The awakening of women : or, woman's part in evolution

Front matter

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T he Awakening of Women

F. SWINEY

Preface To The Present Edition

1'he quotations added to this revised edition testify to the fact that further research in biology, embryology, psychology and sociology, has fully substantiated, on the firmest scientific grounds, the various statements set forth in this volume regarding the higher evolution of woman and her supreme share in the development of the race. On this point I would advise a study of “ Pure Sociology ” by Professor Lester F. Ward, of “Maternal Impressions” and “ Modern Researches ” by Bayer, U.S., and “ The Determination of Sex,” by Professor von Lenhossek. Also philosophical works should be read in connection with this important subject. As will be realised by readers of this bpok, first published in 1899, much has been accomplished for the enfranchisement of women in all parts of the world during the last decade, and consequently the near future may hold in store the full recognition of women’s rights and liberties on the part of the several Legislatures of civilised countries. At any rate, look where we will, the tide sweeps on to freedom, and throws, as wreckage on the shore, the wrongs, the evils, the pre-

judice^ and fallacies of a time that is past and can return no more.

rhe Dawn breaks on the Waters of Regeneration

February , 1908.

Preface To The First Edition

TO the few millions of women who think, and to the many mdhons of women who do not, 1 dedicate this book, m he humble hope that a thought here and there expressed

, yTC m 6arneSt mmds deePer and more practical inerest m matters pertaining to the welfare of women, and

of T ”laJ°nt3, °f women ai1 awakened, keener perception the true and holy responsibilities of womanhood.

have written for the crowd, not for the student I

have avoided as much as possible technical and scientific

TraT T ' and IOng C0lumns of statistics. The woman " 10 m <s and r<?ads can verify my statements by having recourse to the books on the reference list; and I plead witr her, provided she agrees with my premises, to enter the band of teachers for the enlightenment and advancement of the majority. The average woman, occupied with many things, to whom study would be an added burden wo" d not open the book, if it were a purely scientific,’ eru ite treatise (such as the subject might be made in

a er hands than mine), and it is that woman I would fain reach, influence, and enlist, as an active, sympathetic worker m the higher and purer development of our race In the following pages I have not hesitated to represent things as they are, not as they seem. I have striven to pierce the many coats of veneer with which complacent ypocrisy has glossed over the rottenness of many social institutions. Possibly, if the gloss had not been so thickly

Preface

Vll laid on, the true state of affairs would have been sooner recognised by the ordinary observer. Possibly, if the selfish conventionalities of ears polite had been ignored, the heart of woman would long ago have responded to the cry of the submerged sisterhood. Possibly, if definitions had been less delicately drawn, the subjects defined would not have been so totally obscured, nor the social evil confused in many worthy persons’ minds with the increasing scarcity of servants, or the introduction of rational dress.

The danger, however, is too imminent for further trifling. The time of our awakening is at hand, be it rude or otherwise. The average woman, lulled into a false security, thinks all is well with the world. She dreams that every form of slavery is abolished, while, m the darkness, the chains of her sister clang on her doorstep. And when will the dreamer awake?

I appeal to her, as one woman to another, to rise and

trim her lamp.

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Part I Tage

he origin of the race — Man still in the making — The teaching of science -The evolution of sex — The differentiation of the sexe&> 'Ni atuie s care of the female organism — ■ — - Woman’s higher development — The pelvis — Nutrition determines sex — Professor Schenk’s theory— Monstrosities— Eight ribs — Weight of jaws —Woman’s powers of endurance and resistance — Women’s brains — Relative size— Precocity of the female brain — Intelligence of primitive women — -Idiocy — Less insanity among women — Woman’s recuperative powers — Longevity of women* —

Sense of sight— Colour tests— Psychic phenomena— Hearing, deafness— The sense of touch — Woman’s deft

hand — Various employments — Fortitude under pain

Taste— Woman’s frugality— The sugar test— The Science

of food— The decline of the lower animal senses The

further development of spiritual faculties — Hypnotism —The Mystic— Witches— The sense of smell— Its decline among women— The increasing beauty of women— Improved physique— Decreasing height of men— The suivival of the fittest — The reign of force — The triumphs of intellect — The preponderance of women — Resistance to disease Christianity as a factor — The story of the Creation— The law of love— The moral goal— The four stages of mankind

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Part II

1 he feminine virtues of Christianity— The heathen degradano women The liberty of Christ — The consecration of service— The elevation of woman— The Pauline doctrine The sex-bias of the Churches-Personal purity the standard of Christianity— The ascent of woman— Her greater moral faculties— Her sense of duty— Transmitted virtues— Woman as a teacher— Woman’s faith— Statistics of suicides— Woman’s influence on the young -Woman in relation to crime-The importance of chai° acter-Woman’s sympathies-Woman, the hidden mainspring of action— Woman’s powers of assimilation and of perception— Woman’s force of will— Woman’s patience—Woman’s intellectual powers— The influence of heredity— Woman’s want of unity— Women, bad citizens A\ Oman’s frailties — The need of moral courage, of combination, of organisation— Impure art — An impure stage— Misdirected energies— Higher education— Minds of larger growth— Political power— Woman’s sphere

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Part III Woman As The Wipe

Hie normal superiority of the female in nature — The ascendency of the sexual relations in mankind— The traditions and beliefs of the Ancients— The allegory of the fall— Its true significance as regards woman — The divine institution of marriage— The fall of woman— The consequence of woman’s fall — Woman, the mainspring of racial health Moral evolution — Man’s inconsistencies regarding woman— The present evolution of the race— Woman’s xi page

distinctive part— The dawn of the women’s era— Man’s dependence on woman— Marriage and intellectuality—

The eventual triumph of individuality — The extinction of sex— The harmony of the male and female natures—

Love, the great teacher — The high ideal of woman • Women, as divinely-sent messengers — The ideal aim of marriage — Its importance in the perpetuity of the race —The laws of health— Degrees of relationship— Hereditary tendencies — Transmitted diseases — Marriage 1 eforms — The future health of the race ....

Part IV

The superiority of the mother over the wife — The degradation of the wife is counterbalanced by the dignity of the mother — The unquenchable hope of motherhood — The demi-gods of antiquity — The pangs of maternity — The potentialities of motherhood — The future healthy development of the race— Quality, not quantity, the desideratum — Moderation in marital relations — The importance to women of the right of selection — Woman’s ambition as regards race-purity — The creative power of the mother — The transmission of hereditary traits — of disease, of vicious tendencies — Health and morality —

The social evil — The double code of morality — State restrictions on vice — The duty of mothers — The importance of lactant nourishment — Brain development — Knowledge of physiology necessary — The training of the natural appetites— False modesty— The body the temple of God — The foundations of character — The home influence—Great men’s mothers — Reverence for womanhood False sex-bias — The independence of girls — The home centre 108

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Part V

The elevation of the single woman in the Christian dispensation—The single woman’s function in the Christian economy— Religious orders— French charitable institutions—The single pioneer women of England— The sister as the teacher— Secular education— The religious factor m education— The paucity of genius in the present day \\ ant of thoroughness — Technical education — Co-education—The sister as the mistress— The sister as the worker— The sister as the nurse— The sister of the brother The sister of mankind — The indictment of womanhood The woman taken m adultery — The opposing forces of good and of evil — The ultimate victory

PART VI WOMAN AS T1IE WOlIKEIt IN THE CAST

The influence of woman in primitive culture— The folk-lore and mythologies of the Ancients — The germs of industrial art Woman, the discoverer of lire — The inventor of language— The conservator of history, traditions, and sagas— The promoter of agriculture— The first ceramic artisan The clothier of humanity — The basket-maker and weaver— The medicine-woman — The first furrier and skin-dresser— The tamer of wild animals— The burden-bearer The ethical teacher — Position of women among savage peoples — The handmaid of humanity— Woman’s limitations— Man’s intellectual superiority — Woman in the Middle Ages— “My Lady’s Chamber ”— The dawn of a higher civilisation— The elevation of woman’s social

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status — The gradual abrogation of woman’s civil and political rights— Their partial restitution in the present day — The awakening of women — A sublime optimism —

The Anglo-Saxon woman in the van of progress . . 177