They must upward still, and onward2, who would keep abreast3 of Truth;
Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires! we ourselves must pilgrims be,
Launch our Mayflower, and steer4 boldly through the desperate winter sea,
Nor attempt the Future’s portal with the Past’s blood-rusted key.”
J. R. Lowell.
The world is full of books about women,—most often alluded5 to in such books as “Woman.” The vast majority of these books have been written by men, and until quite lately the few women who wrote about women confined themselves to repeating the precepts6 laid down by men. There were remarkable7 exceptions, of course: Mary Astell and Mary Wollstonecraft, Emily and Charlotte Bront?, George Sand and Elizabeth Barrett Browning[2] spoke8 as women and not as echoes of men. Quite recently women have suddenly broken the long silence, and there is a flood of exposition which is likely, from its volume and force, to make confusion take the place of silence. Ellen Key in Sweden, Rosa Mayreder in Austria, Mrs. Gilman in America and Olive Schreiner in South Africa are a few of the most distinguished9 writers; but there are troops of others who, in books and magazines and papers, strive to deliver their souls. This little book aims merely at being a brief survey of the women’s movement and of the directions it appears to be taking; a survey which shall deal with principles and the broad aspect of things rather than with details, and that will rather suggest what are the difficulties and in what spirit they should be approached, than offer a universal solution for the deepest and most complex problem that has been set before the human race.
The women’s movement in Great Britain has for the last seven years been directed so considerably10 into political channels, the struggle for the parliamentary vote has absorbed so much of the active, organised and thinking women of the nation, that one hears people talk sometimes as if the suffrage12 movement were the women’s movement, and as if, when the vote shall be won, there will be no more women’s movement. One would have to be very shallow and very insular13, too, to think so. And what a tragedy it would be! What! Shall all these sacrifices be made to get the vote and then nothing[3] be done with it? Shall the vote be at once the record of the progress of women and its grave? The women’s movement is world-wide, and whether or no it has taken a political turn depends on the circumstances of each several nation. That it will be of political import some day everywhere is unquestionable to us who believe that it will not die, but that it is life and “holds a promise for the race that was not at our rising.” A condition of virtuous14 anarchy15 may be the highest of all ideals; no one, it is to be imagined, regards government, laws and compulsion as good in themselves; but so long as governments exist, so long are social reforms at their mercy, and no civilisation16 is internally stable until it has moulded the body politic11 into harmony with itself. This is not to say that no progress can be made except by law-making; it is to say that the time comes in the development of every civilisation when laws and the administration of social affairs must change to meet the growing needs of the people. It is because British men have in the main acknowledged this, that the history of Great Britain has been in the main a peaceful history.
The women’s movement is felt in all departments of life. In the education and training of girls, and, since men are the sons and mates of women, in the education and training of boys; in social, economic, religious and political matters. Custom, opinion and prejudice are as important as legislation; administration of law is sometimes vastly more important than law-making. On all these lines, then,[4] march the women, but not on the old beaten paths. Roadmakers they are, and besides the toil17 of making the roads, they have not infrequently to endure the harassment18 of the stones and dirt which are hurled19 at them by those who are sitting in the old track, and who resent their divergence20 from it.
In England the intensity21 of the political struggle is due to the fact that women have made such great advances along the lines of personal and social effort, while the recognition of them within the Constitution is still withheld22. Moreover, the causes of this continued exclusion23 have been of late so merely political, so entirely24 the result of an artificial party system, that the women who desire enfranchisement25 for no party reasons at all, but from their consciousness of a deep human need, are exasperated27 by the pettiness and futility28 of politicians, who subordinate a great issue of social right and wrong to the miserable29 party game of recrimination and retaliation30, of power and office, of ins and outs. The women who had for forty-six years been steadily31 building up a majority in the House of Commons, and had kept a majority unbroken for twenty-six years (a feat32 which can be recorded of no other reform party in parliamentary history), found themselves apparently33 no nearer the attainment34 of their object, for the morally insufficient35 but politically overwhelming reason that their majority was composed of men from all parts of the House.
I do not propose to give the history of the English suffrage movement during the administration of[5] the last three Parliaments; to be clear and comprehensible, this would take a considerable volume in itself. I wish only to point out that these women have been driven to throw their energies more and more into a political direction because they have been made to feel that their majority in Parliament would not act until political pressure was put upon them to compel them to act. “I have been a suffragist all my life,” was the plaintive36 wail37 of the politician; “what more do you want?” Well, the women in the movement want the vote, and they are realising more and more, with every year that passes and nothing done, that they must concentrate upon winning the vote. It is hard enough at any time to get measures through Parliament unless there is a party advantage to be made out of them. Conceive how much this difficulty is multiplied when, besides the absence of party support, the reform is urged by women who have the powers of the purse and the press to contend with, and who have not one single vote wherewith to get the vote! Newspapers are owned, edited and written very largely by men and very largely for men; even what is known as the Woman’s Page has, till recently, been contrived38 in the interests of tradesmen, for purposes of advertisement. Women are notoriously the poor sex. Even a woman who figures as a rich woman is often merely an article de luxe for the man who provides for her, and, though he may hang her neck with jewels, he does not readily give her a cheque for her suffrage society.[6] All the more need, then, for concentration, and the fact that these Englishwomen have, on a very moderate estimate, raised and spent in twelve months a sum of ￡100,000 in working for the vote alone, may be taken as some evidence of the intensity of their demand and of the wantonness of infliction39 upon them of further delay and further sacrifice.[1]
I have said that in England women have made great progress on the lines of personal and social effort. There are reactionaries40 so consistent as to deny that there has been any progress at all, and in almost every direction of change it is possible to find people who think it was bad. The change in the lives of Englishwomen has been so rapid, however, that it stares us all in the face and cries out for recognition. Vainly we wail about the dedicated41 ways of womanhood, when scarcely a living woman is to be found there.
Much of the great change has been due to deliberate and devoted42 effort on the part of men as well as women, who, at any rate, thought they were making for progress. The great impulse towards the education of the people which characterised the nineteenth century made a far greater revolution in the lives of women than of men. Not only did[7] elementary education put all the young girls of the working class on something like an equality with boys, but the foundation of public day schools and the decisions of Charity Commissioners43 gave girls of the middle class a chance of education in school subjects, and, what was of at least as much importance, removed them from the hothouse air of the home and the seminary and gave them the discipline of knowing their fellows and finding their level. The great movement for the higher education of girls secured, step by step, their instruction in the universities, their admission to degree examinations and, finally, their admission to degrees in all but the two most conservative universities. Of more recent growth is the inevitable44 development of postgraduate45 research among women. All these changes were deliberate and were regarded by those who initiated46 them as great reforms. So also were the efforts made, largely by the same group of people, to open careers to qualified47 women. All the world knows of the foundation of the great modern career of sick-nursing; of the more bitter and prolonged struggle of women to be allowed to study medicine and surgery and qualify as practitioners48 therein; of the gradual introduction of women into State service as clerks, inspectors49 and commissioners. All these changes had, to a greater or less degree, to be fought for by those who desired them. They represented improvements in the status of women, increase in power, in knowledge and in earnings50. People resisted them with more or less tenacity51, and[8] used against the reformers the sort of arguments they are still using against further emancipation52; but few can be found now who do not admit that, broadly speaking, they represented improvements. There are, of course, some Orientalists even in England, who think in their hearts that it was a great mistake to teach women to read. But most people now accept the principle that women should have the best education available, and only differ as to what that education should be.
Other vast changes have, however, been made in the lives of women which no women or friends of women consciously strove for, which no one regarded as great reforms, which were, in fact, the unintended and unforeseen results of man’s invention and man’s commercial and financial enterprise, directed solely53 towards the increase of purchaseable commodities and the manipulation of these in markets; not by any means directed towards the improvement of the lives of women and the home, towards the easing of labour, or the increase of beauty, peace and health. With the introduction of machinery54 there came the usual talk about its lightening the lot of the worker and so forth55, but when one reads the history of the first factories, of child-labour and monstrous56 hours of work, inhuman57 and foul58 conditions and vast fortunes made in a few months by exploitation and speculation59, one is forced to recognise that the passing of work out of the home, and of the woman into the factory was accomplished60 without thought of social consequences, and that, of[9] all creatures on earth, the women were the most helpless to resist this change, had they wished to do so.
These, then, are the two great classes of revolution that have come over the lives of Englishwomen during the past hundred years. One blind, unintended, inexorable, whether for good or evil; the other fought and striven for with the highest idealism and devotion. Both wrong and disastrous61 in the eyes of some. Both, whether right or wrong, accomplishments62, hard facts, which the sociologist63 must meet and either repeal64 or amend65. The one thing he must not do is idly to bewail the revolution and refuse either to adapt persons to conditions or conditions to persons.
Pathetic people lament66 the disappearance67 of the woman of a hundred years ago, and some reproach the present generation with being rude to its great-grandmother. But surely any great-grandmother of sense would not wish the twentieth-century man to be mated with a nineteenth-century woman. Even regarding women merely as complements68 to men, it is desirable that the wife should be of the same generation as the husband. And it is nothing short of cruelty to desire to see an early Victorian lady under modern conditions; it would be like nothing so much as the liberation of a cage-bred canary into a flock of ravenous69 starlings.
The industrial revolution did extraordinary things to women. It drove them out of the shelter and subordination of the home and bluntly told them that they must compete for their lives in the open[10] market with men. It taught them (a lesson which is hard indeed for women to learn, and which they are only learning very slowly) that only by the combination of individuals can progress be made in a world where no individuals, no loves count, and where there are no considerations but economic considerations. At the same time it gave them wages in hard cash for the work they had hitherto done as parts of the family organism, without wages in cash. These wages, for the most part shamefully70 inadequate71 for a human existence, have yet been unconditional72 and have produced in working women a sense of independence and a desire for “spending money” that, for good or evil, is having an immense effect in the comparison they make in their hearts between wage-earning and non-wage-earning employments. Lastly, the use of political pressure by working men, to further their industrial purposes, has slowly roused working women to desire power to put that same pressure on for their purposes.
All these effects have been slow in emerging and even slower in becoming clear; the aroused interest of more fortunate women has greatly helped in clarifying thought and bringing it to a practical issue. It is sometimes brought up against the suffrage movement that it is a middle-class movement, in the sense that women of education and some leisure were its pioneers. Undoubtedly73 it was so, in its inception74. How could it have been otherwise? It is so no longer and it never was so, in the sense that middle-class women wished to[11] secure something for themselves from which working women should be excluded; the very reverse was and is true, for, in demanding the franchise26 for all women on the same terms as men, privileged women are deliberately75 asking to be allowed to abandon some of their privileges. They are asking that the privileges of social influence which they now possess, and which the charwoman and the factory worker are without, shall be compensated76 for, to some extent at least, by the granting of a democratic franchise to less privileged women.
The entrance of women into money-earning employments has had two further effects of considerable importance. The Married Women’s Property Act was in part a result; for whereas it was plausible77 to hold that a woman had only a courtesy title to wealth which had been made and given or bequeathed to her by some man, it revolted everyone’s sense of fairness that, when a man had said at the altar, “With all my worldly goods I thee endow,” he should become entitled to the wages of the charwoman or the copyright of the novelist whom he had married. Another effect was that women began more consciously to compare their work with men’s work. So long as men always went out as “bread-winners” and women stayed in the home, it was possible to entertain extravagant78 notions of the arduousness79 of a man’s toil. Now that women are book-keepers, clerks, doctors and inspectors, they have a measure that they had not formerly80, and to many women the peace, order,[12] simplicity81 and convenience of office or factory may well have appeared in favourable82 contrast with the exacting83 and conflicting claims of the household, run too often with inadequate supplies, shortage of labour and antiquated84 tools.
Enough has been said in this very hasty survey to show the gigantic changes in the lives of women, the necessity for clear and unprejudiced thinking about those lives, and for a certain courage in experimenting with them. The women are thinking. What are they thinking about? About education and training; about marriage and parentage and prostitution; about custom and opinion and prejudice; about the economic and moral and religious side of all questions; about organisation85 and agitation86, about politics and representation in politics; about laws and the administration of laws.
And the movement is world-wide. I shall speak mainly of the forms it has taken in England. They vary in every country. But the world is now so well in touch that the experience of one country becomes the experience of all, and what women undergo in one country smites87 the hearts of all women and rouses in them the sense of personal pride, of womanly dignity, of faith in woman’s work and soul. The women’s movement has brought about a solidarity88 unmatched by any other, a solidarity which represents a very high ideal of civilisation, a civilisation based upon the law of love and the knowledge of truth. As the president[13] of the Woman Suffrage Alliance said at Budapest, women feel now that by the degradation89 of some women, all women are cheapened; that what is injurious to the human race is wrong, whether it be perpetrated in Chicago, in Singapore or in Brussels.
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1
uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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precepts
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| n.规诫，戒律，箴言( precept的名词复数 ) | |
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7
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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9
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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politic
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| adj.有智虑的；精明的；v.从政 | |
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suffrage
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| n.投票，选举权，参政权 | |
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insular
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| adj.岛屿的，心胸狭窄的 | |
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virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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anarchy
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| n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序 | |
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civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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harassment
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| n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱 | |
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hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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divergence
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| n.分歧，岔开 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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withheld
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| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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exclusion
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| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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enfranchisement
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| 选举权 | |
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franchise
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| n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权 | |
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exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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futility
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| n.无用 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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retaliation
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| n.报复，反击 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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attainment
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| n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣 | |
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insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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infliction
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| n.（强加于人身的）痛苦，刑罚 | |
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reactionaries
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| n.反动分子，反动派( reactionary的名词复数 ) | |
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dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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postgraduate
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| adj.大学毕业后的，大学研究院的；n.研究生 | |
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initiated
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| n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入 | |
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qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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practitioners
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| n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师） | |
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49
inspectors
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| n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官 | |
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earnings
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| n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得 | |
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51
tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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emancipation
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| n.（从束缚、支配下）解放 | |
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53
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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54
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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sociologist
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| n.研究社会学的人，社会学家 | |
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repeal
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| n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消 | |
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amend
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| vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿 | |
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lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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complements
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| 补充( complement的名词复数 )； 补足语； 补充物； 补集（数） | |
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ravenous
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| adj.极饿的，贪婪的 | |
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shamefully
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| 可耻地； 丢脸地； 不体面地； 羞耻地 | |
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inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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unconditional
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| adj.无条件的，无限制的，绝对的 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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inception
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| n.开端，开始，取得学位 | |
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75
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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76
compensated
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| 补偿，报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款） | |
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plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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78
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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arduousness
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| 艰难，艰苦，奋斗 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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81
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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82
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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antiquated
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| adj.陈旧的，过时的 | |
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85
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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87
smites
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的第三人称单数 ) | |
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solidarity
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| n.团结；休戚相关 | |
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degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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