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
There is another way in which the general opinion, that women are
inferior to men, is manifested, that bears with tremendous effect on
the laboring class, and indeed on almost all who are obliged to earn
a subsistence, whether it be by mental or physical exertion--I allude
to the disproportionate value set on the time and labor of men and
of women. A man who is engaged in teaching, can always, I believe,
command a higher price for tuition than a woman--even when he teaches
the same branches, and is not in any respect superior to the woman.
This I know is the case in boarding and other schools with which I
have been acquainted, and it is so in every occupation in which the
sexes engage indiscriminately. As for example, in tailoring, a man has
twice, or three times as much for making a waistcoat or pantaloons as
a woman, although the work done by each may be equally good. In those
employments which are peculiar to women, their time is estimated at
only half the value of that of men. A woman who goes out to wash, works
as hard in proportion as a wood sawyer, or a coal heaver, but she is
not generally able to make more than half as much by a day’s work. The
low remuneration which women receive for their work, has claimed the
attention of a few philanthropists, and I hope it will continue to do
so until some remedy is applied for this enormous evil. I have known
a widow, left with four or five children, to provide for, unable to
leave home because her helpless babes demand her attention, compelled
to earn a scanty subsistence, by making coarse shirts at 12¹⁄₂ cents
a piece, or by taking in washing, for which she was paid by some
wealthy persons 12¹⁄₂ cents per dozen. All these things evince the
low estimation in which woman is held. There is yet another and more
disastrous consequence arising from this unscriptural notion--women
being educated, from earliest childhood, to regard themselves as
inferior creatures, have not that self-respect which conscious equality
would engender, and hence when their virtue is assailed, they yield to
temptation with facility, under the idea that it rather exalts than
debases them, to be connected with a superior being.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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