Women and economic evolution: or, The effects of industrial changes upon the status of womenMcMahon, Theresa Schmid
History
Women and economic evolution: or, The effects of industrial changes upon the status of women
McMahon, Theresa Schmid
Thesis (Ph. D.); Women -- Employment; Women -- Social and moral questions; Women -- Social conditions
The entire social atmosphere outside the home--whether in the
school or in the club, or in any other social group aims to inspire
an individualization and socialization in harmony with high moral
precepts. We are living in an age when the individual counts as an
important part of the social groups of which he is a member, and some
vital matter must be at stake when the individual is required to
sacrifice himself against his will for the good of the community.
Women have been considered the property of their husbands for so long
that an initiative on their part, disturbing the stability of the
conjugal bond is viewed by many as a symptom of rampant anarchy. What
it does indicate is a marked growth in the rights of women, and a
tendency for these rights, especially economic rights, to approach the
plane of the rights of men.
If the present tendency to divorce is a superficial phenomenon only,
measures ought to be taken to check it. But if it is vital, and has
its roots deep down in our social order, it cannot be checked by mere
repression without perpetrating a grave social wrong.
There are no historical facts enabling us to predict the outcome.
Divorce in the past was a masculine institution and worked great
hardships upon women and children. It was the rich and not the poor,
the men and not the women who enjoyed the privilege of breaking
the marriage bond. To counteract its evil influences, all social
institutions combined in impressing upon man the necessity of accepting
his family responsibilities out of justice to his wife, his children
and the community. So long has the lesson been impressed that many men
consider it a grave moral responsibility to remain as a protector of
their families. Such is not the case with women. No matter how great
their industrial burdens in the home, the past taught them submission,
and not responsibility. All their training--other than industrial--had
as its goal accomplishments that in nowise involved responsibilities.
Whatever industrial responsibilities the home imposed upon them, the
business world of today has largely freed them from. This economic
situation is leaving an increasing number of women without the
discipline of work or necessity. This lack of responsibility on the
part of women may be in part a reason why they more often than men seek
a divorce. Many women are showing by their unselfish public spirit
an appreciation of the importance of the social forces dealing with
the care and the protection of children. In their social capacities
they are working out many of the social problems dealing with all
humanity, as well as the problems of their sex alone. Many of the
serious problems, especially those bearing directly upon the home, the
relations of husband and wife, and mother and children, will be solved
in time--not by our law makers alone but with the co-operation of women.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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