WOMAN'S CENTURY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11229, 25 November 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

WOMAN'S CENTURY.

LADY VIOLET LEAUCHAMP ON THE §ft ONWARD MARCH OF WOMEN, -f || Lady Violet Bkatjciiamf contributes d|| fj£ long article to a late issue of the Humani. ,!. >j tarian on " The Woman's Century," in the > :; courso of which she says: —'ij *jfs It is only in recent years women have iff: ventured to state that the belief in an in- # ?$> herent intellectual inferiority of the female ; ' sex, as compared' with men, is an absurd '|| fallacy. If most, though not all, the u' ?fj greatest works of art and literature are % sjjl due to men, the fact that women for cen- £fj turies received practically no education ' fl easily accounts for it. Up to comparatively J ?)| recent times an intellectual woman has often ?S ?.'j| found it advisablo to disguise her intellectual 3 capacity, and lam by no means certain f'J that even at present the average " sporting" & young man has ceased to dislike the woman ;; j V; whom he fears or fancies to be his superior, 't§ j"M The fact that the British Isles contain two million more women than men, a fact ft |§ that has been so often regretted, is, perhaps, £ to; a blessing in disguise. The conviction that gj| marriage is by 110 means certain, indeed -vJjjS often improbable, has certainly given young g women a feeling of independence. The V feeling that it is not only their object in | [ : : v; this world to captivate a young and "suit- J ; able" man's affection, but also to enjoy their Hf'S own and individual sphere in life, is becom- Jv* ing far more general .than it formerly was.' - Very much has been done to this purpose in this century, which I have already called, fi~ [SB; I think rightly, the " woman's century." §l| Records of a century ago easily prove hW]||| limited a woman's capacities then were. The ijfe woman-journalist, the typewriter, the edi- ¥ tress, were then unknown, and even in do- I- M mestic service, only the lowest, the worst §f'm paid, and the least pleasant duties, devolved '? 0 on women. What a complete change in fs this respect! Ofily the other day, when->A dining out, I noticed that a large company . ?? were waited on by four women. Even the fj often offensive, and not always sober, butler ' r ■ was replaced by a quiet and most- effective V & elderly parlourmaid. The future will, I§ 1 think, greatly favour the development of the |f jt| female sex. The writing of novels has alvjp 1| ready become almost the monopoly of A: % women. What novel written in recent : S| years by a man could even be compared jf f| to Miss Elizabeth Robin's " Open Ques- ja S| tion.'" Women as paiaters and sculptors (§• have lately progressed to an extent that i £ would have appeared inconceivable to our;'.-'. mothers, though here also it is in the future, ' rather than in the present, that we must ® §f place our hopes. Marriage, I think, is on its trial. It is evident that the mdfa Hit m wife contributes to the support of her S husband and family, the less will she admit || the popular fallacy of the innate intellectual vj £) superiority of the male sex. I can only ex«"j| Eg press my own experience— in domestic i- !j| sen-ice the many females I have employed ■&. i P have always been distinctly the intellectual . a superiors of the men who have been in ray.%® employment. ; rgfi gj lam a firm believer in the constant and !§y uninterrupted progress of womanhood, arid % am very certain that the old-wotld pie»jf| p judices which have so long oppressed nij'Ki [3 sex will surely and certainly. though pro- '• : bably slowly, disappear. I % i