Letters on the equality of the sexes, and the condition of woman — John Shaqi
Letters on the equality of the sexes, and the condition of womanGrimké, Sarah
Religion
Letters on the equality of the sexes, and the condition of woman
Grimké, Sarah
Women -- History; Women -- United States; Women's rights -- United States
In Greece, if we may judge from what Eustathius says, ‘women should
keep within doors, and there talk,’--we may conclude, that in general
their occupations were chiefly domestic. Thucydides also declares, that
‘she was the best woman, of whom the least was said, either of good
or of harm.’ The heathen philosophers doubtless wished to keep woman
in her ‘_appropriate sphere_;’ and we find our clerical brethren of
the present day re-echoing these pagan sentiments, and endeavoring to
drive woman from the field of moral labor and intellectual culture,
to occupy her talents in the pursuit of those employments which will
enable her to regale the palate of her lord with the delicacies of the
table, and in every possible way minister to his animal comfort and
gratification. In my humble opinion, woman has long enough subserved
the interests of man; and in the spirit of self-sacrifice, submitted
almost without remonstrance to his oppression; and now that her
attention is solicited to the subject of her rights, her privileges
and her duties, I would entreat her to double her diligence in the
performance of all her obligations as a _wife_, a _mother_, a _sister_,
and a _daughter_. Let us remember that our claim to stand on perfect
equality with our brethren, can only be substantiated by a scrupulous
attention to our domestic duties, as well as by aiding in the great
work of moral reformation--a work which is now calling for the energies
and consecrated powers of every man and woman who desires to see the
Redeemer’s kingdom established on earth. That man must indeed be narrow
minded, and can have but a poor conception of the power of moral truth
on the female heart, who supposes that a correct view of her own rights
can make woman _less solicitous to fill up every department of duty_.
If it should have this effect, it must be because she has not taken a
comprehensive view of the whole subject.
In the history of Rome, we find a little spot of sunshine in the
valley where woman has been destined to live, unable from her lowly
situation to take an expansive view of that field of moral and mental
improvement, which she should have been busy in cultivating.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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