Women -- Suffrage -- History; Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History; Women's rights -- History; Women's rights -- United States -- History
All these influences fell with crushing weight on woman; more
sensitive, helpless, and imaginative, she suffered a thousand fears
and wrongs where man did one. Lecky, in his "History of Rationalism in
Europe," shows that the vast majority of the victims of fanaticism and
witchcraft, burned, drowned, and tortured, were women. Guizot, in his
"History of Civilization," while decrying the influence of caste in
India, and deploring it as the result of barbarism, thanks God there
is no system of caste in Europe; ignoring the fact that in all its
dire and baneful effects, the caste of sex everywhere exists, creating
diverse codes of morals for men and women, diverse penalties for
crime, diverse industries, diverse religions and educational rights,
and diverse relations to the Government. Men are the Brahmins, women
the Pariahs, under our existing civilization. Herbert Spencer's
"Descriptive Sociology of England," an epitome of English history,
says: "Our laws are based on the all-sufficiency of man's rights, and
society exists to-day for woman only in so far as she is in the
keeping of some man." Thus society, including our systems of
jurisprudence, civil and political theories, trade, commerce,
education, religion, friendships, and family life, have all been
framed on the sole idea of man's rights. Hence, he takes upon himself
the responsibility of directing and controlling the powers of woman,
under that all-sufficient excuse of tyranny, "divine right." This same
cry of divine authority created the castes of India; has for ages
separated its people into bodies, with different industrial,
educational, civil, religious, and political rights; has maintained
this separation for the benefit of the superior class, and sedulously
taught the doctrine that any change in existing conditions would be a
sin of most direful magnitude.
The opposition of theologians, though first to be exhibited when any
change is proposed, for reason that change not only takes power from
them, but lessens the reverence of mankind for them, is not in its
final result so much to be feared as the opposition of those holding
political power. The Church, knowing this, has in all ages aimed to
connect itself with the State. Political freedom guarantees religious
liberty, freedom to worship God according to the dictates of one's own
conscience, fosters a spirit of inquiry, creates self-reliance,
induces a feeling of responsibility.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account