The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1914-01-01

divorce facilities, subject 10 an ade-
quate provision for all children. In
the ultimate condition, TO which I
refer later on, this might not be ne
cessary, but as a temporary expedi-
ent Feminists desire to protect wo-
man while she is developing from
the chattel condition TO the free wo-
man condition. Until she is fit for
her new liberty, IL is necessary that
she should be enabled to use this
liberty without paying too heavy a
price therefor. Indeed this clash
between the transitory and the ulti-
mate is one Of the difficulties Of
Feminism. The rebels must accept
situations such as the financial res
possibility Of man, while they strug-
gle to make woman financially in
dependent Of man, and IL is for this
reason that different proposals ap-
pear in the works of Ellen Key, Rosa
Mayreder, Charlotte Gilman, Olive
Schreiner, and others, but these
divergences need not trouble us,
for Feminism is an inspiration
rather than a gospel, and If it lays
down a programme, il is a tempor-
airy programme.
Personally, I am inclined to be-
lieve that the ultimate aim OF Fem
inism with regard to marriage is
the practical suppression of mar
rage and the institution Of free
alliance.
One feature manifests itself, and
that is a change of attitude in wo-
man with regard to the child. Indi-
cations in modern novels and modern
conversation are not wanting to
show that type Of woman is aris-
ing who believes in a new kind Of
matriarchate, that is TO say, in a
state Of society where man will not
figure in the life of woman except as
the father of her child. Two cases
have come to my knowledge where
English women have been prepared
to contract alliances with men
with whom they did not intend to
pass their lves,-this because they
desired a child. They consider that
the child is the expression Of the
feminine personality, while after the
childs birth, the husband becomes
a mere excrescence. They believe
that the Wife should die in child
birth, and the Mother rise from
her ashes. There is nothing uto-
plan about this point of view, il we
agree that Feminists can so rear
range society as to provide every
woman with an independent living;
and | do not say that this is the
prevalent view. II is merely one
view,-and | do not believe il will be
carried to the extreme, for the as
ISOLATION of human beings in couples
appears TO respond to some deep
need; still, il should be taken into
account as an indication of sex re-
volt.
That part of the programme be-
longs to the ultimates. Among the
transitory ideas, that is, the ideas
which are to fit Feminism into the
modern State, are the endowment OF
motherhood and the lien on wages.
The Feminists do not commit them
selves to a view on the broad social
question whether it is desirable
to encourage or discourage births.
Taking births as they happen, they
lay down that a woman being in
capacitated from work for period
of weeks or months while she is
giving birth to a child, her liberty
can be secured only if the fact OF
the birth gives her a call upon the
State. Failing this, she must have a
male protector in whose favor she
must abdicate her rights because
he is her protector. AS man is moi
handicapped in his work by becOm-
ing father, they propose to re-
move the disability that lies upor
woman by supplying her with the
! means of livelihood for a period sur
rounding the birth, of not less thar
: six weeks, which some place at tire,
! months.
Among the ultimates is a logica
consequence Of the right of woman
,, to be represented by women. s,
long as Parliamentary Government
endures, or any form Of authorit!
endures, the Feminists will deman,
share in this authority. II hal
been the custom during the Suffrag'
campaign to pretend that women de
mand merely the vote. The object o
this is TO avoid frightening the men
: and il may well be that a numbe
Of Sufragists honestly believe tina
they are asking for no more thar
the vote, while a few, who confes
that they want more, add that IL 1
not advisable to say so; they ar,