The Subjection of Wives

Chapter XXVI

Among the lower races the wife frequently said to be the property or slave of her husband, p. sq.—Yet even in such cases custom has not left her entirely destitute of rights, p. sq.—The so-called absolute authority of husbands over their wives not to be taken too literally, p. sq.—The bride-price does not eo ipso confer on the husband absolute rights over her, p. sq.—The hardest drudgeries of life often said to be imposed on the women, p. sq.—In early society each sex has its own pursuits, p. .—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. sq.—This division of labour emphasised by custom and superstition, p. sq.—It is apt to mislead the travelling stranger, p. .—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. –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. sq.—The position of woman among the peoples of archaic civilisation, pp. –653.—Christianity tended to narrow the remarkable liberty granted to married women under the Roman Empire, p. sq.—Christian orthodoxy opposed to the doctrine that marriage should be a contract on the footing of perfect equality between husband and wife, p. sq.—Criticism of the hypothesis that the social status of women is connected with the system of tracing descent, p. sq.—The authority of a husband who lives with his wife in the house or community of her father, p. 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. .—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. sq.—But if the man’s domination is carried beyond the limits of female love, the woman feels it as a burden, p. 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 husband’s rights, p. .—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. –661.—The status of wives connected with the ideas held about the female sex in general, p. .—Woman regarded as intellectually and morally vastly inferior to man, especially among nations more advanced in culture, pp. –663.—Progress in civilisation has exercised an unfavourable influence on the position of woman by widening the gulf between the sexes, p. .—Religion has contributed to her degradation by regarding her as unclean, p. sq.—Women excluded from religious worship and sacred functions, pp. –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. –668.—The curses of women greatly feared, p. .—Woman as an asylum, p. 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. .—Causes of the decrease of the husband’s authority over his wife in modern civilisation, ibid.