Women and Politics | Page 9

women of the world, 'she did not see any
one whom she could condescend to many.'
And thus it is that a very large proportion of the spinsters of England,
so far from being, as silly boys and wicked old men fancy, the refuse of
their sex, are the very elite thereof; those who have either sacrificed
themselves for their kindred, or have refused to sacrifice themselves to
that longing to marry at all risks of which women are so often and so
unmanly accused.
Be all this as it may, every man is bound to bear in mind, that over this
increasing multitude of 'spinsters,' of women who are either
self-supporting or desirous of so being, men have, by mere virtue of
their sex, absolutely no rights at all. No human being has such a right
over them as the husband has (justly or unjustly) over the wife, or the
father over the daughter living in his house. They are independent and
self-supporting units of the State, owing to it exactly the same
allegiance as, and neither more nor less than, men who have attained
their majority. They are favoured by no privilege, indulgence, or

exceptional legislation from the State, and they ask none. They expect
no protection from the State save that protection for life and property
which every man, even the most valiant, expects, since the carrying of
side-arms has gone out of fashion. They prove themselves daily,
whenever they have simple fair play, just as capable as men of not
being a burden to the State. They are in fact in exactly the same relation
to the State as men. Why are similar relations, similar powers, and
similar duties not to carry with them similar rights? To this question the
common sense and justice of England will have soon to find an answer.
I have sufficient faith in that common sense and justice, when once
awakened, to face any question fairly, to anticipate what that answer
will be.
* * * * *
Spottiswoode & Co., Printers, New-street Square and 30 Parliament
Street.

Footnotes:
{3} 'The Subjection of Women.' By John Stuart Mill.--'Woman's Work
and Woman's Culture.' Edited by Josephine Butler.--'Education of Girls,
and Employment of Women.' By W. B. Hodgson, LD.D.--'On the
Study of Science by Women.' By Lydia Ernestine Becker.
(Contemporary Review, March 1869.)

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