måndag 8 mars 2010

Women can



The twentieth century is the age of Woman; some day, it may be that it will be looked back upon as the golden age, the dawn, some say, of feminine civili-sation. We cannot estimate as yet; and no man can tell what forces these new conditions may not release in the soul of woman. The modern change is that the will of woman is asserting itself. Women are looking for a satisfactory life, which is to be determined from within themselves, not from without by others. The result is a discontent that may well prove to be the seed or spring of further changes in a society which has yet to find its normal organi-sation. Yes, women are finding themselves, and men are discovering what women mean.
From "The Position of Woman in Primitive Society, A Study of the Matriarchy", 1914, by C. Gasquoine Hartley, Alias: Mrs. Walter M. Gallichan, 1867-1928. She wrote books with titles like "The Truth About Woman", 1914 and "Women's Wild Oats - Essays on the Re-fixing of Moral Standards",1920


Last week Gutenberg posted four books with "women related" titles. I don't know if it was a coincident — but I thought today is a good day to present them.

This little book is an attempt to establish the position of the mother in the family. It sets out to investigate those early states of society, when, through the widespread prevalence of descent through the mother, the survival of the family clan and, in some cases, the property rights were dependent on women and not on men. I start from the belief that the mother was at one period the dominant partner in the sexual relationships. This does not, however, at all necessarily involve “rule by women.” We must be very clear here. What I claim is this. The system by which the family was built up and grouped around the mother conferred special rights on women. The form of marriage favourable to this influence was that by which the husband entered the wife’s family and clan, and lived there as a “consort-guest.” The wife and mother was director in the home, the owner of the meagre property, the distributor of food, and the controller of the children. Hence arises what is known as mother-right.
From "The Position of Woman in Primitive Society, A Study of the Matriarchy", 1914, by C. Gasquoine Hartley.

Fredrika Bremer .

"Celebrated Women Travellers of the Nineteenth Century", 1903 by W. H. Davenport Adams tells the story of 21 women who traveled the world. Some of them more interesting than others — and some of them well-known, as Ida Pfeiffer, Mrs. Trollope and Fredrika Bremer. Only five of the women in this book seem to have been unmarried and traveling alone. There are several ladies, madams and one princess, I haven't read the whole book yet but I think at least some of the women traveled with their husbands.

Ida Pfeiffer

Hester Stanhope

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I'm sure "A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718" by Wallace Notestein from 1909 is worth reading — but it is still on my list for books to read.


"A Little Question in Ladies' Rights" from 1911 by Parker Fillmore is a book for children, and I'm not quite sure of its feminist qualities — I've just read parts of the book.

Only a few minutes ago I found another book that might be interesting to read: "Modern marriage and how to bear it" by Maud Churton Braby — the book was published in 1911, and seems to be interesting.

2 kommentarer:

  1. they sound like interesting reads..Spring break here so interesting reads will have to wait (but only for a week :0) )

    SvaraRadera
  2. Val,
    That's one of many good things with book - they wait without complaining!
    Margaretha

    SvaraRadera