Chapter XXVI: The Subjection of Wives

Among the lower races the wife frequently said to be the property or slave of her husband, p. 629 _sq._--Yet even in such cases custom has not left her entirely destitute of rights, p. 630 _sq._--The so-called absolute authority of husbands over their wives not to be taken too literally, p. 631 _sq._--The bride-price does not _eo ipso_ confer on the husband absolute rights over her, p. 632 _sq._--The hardest drudgeries of life often said to be imposed on the women, p. 633 _sq._--In early society each sex has its own pursuits, p. 634.--The rules according to which the various occupations of life are divided between the sexes are on the whole in conformity with the indications given by nature, p. 635 _sq._--This division of labour emphasised by custom and superstition, p. 636 _sq._--It is apt to mislead the travelling stranger, p. 637.--It gives the wife authority within the circle which is exclusively her own, _ibid._--Rejection of the broad statement that the lower races in general hold their women in a state of almost complete subjection, pp. 638-646.--The opinion that a people's civilisation may be measured by the position held by the women not correct, at least so far as the earlier stages of culture are concerned, p. 646 _sq._--The position of woman among the peoples of archaic civilisation, pp. 647-653.--Christianity tended to narrow the remarkable liberty granted to married women under the Roman Empire, p. 653 _sq._--Christian orthodoxy opposed to the doctrine that marriage should be a contract on the footing of perfect equality between husband and wife, p. 654 _sq._--Criticism of the hypothesis that the social _status_ of women is connected with the system of tracing descent, p. 655 _sq._--The authority of a husband who lives with his wife in the house or community of her father, p. 656 _sq._--Wives' subjection to their husbands in the first place due to the men's instinctive desire to exert power, and to the natural inferiority of women in such qualities of body and mind as are essential for personal independence, p. 657.--Elements in the sexual impulse which lead to domination on the part of the man and to submission on the part of the woman, p. 657 _sq._--But if the man's domination is carried beyond the limits of female love, the woman feels it as a burden, p. 658 _sq._--In extreme cases of oppression, at any rate, the community at large would sympathise with her, and the public resentment against the oppressor would result in customs or laws limiting the {xxi} husband's rights, p. 659.--The offended woman may count upon the support of her fellow-sisters, _ibid._--The children's affection and regard for their mother gives her power, _ibid._--The influence which economic conditions exercise on the position of woman, pp. 659-661.--The status of wives connected with the ideas held about the female sex in general, p. 661.--Woman regarded as intellectually and morally vastly inferior to man, especially among nations more advanced in culture, pp. 661-663. --Progress in civilisation has exercised an unfavourable influence on the position of woman by widening the gulf between the sexes, p. 663.--Religion has contributed to her degradation by regarding her as unclean, p. 663 _sq._--Women excluded from religious worship and sacred functions, pp. 664-666.--The notion that woman is unclean, however, gives her a secret power over her husband, as women are supposed to be better versed in magic than men, pp. 666-668.--The curses of women greatly feared, p. 668.--Woman as an asylum, p. 668 _sq._--In archaic civilisation the _status_ of married women was affected by the fact that the house-father was invested with some part of the power which formerly belonged to the clan, p. 669.--Causes of the decrease of the husband's authority over his wife in modern civilisation, _ibid._