dogma of woman's inferiority to man

by Eliza Burt Gamble

When the then existing mental conditions are recalled and especially when the religious prejudices of the time are considered the attitude manifested toward the proposed enfranchisement of women is not perhaps remarkable.

Although forty years ago biological science was in its infancy enough facts had at that time been discovered clearly to indicate the position which Nature intended woman to occupy. By the scientists of that time, however, the logical and unavoidable inferences to be drawn from these facts were wholly ignored. During the ages of man’s undisputed supremacy so deeply rooted had the idea of woman’s inferiority become that these newly discovered facts concerning her development could not be accepted—the old prejudices could not at once be uprooted.

We have already observed that whenever and wherever Mr. Darwin and other scientists of his time felt called upon to compare the relative importance of men and women such comparison has invariably been to the disadvantage of the latter and this too notwithstanding the fact that the evidence which they themselves have elaborated warrants no such conclusions.

Forty years ago the doctrine that woman has no independent existence, but that she is simply an appendage to man, was everywhere accepted and taught not only by ecclesiastics but by scientists as well. Woman was only a “rib” taken from the side of man.

None of the doctrines elaborated for the guidance of women was so explicit as those relating to the duties of wives. The cause for this is obvious. Earlier in this work the fact has been noted that our present form of marriage originated in force—that no other principle was involved in it than coercion on the one side and unwilling submission on the other.

So long as the original idea underlying marriage is retained, or so long as woman is recognized as the property of her husband and subject to his control, no matter what may be achieved by individual women, the belief in the inferiority of women as a class will continue. In other words so long as women remain economic slaves dependent upon their husband for support so long will their status remain unchanged.

“She is my goods, my chattels, my household stuff.”

There are in this country at the present time more than nine millions of women engaged in earning their own livelihood. Many of these women have families dependent upon them for support. The disadvantages under which they labour are realized when we remember that their competitors are their political and economic superiors and are therefore able to a considerable extent to dictate the conditions under which these women work; yet notwithstanding these unfavourable conditions this change in woman’s environment represents an important step in the evolutionary processes. By it women are learning that only through independence is self-respect possible.

We have already seen that whenever during the historic period, women have had an opportunity to rise they have never failed to rebel against the conditions imposed upon them. The women of Athens during the Periclean age, the Spartan women under Lycurgus, and the women of Rome during the time of the Antonine Cæsars are notable examples of this fact. Even the Chinese women are claiming the right to govern themselves. In these later years they are unbinding their feet and in other ways are defying the forces which in the past have prevented them from asserting their independence. The various examples of revolt among women have hitherto been carried on by single nations or by countries widely separated from one another. At the present time, however, the women of the entire world have risen to demand the freedom of their sex. However much those who favour the subjection of women may deplore this movement even the most stupid among them will surely not fail to recognize its importance.

The history of human society during the last four hundred years has for the most part been a struggle between the constructive elements developed in human society and the destructive or disintegrating forces which are the result of the unchecked egoism or selfishness developed in man during the ages in which woman has been subject to his will.