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

by Eliza Burt Gamble

Among the benefits derived from this change in the positions of the sexes was the development of altruism in man. When fathers began to take an interest in their own offspring, to care for them and to become responsible for their welfare, an important step had been taken toward the establishment of the principle of brotherhood among mankind. The evolutionary processes indicate a constant tendency toward the solidarity of the race, they may be said to represent a resistless force ever drawing the human family together in a closer bond of union and sympathy. Under female supremacy, combination, or association of interests, was confined to the gens. The extension of these interests which resulted from the new order was necessary before humanity could proceed on its onward course. These changes could not have taken place under the early system based on the supremacy of women.

The facts brought out by scientists going to prove that the progressive principle is confided to the female are accentuated by those connected with the origin and subsequent development of marriage and the family. That within the female lie the elements of progress is clearly indicated, not only in the position which the female occupied among the orders of life lower in the scale of being, and during the earlier ages of human history, but also by her career as the slave of man. Simply by means of the characters developed within the female constitution, without material resources, and deprived of recognized influence, women have been able to a certain extent, to dignify the family and the home.

It is more than likely that in the not distant future, even the institution of marriage, through which women have been degraded, will become so purified and elevated that its results, instead of being a menace to higher conditions will constitute a continuous source of progress and a promise of still higher achievement. Before this may be accomplished, mothers must be absolutely free and wholly independent of the opposite sex for the means of support. Marriage must be a co partnership in which neither sex has the right to control the other.

Although our present system of marriage took its rise in the practice of forcing women into the marital relation, it must be borne in mind that it was not inaugurated for the purpose of establishing monogamy. On the contrary, the privileges of the captor remained the same within his tribe as before the foreign woman was stolen. The theft was committed for no other purpose than to augment the hitherto restricted range of sexual liberties, and to give to the father absolute dominion over the individuals born in his house.

The system of marriage in vogue at the present time has never restricted men to the possession of a single woman. Monogamy, as established under male supremacy, means one husband for one woman, while a man may have as many women as he is able or willing to support. As women are still dependent upon men for the necessities of life, the supply of the former is regulated by the demands of the latter.

Marriage still retains its original meaning and significance, namely, the ownership and control of women. With the exception of physical force all the ceremonies, customs, ideas, and usages of primitive marriage have been preserved. When a woman marries she is “given” to her husband by her father or some other male relative. She promises to obey her master and accepts a ring as a badge of her dependence upon him. She relinquishes her own name and family, accepting as her own the name and family of her husband. She follows him to his home where, as she is supported by his bounty, she is subject to his will and pleasure. Until women are economically free they will remain sexual slaves.

Of all the forms of human slavery which have ever been devised there has probably never been one so degrading as is that which has been practiced within the marital relation, nor one in which the extrication of the enslaved has been a matter of such utter hopelessness. The present struggle of women for freedom shows how deeply rooted is the instinct which demands their subjection.

The descent of woman has encompassed the lowest depths of human degradation, but the end of the long and weary road which she has traversed is nearly reached. Already the evolutionary processes which are to release her from bondage are in operation.

From available facts relative to the development of early mankind, it is certain that it must have required centuries upon centuries of time to subjugate women and bring them into harmonious relations with men while occupying a position of sexual slavery; first, physical force, second, dependence, and third the substitution of masculine opinions for the instincts and ideas which are peculiar to the female constitution. This accomplished the processes were begun which were to rivet the chains by which they were bound and by means of which women themselves in their weakened condition were to acquiesce in their own degradation. Religion was the means employed. Apollo, according to Greek mythology, issued an edict declaring that man is superior to woman and must rule, and Athene herself finally accepted the edict. Through religion, women came to regard themselves simply as appendages to men, as tools or instruments for their pleasure and gratification, and as possessing no inherent right either to liberty or happiness.

Religion has its root in sex. As we have already seen the creative force has ever been regarded as masculine or feminine according to the relative importance of the two sexes in human society and in the reproductive processes. So long as woman’s influence and power were in the ascendency the mother was the only recognized parent. She was the creator of offspring. Later, the abstract idea of female reproductive power was manifested in the female deities. It required thousands upon thousands of years to subdue women. It also required millenniums to dethrone the female deities.