I would not put the slightest hindrance, however, in the way of a single
isolated woman pursuing her own path freely, if it leads her even to
the most unusual forms of labour and attempts to make a living. But for
the sake of women themselves, for the sake of children, for the sake of
society, I wish men as well as women to think earnestly over the present
position of things. They will see that in the near future, one of two
things must be chosen. Either there must be such a transformation of the
way in which modern society thinks and works that the majority of women
will be restored to motherhood, or the disintegration of the home and
the substitution of general institutions will inevitably result. There
is no alternative.
Undoubtedly it required the whole egoistic self-assertion of woman, all
her efforts towards individuality, her temporary separation from home
and from family, her independent efforts to make a living to convince
man and society of the following truths: that woman is not solely a
sexual being, not solely dependent on man, the home and the family, no
matter in what form these may exist. Only in this way could woman fulfil
her destiny as wife and mother with really free choice. Only in this way
could she secure the right of being regarded as man's intellectual equal
in the field of the home and the family, the recognition that in her
way she was just as complete a being as he.
But it is clear that this fragment of feminine egoism must have a
further consequence. With the rights of sex the feeling of solidarity
must be awakened. The woman must see that her emancipated and developed
human personality will lead to this solidarity by the realisation of her
especial vocation as woman. Women in parliament and in journalism, their
representation in the local and general government, in peace congress
and in workingmen's meetings, science and literature, all this will
produce small results until women realise that the transformation of
society begins with the unborn child, with the conditions for its coming
into existence, its physical and psychical training. It must be the
general conviction that the new instincts, the new feelings, the new
thoughts, the new ideas, which mothers and fathers pass on into the
flesh and blood of their children, will transform existence. When, after
many successive generations, the new spiritual kingdom of this world has
arisen, there will come into being these greater ideas through which
life may be renewed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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