Volume 15 , Issue 16

Women Gaining Greater Freedom

This article was found in the Aberdeen Herald, April 01, 1913, page two, "Women Gaining Greater Freedom," by Inez Milholland, a society girl and suffragist.

"A generation ago woman married, in the absence of romantic love, because there was nothing else to do. And in cases where marital conditions were degrading and intolerable she stated married because there was nothing else to do.

"The gradual increase of economic opportunity is enabling her to choose her mate with greater freedom and intelligence, it s also enabling her to divorce him in the event of a marriage turning out distinctly unsuccessful. There is now an alternative. man can no longer starve her into submission.

"The time honored belief that it was woman's duty to bestow her person in exchange for food, shelter and clothing is giving way to a newer, higher ideal that makes recognition of the equal rights of the sexes; The Feminist Ideal, one may call it, that is based on a fine, healthy, continuous companionship and an equal sharing of burden within and without the home. And these new conditions, of course, carry with them a new social attitude toward divorce.

"It is further recognized that unsuccessful marriages cannot be made real and fine by any imaginable pressure of the law or of public opinion. It is as easy to make a dead rosebush blossom by a court order as to breathe life into a sex relationship that is not a real marriage in the hearts of the persons concerned.

"It is only through a sober, patient study of things as they are, a fearless, unflinching onslaught against the wrongs of tradition and a brave and open minded acceptance of new conditions that will lead to the adjustment those changes in the economic status of women have brought into our social relationships."   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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