El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-01-21
FENLNISM MOVEMENT, CAUSE AND
EFFECT, DISCUSSED BY CLUB WOMEN

cause Of the great body Of high mind
ed men and their sense of justice and
fair play In many states they have
already voluntarily granted women full
participation in all the normal human
activities.
Some Of the extreme arguments
against feminism are Women's physical
limitations women's emotional hmita-
tons: womens purely primitive moral
faculties women's economic and eNecu-
tive inability; that her object is the
limitation and subjugation of the male
sex These do not need reply, as they
I'm have been proved false, but the
Two arguments that feminism is eX-
creme because all women do not want
larger fields OF action and because
woman is mentally mans Inferior, do
need consideration.
All VIII RcspOnd.
1T is true unat all women do not
want larger fields Of action, but when
social. civic and racial duties come to
woman in the course of the evolution
Of her own bigger nature, she VIII
respond. The argument that a woman
mentality is inferior to mans, sup
posed to be due to a deficiency in the
female sex, can be answered by the
statement that the brain is not seXed
any more than the liver is seXed-"
No OverEupDly Now.
In answering the charge of economic
oversupply against feminism, Mrs.
Itinlzel said: The claim that women
have lowered the price of labor in
every field in which they have en-
tered. making it increasingly difficult
for men to undertake the maintenance
of homes. has some temporary validity,
but il also has its defence. What JUS
tiee therei was in the grievance mas
already disappeared in those countries
participating in the European war.
rrrF-
every field of national life so that the
men could be in the armies. Her every
human and race function Is brought
into service. There will be no more
economic oversupply in Europe, but
there win be a readjustment Of social
and economic conventions.
Not n New Cry.
Mrs. T. c. Phillips in talking on the
topic THE Task at Hand said: Fem
inism is not a new cry; it Is thousands
Of years old. Among the Egyptians
1000 years ago the condition of women
was far superior in many important
respects than it is today but they
gained it through a feminism move
ment similar TO ours. Roman matrons
at a later day had rights of property
and person that we would be proud TO
have.
her home and rearing her children
and that task is bigger than any mass
OF men ever faced in any battle that
was ever fought. In the care or emil
dren her work includes not only her
children, but all children.
AS an example of the unfairuess OF
some Of the laws against women, MIS-
Phillips cited the states in which the
age Of consent was as low as lg years
"A man might decoy and destroy the
body of a child Of 10 years she SAID
then throw her, ruined on mercl-
less and conventional society as an
olltcast, a harlot, and take defence -tor
himself under the age of consent law -:
vet in the same states girl IS sun
considered a minor when 1t comes 10
making a will or a contract, or own
ing property, and men do not alIoW
her. nor feel her competent 10 take
these responsibilities until she mas
reached the age of IS years The m
Justice of such an unevenly balanced
law should be apparent 10 every one
Mrs. Phillips also emphasized the
feminist. point of view regarding Woln-
er's right to he treated as an lndlVld-
ual and to seek her own occupation,
that each human being had right 70
find his or her own niche Woulu
no more think of regulating all Wom-
en- to q life Of cooking. scrubbinS ana
housekeeping than I would say that all
women should enter the business world
in competition with men," she said.
The Petted Women.
There will always be the women
who wish to be protected and petted,
who will continue as in the past to
be OF practically the same value as
the petted lap dogs of the age said
Mrs. Phillipes. Women as an abso-
lutte whole will never want to vote,
but neither do men. Compare the poll
tax receipts with the male population
of this city alone. Neither do women