The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1871-09-08
THE STATUS OF WOMAN.
BY PROF. cHANEY.


Woman is treated with respect, and
as the equal of man, just in proportion
to the degree of civilization and enlight-
enment attained The savage treats her
as his servant, and no better than his
horse or dog. The Chinese treats her as
an inferior, and while he claims immOr-
tality for man, denies it to woman. The
ignorant Caucasian feels himself supe-
riOr to woman, and therefore beats and
abuses her if she dares to differ from him
in opinion. The inflated public writer
or speaker has risen too high in the
scale of being to strike a woman, yet
shows that he feels himself her superior
10y sneering at her weaknesses. Even
the enlightened statesman treats woman
as an inferior by denying her certain
civil rights exercised by himself.
Woman is either the inferior, equal or
superior Of man. The time has gone by
for arguing the inferiority of woman,
even in our partial civilization. / say
partial" because if our civilization was
complete man would not deny to woman
the rights which he claims for himself.
To be consistent, he should continue TO
argue the inferiority of the sex. But he
has been so constantly defeated, of late
years, on this issue, that he now tries to
dodge it by proclaiming that because
woman is delicately organized, therefore
it is unbecoming and improper for hel
to be allowed the freedom and privileges
exercised by her noble lord. Is this log
ical? Concede the woman's equality
just as though she was incapable o
judging what is for her highest good
Yet this is the strongest political argu
ment advanced against the woman's re
form movement.
Let US next glance at the religious ar
gument against woman. Paul writes t
Timothy: "Let the woman learn in 81
Ience with all subjection. But l suffe
not woman to teach, for Adam
was first formed, then Eve" If thi
''for" amounts to anything at all, il i
simply this: That the first formation
were the better and superior. Is this tru
in fact? If so, then all the beasts of tn
field and fouls of the air are bette
and superior to man, for they wer
formed before him. So much for tn
logic of st. Paul. But this apostoli
''chief Of sinners gives a second reaso
for "subjecting' women, namely: "An
Adam was not deceived, but the woma
being deceived, was in the transgre
sion.n Having caught Paul once tri
ping with his logic, am suspicious tn
he is not a close reasoner. Let us see
According to Moses the Lord Go,
made the serpent more subtle than an
beast Of the field, and gave him Il
power Of speech. Poor Eve, ignora
and inexperienced, was never warm
against the craft and hypocrisy of L
serpent, and having heard only truth,
was impossible for her TO know the
was such a thing as .fdLsetOOd. II
Lord God told her not to eat certa
fruit, and she, simple-minded chill
would never have thought of disobeyil
but Tor the serpent which the Lord G
had made. Besides, Eve had no moth
to advise her better, and when the st
pent spoke SO pleasantly, the poor thil
had no means Of knowing but Il
might be the Lord God himself, for no
Of the other beasts could talk. and so
as she knew there was nobody hut h,
self, husband and the Lord God W
could talk. Therefore / insist that f
has been unjustly censured in this fri
business.
With Adam the case was differe
There was no such miracle as a serp,
talking to deceive him. He was oil,
than Eve, and might have suspec
from his own wicked and perverse
ture that a woman made out of one
his own crooked ribs would be likely
talk crooked" Why, for the life
me I cannot discover but one excuse
Adams being deceived, namely, sh