The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1873-08-15
LIBERTY FOB MARRIED WOMEN.

LIBERTY FOB MARRIED WOMEN.
The Chicago Balance, an ably con-
Quoted monthly journal, devoted to the
interests of woman, and per consequence
to Woman Suffrage, says, in response
to some nonsensical prejudice in the
True Woman, as seen through the fash
iouable eyeglasses of Madam Dahlgren:
'rFhose who have read our journal at
tentively will bear US out in the asser-
tion that we have never for q moment
spoken lightly of the responsible duties
of motherhood, or regarded them as OF
secondary Importance, and we have
never been able to see what some of our
most radical friends seem to claim, that
married tDoDle'l can be, to any great ex-
tent, what is usually termed self-sup-
porting"
Right here is expressed a very COM
mon error that is the direct author OF
much mischief The idea that the du-
ties and obligations of the high and
holy office of motherhood are In them
selves onerous is absurd. The necessary
work of rearing humanity ought to be
considered quite as remunerative TO the
parties engaged in it as is the less neces-
sary work of rearing calves or pigs. But
while the ignoramus who feeds the pigs
or cattle is paid for his labor in proper
tion to his toll, the wife and mother,
who rears the family, is not considered
''self-supporting" because in her posi-
tion of political subjugation, though do
Ing twO-thirds Of the work of the world,
her protector (?) man usurps and con-
trolls nine-tenths of the pay.
Our friend did not, we think, realize
the extent of the error into which her
false assumption led her, or she would
have paused ere she penned these lines
1--WE only claim, as our friend does, that
unmaEried women, or widows, or those
whose children have grown beyond
needing their constant motherly care
while they (the mothers) are still vigor-
Gus in body and mind, shall have all
the liberty that men have consistent
with morality and the rights of Others" Z"
Now, dear Balance, please to pause
and consider. What will you do with
the tens of thousands Of "married wom-
en-" who are not "widows" and have no
prospect of becoming such, and who not
only are compelled to bear children reg
ularly, in some instances two per year,
hfIf Milo o1Cn faI -, L.
increasingly for a livelihood for them
selves and husbands? Such eases are
by no means uncommon. You can find
plenty Of them in Chicago. Is there no
redress for these women? Is marriage al
ways to bea vassalage worse than death to
all women who have incompetent, or
disabled, or drunken, or licentious hus-
bands TO whom they are in constant sub
jugation? Do not such have far greater
need than unmarried women or wild
ows" Of "all the liberty that men have
consistent with morality and the rights
of Others ?" We claim that motherhood
should be self-supporting; that it is
really 50 that any man who boasts of
supporting" the woman who bears and
rears his and her children fails to appre-
eiate wifehOod or properly honor moth
erhOOd, and that it is far more neces-
sary that the wives of such men "have
all the liberty that men have' than it
is for unmarried women or widows, or
those whose children are grown beyond
needing their constant motherly care"
TO have such liberty.
All work becomes oppressive that is
not remunerative. To this idea, more
than any other, may be traced the
prejudice against bearing children
which has become so ingrafted upon the
minds Of married women, that tens Of
thousands annually commit ante-natal
murder. Because they have not "all
the liberty that men have" mother
hood Is thrust upon them unbidden,
and, TO escape its burdens, which, under
a state of individual freedom-such as
linen have'' would be naught but joys,
they are driven to commit crimes
against unborn millions. We all know
that this horrid evil grows. There is a
remedy. 1t lies in woman's freedom
from political and pecuniary vassalage;
a freedom that will give her power TO
protect her own body, and enable her to
make aud shape her own circumstances.
Then, dear Balance, let us 'claim" that
married lromen shall have as much lib
erty as married men; and that both
shall have all the liberty that is con-
sistent with morality and the rights Of
others.n What say Won?