The Business of Being a WomanTarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva)
General
The Business of Being a Woman
Tarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva)
Women -- Social and moral questions
He has made her, morally, an irresponsible being, as she can
commit many crimes with impunity, provided they be done in the
presence of her husband. In the covenant of marriage, she is
compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all
intents and purposes, her master--the law giving him power to
deprive her of her liberty, and to administer chastisement.
He has so framed the laws of divorce, as to what shall be the
proper causes, and in case of separation, to whom the guardianship
of the children shall be given, as to be wholly regardless of the
happiness of women--the law, in all cases, going upon a false
supposition of the supremacy of man, and giving all power into his
hands.
After depriving her of all rights as a married woman, if single,
and the owner of property, he has taxed her to support a
government which recognizes her only when her property can be made
profitable to it.
He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from
those she is permitted to follow, she receives but a scanty
remuneration. He closes against her all the avenues to wealth and
distinction which he considers most honorable to himself. As a
teacher of theology, medicine, or law, she is not known.
He has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough
education, all colleges being closed against her.
He allows her in Church, as well as State, but a subordinate
position, claiming Apostolic authority for her exclusion from the
ministry, and, with some exception, from any public participation
in the affairs of the Church.
He has created a false sentiment by giving to the world a
different code of morals for men and women, by which moral
delinquencies which exclude women from society are not only
tolerated, but deemed of little account in man.
He has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself, claiming it as
his right to assign for her a sphere of action, when that belongs
to her conscience and to her God.
He has endeavored, in every way that he could, to destroy her
confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to
make her willing to lead a dependent and abject life.
CHAPTER II
ON THE IMITATION OF MAN
Fresh attacks on life, like chemical experiments, turn up unexpected
by-products. The Uneasy Woman, driven by the thirst for greater
freedom, and believing man's way of life will assuage it, lays siege
to his kingdom. Some of the unexpected loot she has carried away still
embarrasses her. Not a little, however, is of such undeniable
advantage that she may fairly contend that its capture alone justifies
her campaign.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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