The Emancipation of Women and its Probable Consequences Adele Zarda Crepaz

Adele Crepaz, Die Gafahen der Frauen-Emancipation [Leipzig: Karl Reis(p)ner, 1892], Translated into English as The Emancipation of Women and its Probable Consequences [London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1893 and New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1893] with an introductory letter by British Prime Minister Gladstone who had read the book in the German original. Adele Zarda Crepaz. (1849 - ) was born in Brno, today part of the Czech Republic.

Crepaz's feminism is reminiscent of the "feminism" of such conservative organizations as our contemporary IWF, Independent Women's Forum. Such organizations remind one of the "Levelers" who wanted to level down to themselves, then to stop the leveling process.

In his introduction, British Prime Minister Gladstone, who had read the book in the German original, described it as "the most thorough treatment" which he had read about the emancipation of women. "In such a region it is far better, as between opposite risks, to postpone a right measure than to commit ourselves to a wrong one."

Crepaz begins Emancipation of Women by stating that a new era of justice is coming; everywhere, even in India, people are discussing woman's rights. After all, Crepaz notes what women have managed to accomplish in the previous 50 years, especially in the area of employment opportunities for women, is unbelievable.

It has opened up new possibilities of employment to women, and by thus relieving them from the burden of empty conventional prejudices, has

given work to thousands of willing hands, and afforded scope for much latent intellectual power. Work, which in former times was looked upon as degradation to ladies of position, is now elevated to a moral power, and the gentlewoman in reduced circumstances no longer needs to earn her living with tears of humiliation and in secret. Openly she shows the world that she intends to turn her abilities to good account, and no one dreams of withholding from her the right. The independent callings which have been opened up to women of late shelter them from the humiliation of seeking dependent positions among their more wealthy relatives, or from being forced, for sake of a home, to the necessity of marrying against their inclinations. So far the emancipation of women has tended to the culture and ennobling of the sex, and must serve to keep it from some errors, and from the consciousness of empty, vapid lives. True, in all ages, there have been remarkable women who have endeavoured to force the narrow limits of social opinion, but is has remained to the 19th century to bring about the great reformation in the position of women. (p.4-5)

According to Crepaz, with a few exceptions, women did not play any role in history. The first seed of emancipation was planted during the French Revolution, but on May 21, 1791 the presence of women at political meetings was outlawed.

In 1848 French women again issued a call for the emancipation of French women. Although the movement failed in France, the Americans picked up the torch at Seneca Falls. Ladies such as Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Paulina Wright Davis, Lucy Stone, and Ernestine Rose and Miss Susan B. Anthony were active in the movement. Frau Anneke, the German 1848er who immigrated to the US with her husband in 1849, published a newspaper. Julia Ward Howe edited Woman's Journal in Boston. America is the El Dorado for women.

At the present day we see women in America filling almost every calling, every office, formerly reserved to men. Lady physicians, lawyers, professors, Government officials, clergywoman, ladies everywhere, only the diplomatic and political careers and judgeship are as yet unrepresented by them. The women, having thus acquired equality with men in nearly all professions, are keen to obtain political rights, and the question is being largely agitated in America. In Europe, where the discovery and application of machinery and railways have developed new industrial capabilities, the domestic position of women had undergone a change in every country; and there is a general movement to promote opportunities for women to earn their own living. Much has been said and written about the domestic and social position of women, it is certain that its true commencement is to be sought in the year 1860.

In 1856 a census was held in Britain in which it was discovered that there were 2 million more women than men and that the women from the higher classes could earn a living only by teaching or sewing. Shortly thereafter the Association for the Promotion of Ladies' Industry was founded in London and later similar associations were founded throughout Britain.

First steps to the emancipation of German women were made in 1848 by Louise Otto, who founded a school for girls in Hamburg. The movement for women's emancipation did not begin until the 1860s. As in Britain, an association for employment women was founded and women entered the professions as teachers, postal clerks, clerks, and telegraphists. Nonetheless, despite many petitions, universities are still closed to women.

As to suffrage, even many women are against it. For example a nineteenth-century journal article stated,

We are convinced that the pursuit of a mere outward equality with men is for women not only vain but demoralising. It leads to a total misconception of woman's true dignity and special mission. It leads to personal struggle and rivalry, where the only effort of both the great divisions of the human family should be to contribute the characteristic labour and the best gifts of each to the common stock. (p. 20)

The author states that everywhere women can work in state and public service: "It is pre-eminently a question for the middle classes to decide. Titled ladies and those belonging to the "upper ten" stand aloof. Nor has it any interest for the women of the lower orders, their right to help their husbands in providing a living being, unfortunately, but too well established." (p.20 - 21)

Crepaz contends that there is a big difference between US and Europe: the US excels in technical professions, like mechanics and agriculture, while Europe is the cradle of science and arts.

The privileged position of women in America is dues to many causes. From the Mother Country was imbibed the respect and veneration in which she is held there, added to which in the early history of America, women were numerically far fewer in proportion to men, and thus, more sought after. Also the many gifted, clever women who so courageously accompanied their husbands across the Atlantic, there to found a new home, may have largely contributed to exalt and strengthen the esteem in which women are held among them. Lastly, the high degree of culture among American women tends much to ensure them that respect which we see paid to them by all classes of men. Nor was the emancipation of women in America a question of their earning their bread, as in Europe; nor has it to do with a surplus female population, causing comparatively few marriages, and hence obliging them to seek a means of subsistence. The numerical superiority of the male population renders marriage easy in America, while the relatively better incomes of the husbands render it unnecessary for their wives to seek to make money; and their system of almost general life insurance provides for the widows. Higher education first led the American woman to aspire to positions in which she could turn her intellectual abilities to account; her inborn love for freedom and independence spurred her on to make a path in life for herself. (...) Nor must we overlook the fact that domestic conditions in America are altogether different from ours. The machines to be met within every household, are economisers of time and labour, and, withal, Americans live more simply, and expect less time upon cookery and the table, than we do. In numerous American families, no cooking whatsoever is done on Sundays, save the making of coffee and tea. Many families live altogether in hotels, are born and die in them. The simplified domestic conditions afford their women more leisure for culture and for participation in intellectual pursuits. On the other hand, they are not "housewives" according to our idea, and trouble themselves but little about the performance of their household duties, which indeed, are far less onerous than ours. The woman of the Northern States of America and, it is of her we exclusively speak, is, on an average, more highly educated than the men As M. Wilckens tells us, "She is pioneer of culture, the foster-nurse of Art and Science, the most eager advocate for public instruction." She supplants man in those careers which of right belong to him by reason of his superior abilities, without making mark in them herself, estranging herself even further from the aim of her natural vocation. She does not grasp the idea of her life's work as "woman", but assuming equal rights with man, forgets the law of nature, which assign to each sex their several tasks in life. Her independent standing is not without influence upon her spirit; her heart grows less sensitive to tender emotions, and a marriage of reason is the only one she thinks of. p. (23 - 26)

It is well-known that the happiest marriages in America are those contracted between American men and German women. The German wife surrounds her husband with affectionate care.... (pp. 26 - 27)

According to Crepaz, the European looks at American women as a curiosity, and is slower to

select her as a companion for life, unless it be for a large fortune she brings him; she is incapable of fulfilling his expectation of her as woman, wife, mother, and mistress of his house. Our domestic arrangements are not only more comfortable, but, more complex; our society demands more from her, the education of her children devolves upon her, and her presence is more indispensable than in an American house. (pp. 27-28)

Continuing in the same spirit, Crepaz indicates that if Germans changed the position of German women so that they became independent like American women, the resulting change in private and public relations would be in contradiction with the German spirit.

Analyzing John Stuart Mill's The Subjugation of Women, a book about English women, not German or Austrian women (who are already granted equality in marriage), Crepaz writes, "Yet, despite the injustice of their law, English women are treated with great deference in their own country, and the ever increasing Women's Rights movement is proof of their great influence. It would be ridiculous to maintain in the present day that women are their husband's slaves." (pp. 30-31)

"Some men behave badly, but so do some women."

What is irrefutable is that the position of women in France is worse than in many other countries, despite the fact that during the Revolution "when men and women alike were led to the guillotine, there arose a cry for the equality of the sexes." (p. 34)

According to Crepaz, this disadvantage is compensated for by women influence of literature which is greater than in other countries. "As a whole, the French woman is inferior to her German sister in higher education, but what she lacks therein is amply compensated for by her practical common sense." (p. 35)

Crepaz further informs the reader that French and Swiss women excel in business -- which is why the woman question is relatively unimportant in these countries. In Germany and Austria women will probably not play such an important role in public life since "We have no colonies abroad, no surplus million of female population, and no lack of intellectual power amongst our men." (p. 36)

Continuing in the same vein, Crepaz asserts that the brains of women and men are different and the difference is larger in the civilized nations - in India a man's brain is 5 inches larger than a woman's while in Paris a man's brain is 11 inches larger than a woman's. The reason for the difference in the brain size between men and women is that women were kept in the background, and, hence, had no possibility of developing the mental capacity of men. "Only perhaps, the more fully developed brain of woman might not then be in proportion to her other powers." (p. 38)

Woman's constitution could be hardened, made more fit for corporeal labour, but only at the cost of her specific purpose, for Nature does not suffer any infringement of her laws to remain unpunished. We cannot tell in what manner the intellectual and physical nature of woman would be transformed by change methods of training and education; we are unable to measure the advantages, but only the disadvantages, which must ensure to future generations from such an over-forcing of female strength. Nature having endowed man with superior strength, has laid upon him the greatest burden of labour; it is not by virtue of law and custom that woman is excluded from following man's calling. Nature assigns to everyone his sphere. (p. 40)

If a man and a women are stranded alone on an otherwise uninhabited island, he will plough and she will cook. Modern civilization is different from earlier times, nonetheless both women and men have their tasks given by the law of nature.

Woman ever remains the guardian and natural educator of coming races, and this task alone excluded her from competing in other spheres with man. With this task, Nature has imposed a solemn duty upon woman, the neglecting of which, says Professor Suess, is "a degeneration, a sin against Nature amounting to interference with the physical development of coming generations." To those who throw contempt upon dignity of motherhood and its duties, I would quote these beautiful worlds of his, "To me there is no more sublime, elevating spectacle in the whole world than that of a mother, who gives herself up to the fulfillment of her duties. No other aim should be placed before her sex. The latest emancipation theory sets this aim on one side, its representatives being only anxious to demonstrate practically that the feminine sex is fully capable of taking a part in masculine duties and pursuits. While the highly questionable prospect of an increase of physical strength by means of a different system of life is presented to us, woman's intellectual activity is being largely enhanced. (pp. 41-42)

Misses Garrett, Fry, Chisholm, Carpenter, Nightingale, and Florence Blackwell are only exceptions. Yes, female students are in many cases better than male students, but from this it is not possible to draw a conclusion that women are more suitable to study than men.  Those women who now devote themselves to higher education are exceptionally gifted; whilst the young men of the upper classes, as a rule, study whether they have special qualifications or not. To make higher education among women general would be to show many a failure. ...Nor must we forget that lady students are not subject to the same temptations and dissipations as are young men: wines, card parties, and lower pleasures, do not appeal to them. The young girl who sets a serious aim before her, only to be accomplished, at the present time, by dint of many a sacrifice harder than a man has to undergo, will throw all her moral and intellectual power into the task of accomplishing her end; whilst far beyond all personal interests she feels that upon her it devolves to honour to the flag to which she ahs pledged fidelity, and to win a victory for the cause of Women's Rights. Hence a higher consciousness, a more indomitable energy, steels her powers, urging her on to study. (pp. 43-45)

Yet thousands on the both sides of the ocean have proved that they are able to stand in men's place. That they question if they are able to produce a female Shakespeare or Gothe is not important since only a few men are of the ability of such leading lights. They argue that the average woman is equal to the average man and some women excel some men: but they forget the question - Is the equality of women with men good for society as a whole? "Let us suppose woman's equality with man to be an established fact, we then have the woman standing side by side with man in the great arena of life, fighting for the same aims, the same rights, unconsciously, without will or intention, injuring his interests." (p. 47)

In comparison with that of a boy of the same age, a girl's intelligence is quicker, her ambition greater, her moral consciousness more highly developed; added to which, the endeavour to attain to her new sphere with credit will spur her on to utmost exertion. As a lawyer, a government employee, etc., she will prove a dangerous competitor to a man. She has the advantage of being more practical; her wants are more simple and less costly than his; thus she can offer her service for a lower salary. (p 48)

Today German private and public sectors both employ women gladly since they are cheaper laborers. And if even more women enter the labor market, they will be even cheaper workers. We have too many pianists and singers, too many artists, whose pictures nobody buys, too many governess without positions, too many clerks and telegraphists. If women drive men out of certain sectors of employment or if men's salaries decrease, that is too bad for the men. Their wives will have less money and so we will have fewer marriages. Marriage is the base of society, married women have the happiest lives and marriage also bring the happiness to men. Consequently, marriage is in the best interest of society.

Her equality with man must diminish her womanly attributes by removing those contrasts which have hitherto attracted the sexes to each other. The husband will no longer find in his wife those feminine qualities which he values and needs to perfect his own nature. Wearied and over-wrought in his profession, he seeks peace and encouragement from his wife. But how can he expect to meet with encouragement, forbearance and indulgence towards his weakness, when she has the same burden as he to bear? The wife would become her husband's comrade, but no longer be the loving help-mate, lavishing her care, her sanctifying devotion upon him. (p. 54)

Her altered temperament, her diminished idealism, would lead her to seek, like men, her goal in ambition. Money and position would be her watchwords. The girl who devotes herself to higher study is necessarily estranged from family life; the strains she has to put upon herself exempts her from all domestic duties, she becomes accustomed to think only of herself, her main thought is to save money, and to consider herself in all things. Involuntarily this manner of life engenders egotism and a feeling of independence in a girl, who thus becomes only willing to entertain the idea of a marriage which offers her exceptional advantages. She would say to herself, "I have my situation and can make a living myself, am accustomed to live in my own way, and have my own pleasures. Why should I bind myself in marriage?" (p. 55-56)

In New England and Boston many women do not marry because they want to spend a life doing works of general usefulness. Blameless as is this humane "object, we can but look upon it as a deviation from the natural vocation of woman." (p. 57)

"Many women will not reach their moral standards. Most crime is committed by single or divorced women. In matrimony their moral reasoning is at its best, thus proving that a woman needs the support, the coherence of family life, and is more likely to be led astray under circumstance of isolation." (p. 58)

Mill is wrong when he says that a woman's constitution is a result of education, but unnatural education can destroy true womanhood.

Yes, some people say that the number of singles will not necessarily grow. One lady said that if we are afraid of the growing number of the single people, we should allow middle-class women to work like working-class women. A poor man will find it easier to marry if he knows that his wife will earn some money, too. In theory this should work, but it does not work in reality. A man's position would get worse. If a women has the same profession as her husband, it could work; but we do not chose our life's partner as business partner. "If a man and his wife are following different callings, they have to take into account increased taxation, their several professional residences, situations, additional servants, etc., and as increased competition lessens professional incomes, it is very doubtful in the face of the doubled expenses, whether the husband and wife would realize as much as did the man when he was working alone." (p. 63)

Even Mill admitted that the worst thing would be if the wife and husband each earned the same amount as husband alone. If the wife is employed, housekeeping becomes more expensive, and it becomes necessary to pay someone to take care of it. If a wife helps her husband in a shop, she does not have enough time for household, but she still has sufficient time to do other things. On the other hand, being a female lawyer or female doctor is practical. Furthermore, after the birth of a child, you have to seek replacement for a woman.

Now women are not healthy, they have anemia and neurotic problems which are passed on to future generations. Yes, Marie Theresa had 16 children, but she was exception. Yes, one can object that working-class women return to work immediately after giving birth, but their children have greater mortality and they themselves have a stronger physical construction than middle-class women. Higher class women preserve their health because they surrounded themselves with care givers, but middle-class women do not have the strong constitution of the poor women and do not have the care which the rich ones have. "If therefore, woman's natural vocation of motherhood is carefully considered, it forms a powerful factor against the agitation for perfect equality between the two sexes." (p. 70) After all, who will take care of the children?

This work, so important to the State and to society, offers at once the purest, noblest joy to a woman's heart. Motherhood stands on the highest moral pinnacle of life; it embraces a whole world of joy and sorrow, most self-sacrifice and self-denial; it brings to light the noblest feeling of a woman's heart, and purifies and frees it from frivolous desires and cares. The joys of maternity, when they are really and truly experienced, bring to a woman's heart the balm of forgetfulness of past pains and sorrows, repay it for unfulfilled hopes and dreams, comfort her in every woe, reconcile her to every discord. In the love of her child she finds a recompense for all else that life has denied her. She lives in its future. .....This joy of motherhood, this precious boon to women's hearts, is menaced by the advancing claims of Emancipation. In its entirety it can only be known to those mothers who are privileged to devote themselves completely to their children, superintending their physical and mental development.

The artist can ask another person for advice, but he does not allow another to work on his project; and a mother should give her child to another person? If she does it of necessity, she is to be pitied; if voluntarily, it is sinful. Our social relations are now so happily constituted that it is possible for the parents, mothers especially, to bring up their children themselves. If the political Disabilities of Woman were entirely abolished, and women were thus qualified to engage in men's employments, they would be compelled, without exception, to let others take their place in the education of their children, as is now the case in the United States. To this end they have, as we are informed by a well-known German authoress, "the aid of highly-trained scholarly teachers, who are possibly able to do more for children than their parents could do with the best will and ability." ...If they be less capable than strangers, this very want would be a proof how grievously American institutions have estranged parents from their most natural duties. (p. 78)

The equality of the sexes is brought forward by its advocates as the way of escape for women from everyday cares and inward dissatisfaction. It is also believed that this equality will lessen the number of unhappy marriages, on the ground that a girl who is able to earn her own living will no longer look upon marriage as her one resource, and will be less likely to enter upon it for prudential reasons. But they forget that love marriages are only contracted by people of idealistic nature, and that the girl who is battling tooth and nail in the arena with men, will soon lose her idealism. The girl of the future will become a calculating, money-making "neuter," whose heart, little sensible to love, will be guided exclusively by motives of ambition and self. Staunch believers as we are in the idealistic standpoint, we must yet admit that even love marriages occasionally turn out unhappily if the love be not of the true of which the Apostle says.... (pp. 79-80)

Let us now glance at the fate of the single woman as years go by. As a young girl she has thrown herself into her career with enthusiasm, has entered the world with a high ideal, but by degrees disappointments, ingratitude, slights and isolation have embittered her life. Not for her the consolation and rest of a husband's protection, not for her the knowledge of a mother's love, which reconciles and irradiates all things. For her there is no compensation in domestic happiness for the ingratitude and hardness of the world; therefore she is more keenly alive to every trial, every humiliation. Lonely, uncared for, she often, even in old age, must battle for existence, with no loving hand to lighten her cares. Even if her life has been free from adversity, its joylessness has had its depressing effect. Therefore, when we hear laments about unhappy wives, must we ever oppose the question, "Are single women happy?" Increased facilities for earning money among women will not obviate unhappy marriages; it will only bring about more frequent separations, a wife who can make her own living, feeling herself independent of her husband. The latest statistics in Paris have shown that the greatest number of divorces have been among those where the wife has had some trade or calling, thus providing that this circumstances rather hinders than cements matrimony. If continuance in an ill-assorted union often be misery, separation has its greater evils; and while endurance in it may bring severed hearts together again, separation rarely, if ever, does so. Moreover, the children of separated parents are sufferers. The emancipation of women claims to provide for widows after the death of their husbands, by means of their studies, which will have qualified them to take up some calling for the maintenance of themselves and their children. (pp. 82 -83)

It is not true that the writer Elise Orzesku wrote of a widow who was not able to provide for herself and died in poverty. A widow can turn to friends or a charitable organization for help.

Now, the removal of the Disabilities of Women, would, in no wise, protect woman in her widowhood from the cares of existence, nor from the stroke from adversity. Let us suppose a woman in the pursuit of her calling a lady doctor, advocate or what not, to be stricken down by some bodily or mental infirmity or suppose her to be unable to make way against the immense competition and we should have her then reduced to the unfortunate position of the heroine in the before-named romance. And such cases of physical and mental breakdown would be on the increase, because a woman's constitution unfits her for the strain of such heavy work. (p. 87)

Money is not of such importance for women as it is for men; men commit suicide for the lack of money, women for an unhappy love. "In this we see proof that women, under the most adverse circumstances, find it easier to supply their simple wants than are men similarly placed." (p. 88)

Some twenty or thirty years ago a mother's one thought was to marry off her daughter, whether she had a large dowry, a small one, or even none at all. It was the one aim a woman strove for, and one certainly more easily accomplished than in the present day. Husband-hunting mothers, and the schemes they had recourse to, in order to accomplished their object, has furnished abundant material for light literature and the stage; but while throwing ridicule upon a custom which was decidedly carried too far, people have forgotten that it had its basis in the true feminine nature. There were dangers then, but not of so grave a character as now. The education of the period has developed other aims. A young girl, in default of matrimony, is to be prepared for some vocation which shall render her independent. Once having mastered the necessary preparation, her next object is to make practical use of her capabilities. She finds herself in a position, by means of her earnings, to afford herself luxuries, and to gratify her taste for dress and amusements. Other families think it worthy of imitation, other young girls follow her example; and ladies believe that to an educated man, higher education in the girl he selects as his wife must be welcome. And so it undeniably is, provided that the higher education and its ensuring claims is proportional to her domestic training. If higher education goes hand in hand with domestic proclivities and modesty, a girl could not be better fitted to rule a household. But if, through her more extended study, a girl be led away from the interests of domestic life, she will become not merely unpractical but exacting, and consequently unwilling to marry a man of small means. This, we find, is one of the rocks upon which the marriage question founders. In most larges cities the unmarried women are counterbalanced by a large number of bachelors, thus affording girls opportunities of marrying. Why have these bachelors not married? It may be that in springtime of life, when a man feels the most desire to have a home of his own, he had only enough to begin housekeeping upon in a small way, and even if that would have contented him, the girl he loved despised the small beginning, and refused to venture upon "love in a cottage." The man learned to resign himself to his fate, and sought solace in amusement and dissipation; the habit of having only himself to care for has made him selfish, experience of domestic trials among his acquaintance has made him guarded. (pp. 90-93)

Girls also look at the marriage incorrectly. They expect permanent bliss or the fulfillment of all their wishes; "Not to be happy, but to deserve happiness is the object of our existence." (p. 94) We spoil our children which leads to unhappy marriages; woman's emancipation is an additional cause of unhappy marriages.

After discussing the issue of female doctors, Crepaz names all the famous women doctors and quotes Wadeyer who said at a doctor's convention, "It would be as little calculated to promote the interest of medical science as of women themselves, were they to take up medicine as a profession."

It is possible to object on

ground[s] of morality, inasmuch as the students, who are for the moat part young girls, are brought into contact with all the secrets of nature, all the wretchedness of human society; and in the towns where there are no ladies university, they are compelled to attend lectures in common with young medical students, and to work and study indiscriminately among them on the anatomical books. No one can pretend to doubt but that every bloom of innocent womanhood, of girlish idealism, must be withered in such an atmosphere; but the student sets the dignity of science the pursuit of the good and useful in the balance, and we can understand how her zeal, her love for science, rises her above every ignoble thought. We can but pay her the tribute of admiration and yet, we ask ourselves, is it a matter of necessity that she should thus triumph over her nature? Are lady doctors an essential with us? The warmest sympathy has been evoked by their representatives; and yet it is questionable whether such sympathy will be shown practically as time goes on. (pp. 105- 106)

Then there is the question of work for the women doctors. Every error they make will be of more consequence for them than for a male doctor. Male doctors will not trust them; men will not welcome female doctors; some women will envy them the education, too; they will not call for them; and poor women will prefer male doctor, too. The lady doctor is an exotic and can thrive but with difficulty in those

countries where male competition is in the preponderance. A man is endowed with greater physical strength, energy, and power of mental endurance than a woman; her deeper insight perhaps enables her to study effects more closely, and as a nurse, provided she has had the requisite scientific and practical training, she is invaluable to the patient, the doctor, and even to science, for a physician can be often assisted in the true diagnosis of a case through the observation and treatment of the phases of disease by a trained and skilful nurse. Another point not to be overlooked, is that a woman whose strength is overtaxed, as often happens in the medical profession, ages much sooner than a man, and, grown old before her time, would not be able to make the experience and knowledge she has gained of practical benefit. The mental capital which, in a man, is available when he is gray-headed, would be lost to an elderly woman. (pp. 107-108)

Some female doctors may possibly be welcomed on the ground of delicacy, but women prefer to visit specialists and female doctors will not become specialists. . . . Among female doctors are many single women. The first woman doctor in Austria writes, "Clearly her higher education and her independent standing enable a woman to seek and to find her happiness apart from men." (p. 110) Is a woman as a doctor, to belie her womanhood, to have no feeling for domestic happiness? Is her heart to know no yearnings after love, and a mother's joy? (p. 110)

Youth clusters round the banner of idealism. The young lady doctor dreams of making a mark in her profession, and these dreams carry her high above commonplace hopes and wishes to the lofty heights of fame. Her ambition, her high aspirations, may perhaps enable her in youth to more easily forego family love; but as years go on and dreams give place to stern reality, and the bloom of youth is withered, when she finds that she has over-rated her strength, and that professional labours have not procured her the hoped-for success, she may be inclined to lament the mistake she has made in her life. Striving and endeavouring is one thing, accomplishment and success another. Seldom is the promise of the bud fulfilled in the fruit. (p. 111-112)

According to a German author there are 34 married female doctors in New York, and only two of them did not breast-feed their children. How do they do so if they must visit patients? Aren't they afraid of infecting their children? If a child is ill, they keep him at home with strangers and when they return home, the child is dead. With a doctor, who is father of a family, such a case might also occur; but a man is made of sterner stuff and does not feel things as women do, nor would it be well that he should. (p. 115)

It would then be a dangerous experiment to admit women to the study of medicine in our universities. Among the number of female students who would present themselves there must be a percentage of mediocre talent, which would prove incapable of complying with the stern requirements of so important a calling. The woman who feels within her the power to press forward to her marl, undismayed by any obstacle, will, of a certainty, find the ways and means to attain to her object. This may seem unfair; and so it may be. Anyway, as far as we are concerned, we should hold it as even preferable that one specially gifted woman should fail to develop her powers than a large number of women, of average abilities, should enter upon professions for which they must inevitably prove themselves unfit. We may be told that numbers of professional men barely come up to the average. This we do not deny; but, in any case, the man is at least fulfilling his vocation as far as he can, while woman would be doing it at the expense of hers. (pp. 116-117)

As to political rights. . . "America...so far, has not removed their political disabilities." (p. 117) In England, many nobles ladies are against political rights for women, despite growing support for woman suffrage among both women and men.

Political struggles which often enough unchain most violent passion in the breast of a man, would arouse a tempest in a woman's heart out of all proportion with her moral strength. A woman who once loses her power of self-control has forfeited her womanhood; she is infinitely harder and more cruel than a man; ever so much more unforgiving and revengeful. (p. 118)

But fulfillment of political rights, when once they are granted, will demand woman's action as a duty. How does this harmonize with woman's mission as a peacemaker? What are the advantages to accrue from participation of the sex in political life? What compensation will it offer for disadvantages it entails upon family life? Clever women take up the modern idea with enthusiasm, forgetting that by doing so they become the pioneers of a path which may be mischievous and dangerous to many of their sisters. The ambition which now prompts young people of all ranks in life to aspire to higher education, whatever their qualifications, would, were all course of study thrown open to women, induce many young girls, whose powers were totally unsuited to the requirements, to take the same lamentable step. Their failure would cause a mental deterioration in the female sex; disappointed lives, increased cases of mental derangement, and suicide among women, would be the unavoidable, melancholy consequences. (p. 120)

If women are to be protected from mental disturbance and from disappointed lives, let us preserve our gifted, clever sisters for the sanctity of domestic life; it would be desirable that all the most intelligent women should be drawn away from it. A gifted, intellectual woman who is engaged in the faithful performance of her duties as wife, mother, and housekeeper, does not only promote the welfare of her own family, but is an example to others. Her influence upon society will be more powerful and ennobling, her deed and aspiration infinitely more rich on blessings to the community, then if her life had been devoted to science. (p. 122)

We know how gifted women have, in all ages, exerted an influence upon art and literature, by their encouragement inspiring eminent men in learning and art to great works and to noble deeds. A man's highest work is often prompted by woman; she is the impulse, he the creative power. (p. 123) Women can be naturally active in charity.

By these means it is open to every energetic, but noble-spirited woman to find a field for the use of her powers, without infringing on man's exclusive territory. With regard to a woman's means of self-support, all manner of employment are open to her, and are ever increasing, so that, in the present day, no active woman need fail of the means to procure herself her simple necessaries. If there are many cases in which the difficulties of making a subsistence are still painfully felt, we can but repeat, that, unhappily, they apply not alone to women, but to men. (p. 124)

True wifely submission, self-sacrificing affection, contentment, and practical knowledge of her housekeeping duties will make marriage infinitely happier to a woman. (p. 129) and will protect the society against tuning in a bad way.

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Sunshine for Women encourages you to support our feminist sisters by purchasing their books, reading them, disseminating the ideas they contain, but most especially, by making their book available to our sisters, our daughters, and the community at large by requesting your school library, your public library, and area bookstores to carry their books. Remember it is not enough to write literature, history, and theology, we must pass these works on to future generations. Help us to preserve these works for a new generation by putting them on library bookshelves.

Created and maintained by Sunshine. Copyrighted by Lenka Vytlacilova, 2002. You have Sunshine's permission to copy and disseminate this document as long as it is attributed to Lenka Vytlacilova and Sunshine's URL appears on the document.

last updated December 2002