The Position of Woman in Primitive Society: A Study of the MatriarchyHartley, C. Gasquoine (Catherine Gasquoine)
History
The Position of Woman in Primitive Society: A Study of the Matriarchy
Hartley, C. Gasquoine (Catherine Gasquoine)
Matriarchy; Women -- History
The twentieth century is the age of Woman; some day, it may be that it
will be looked back upon as the golden age, the dawn, some say, of
feminine civilisation. We cannot estimate as yet; and no man can tell
what forces these new conditions may not release in the soul of woman.
The modern change is that the will of woman is asserting itself. Women
are looking for a satisfactory life, which is to be determined from
within themselves, not from without by others. The result is a
discontent that may well prove to be the seed or spring of further
changes in a society which has yet to find its normal organisation.
Yes, women are finding themselves, and men are discovering what women
mean.
In the present time we are passing through a difficult period of
transition. There are conditions of change that have to be met, the
outcome of which it is very difficult to appreciate. A transformation
in the thought and conduct of women, for which the term “revolution”
is not too strong, is taking place around us; doubtless many
experimental phases will be tried before we reach a new position of
equilibrium.
This must be. There can be no life without movement.
The expression, “a transition period,” is, of course, only relative.
We often say: This or that is a sign of the present era; and, nine
times out of ten, the thing we believe to be new is in reality as old
as the world itself. In one sense the whole of history is a vast
transition. No period stands alone; the present is in every age merely
the shifting point at which the past and the future meet. All things
move onwards. But the movement sometimes takes the form of a cataract,
at others of an even and almost imperceptible current. This is really
another way of saying that the usually slow and gradual course of
change is, at certain stages, interrupted by a more or less prolonged
period of revolution. The process of growth, from being gradual and
imperceptible, becomes violent and conscious.
There can be little doubt that what is called the “Woman’s Movement,”
with its disintegrating influences on social opinion and practice, is
bringing vast and momentous changes in women’s attitude towards the
universe and towards themselves. A great motive and an enlarging
ideal, a quickening of the woman’s spirit, a stirring dream of a new
order--these are what we have gained. We are carried on, though as yet
we know not whither, and there is, of necessity, a little stumbling of
our feet as we seek for a way. Hence the fear, always tending to arise
in periods of social reconstruction, which is felt by many to-day as
women pass out far beyond the established boundaries prescribed for
their sex.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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