On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
aitttogftottl knf want of perfect identity of interests being more than c ^ pertstftetf by thW advantages of that superior discernment tdiich the made sex would bring to the task . Let us examine , for a moment , the forfefr bf these allegations . The interests of the female sex are so far from being identified with those of the male sex , that the latter half of the human species have almost universally used their power to oppress the former . By the present regulations of society , men wield over
women , to a certain extent , irresponsible power ; and one of the fundamental maxims on which representative government is founded is , that irresponsible power will be abused . The case before us presents no exception : the power of man over woman is constantly misemployed ; and it may be doubted whether the relation of the sexes to each other will eve * 1 > e placed on a just and proper footing , until they have both their Bhare of control over the enactments of the legislature . If none of these
regulations applied specifically to women as women , and to rhen asmen , and feoihe * circumstances arising from their peculiar connexion with each othef , their interests might , perhaps , be considered as identified ; but in the ttetiml relative position in which by nature the sexes stand , ' and must always remain , as two parties marked by peculiar and indelible
differences , separate interests cannot fail to grow up between them , find noVnerous laws must be directed to the regulation of their respective rights and duties . If the enactment of these laws concerning two parties who have distinct interests is solely under the control of one party , we lenow the consequence .
* There is no truth , then , in the argument , that the interests of the feftttle sex in the regulations of the state are identified with those of thtf'male ; and even if the allegation were true , it would furnish no reason fot : excluding women from the elective franchise , unless it could be' 6 ft 6 Wri , that , from their general want of intelligence , they are
incaptt&te of trtaking a good choice , or that ( it may be added ) they labour undfcfr frtmie other disqualification . If it were alleged that , inasmuch as alV-pettons who inhabit houses at the rent of ten pounds a-year have an identity of interests in political affairs , one-half may be excluded from the elective franchise without infringing the true principles of representation ^ it * would be quite as sound an inference as that women ought lo be
excluded because their interests are the same as those of men . There mudt ! Jtbe not only proof of an identity of interests , but also a specific grbtafttt ' of exclusion from the privilege to be exercised . The specific grWahVl ' tirged in the case of women is incompetency from ignorancetW'sAtrie gfound which is urged in the case of the poorer classes of the cc % rmUnHv . It cannot , however , be urged with the game justice .
Ttoto £ ii the female sex may be allowed , in all existing societies , to be , on the whole ? , inferior in intelligence to the men , yet tne hi g her classes of females are superior , in this respect , to the lower classes of the males . Wdttte , fbr instance , possessing five hundred a-year , are generally suftdtior in information to men of fifty pounds a-year , although not , pertofcpd , equal to men of five hundred . If this be a trne statement , the bbviotta expedient is , not to exclude women , but to place their
pecuniary qualification higher . Even the necessity of such a higher quahficktion fhay be doubted , inasmuch as in that peculiar intelligence which is fcWtiMite'AW a judicious choice of persons to fill public offices , females artj'itt *^ fc * fespe <** , grater proficients than tneti of the s * tne rttfion .
Untitled Article
* flfc Tht Rtittonale of PoftH&al Representation .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1835, page 408, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2646/page/44/
-