Key
Definition
Literary Reference
Reference to the Period
Editorial Note
Translation
Indicates original page breaks of the article
Article
"Some Thoughts on the Woman Question," Margaret Todd. Blackwoods Magazine 156 (Nov. 1894): 689-692.
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SOME THOUGHTS ON THE WOMAN QUESTION (1).
BY THE AUTHOR OF ‘MONA MACLEAN’
“IT is a curious thing," said a friend to me some time ago, " how in all our talk of the evolution of the individual, we fail to recognise the evolution of the medium."
I have often been struck since with the truth of the remark. In studying a man's life, even when we give ourselves credit for taking into account the action of environment, we look upon that environment as a fixed quantity, and fail to recognise that it is developing just as surely as the man himself is. Nay, it even happens repeatedly that we give the individual credit for the natural evolution of the medium in which he lives, and, when his surroundings change, we say, "How much he has accomplished!"
This truth seems to me particularly applicable to the present state of the woman question. When we reflect upon the great improvement in the position of women which the last thirty years have seen, we are perhaps too much inclined to regard it simply as a proof of the development of the sex, whereas surely, in itself, this improvement is not so much an evolution as a change of surroundings. Our girls do good work at school and college, they win high honours in the field of open competition with men, their names are in every mouth; but did not their mothers and grandmothers do good work before them ? Woman's work is more varied than it was of old,—more exciting, more amusing, more congenial; but, regarded simply as work, is it any better? Surely the girls who distinguish themselves at Girton are, as a rule, precisely the girls who would have distinguished themselves at home. It is not only their work that has improved; it is not necessarily they that have improved; it is mainly the medium in which they live.
I do not wish for one moment to detract from the honour due to those who were pioneers in the cause of women, who, in the teeth of real persecution, asserted their right to be complete human beings, to "make good the faculties of themselves" in obedience to the light that was in them. They carried their lives in their hands, so to speak; they risked much and lost much. The girls who now follow in their steps risk nothing. They are sure of applause, sure of popularity, sure of a welcome. Let us give them the credit they deserve; but do they deserve credit for the fact that their choice of occupation is wider, their life more varied, their work more congenial, and therefore easier?
In an able article on the woman question which appeared some time ago, the writer stated his conviction that the freedom which women at present enjoy is simply an instance of altruism on the part of the men. When the pendulum swings back, and altruism goes out of fashion, it was argued, women will once more betake themselves meekly to their distaffs.
The writer, no doubt, overstated his case, ignoring the fact that sluice-gates are more easily opened than shut, and forgetting that, on any computation, the relation
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which women bear to men is not precisely that which domestic animals bear to both. At our worst and weakest we have at least the power of making ourselves unpleasant; and history tells us that long before the days of “altruism” and “women’s rights” secret poisons were demanded for unruly husbands. Still it is good for us to hear the other side, and few thoughtful women will be inclined to underrate the part which men have played in bringing about the so-called “emancipation” of women. It is probably true that at the present moment the whole aspect of the woman question is a proof rather of the evolution of men than of the women in a community; for, when all is said, we are bound, as women, to remember that the ultimate physical power lies with the other sex. I know it is the custom at present to ignore this truth; but I can see no reason for ignoring a fact, the existence of which lies at the root of chivalry of men, just as its recognition lies at the root of all we call womanliness in women. If it is essential to a lofty and ideal relation of the sexes that the man shall lay down his physical power, it is surly equally essential for the woman to recognise the fact that he has laid it down. Only on this understanding does it seem to me possible for women to share men’s work without sacrificing all that makes womanhood—as distinct from mere humanity—worth having.
But while the medium develops, it is of course impossible for the individual to stand still. When the habitat of a plant is changed, one of two things happens: either it dwindles and dies; or it accommodates itself—perhaps with considerable modification of structure and function—to the new conditions; and when we deliberately move a plant into surroundings, we do our best to minimize the change so to adapt itself.
The comparison is obvious. A change of almost unexampled rapidity has taken place in the position of women, and she is adapting herself to it, not without the manifestation of many crudities and misconceptions which, deservedly perhaps, bring a sneer to the lips of the unscientific. The wise man recognises that it would be against all reason and experience to expect such and adaptation to take place in a moment. Enough, he says, if it is coming about at all, however slowly.
And yet we cannot but feel with some regret that what we women are mainly striving after at the present moment is not more perfect adaptation, but only a greater change of surroundings. Most loyally, as I have said, do I give honour to those whose self-denying exertions have enlarged the sphere and horizon of their sex,--who have revolutionised the medium in which, as women, we live; but are we not nowadays following their lead too much au pied de la lettre? Is our good and laudable demand for more freedom, further privileges, not becoming to some extent a matter of habit? Are men not partly justified in maintaining that we “grow hot over wrongs that have long ceased to be, and argue as we might have done before there was any Married Women’s Property Act, or other amelioration”? No doubt there are still some things which we are entitled to ask from the other sex; but is it not amazing that we have got so much? Surely now what we want most is to rise to the full stature of
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the advantages we possess; surely now the duty next to hand for most of us is not to develop the medium, but to develop the woman.
A tangled skein is this woman question of ours in the present day!—a skein that well may baffle the wisest, the most liberal, the most patient. What is needed to set right? One thing only—good and capable women. Let them call themselves what they will—doctors, or lawyers, or dressmakers, or cooks; only let us have them. Surely the two doctrines which most need to be preached to the girls of the present day are these: 1. Choose work that is beneath you rather than above you. 2. Take the work that comes to hand, and do it with all your might. It is not by opening up new spheres that you will best improve the position of women; it is by filling ably the sphere that you are in.
Trite doctrines, no doubt, old as humanity itself; and doctrines, moreover, what have often been used to bolster up abuses. Thirty—twenty—years ago, I believe, many women were justified in ignoring aphorisms. “There is another side to the question,” they said; and by word and deed they stated the other side nobly. But now that it has been stated, now that the point has been gained, may we not thankfully go back to the simpler, more loveable virtues? As regards the medium, there is no longer any need to fear. The ball has been set rolling, and will run of itself. Let us leave for a time the education, the development, the purification, of men, and try to develop ourselves.
But here I shall be told that no doctrine is so dangerous to preach as the duty of self-development, in that it leads to priggishness and self-consciousness, and all the faults we are most anxious to avoid.
In self-defense, let me fall back on my well-worn metaphor. If we want a plant to attain the highest perfection of which it is capable, we do not twist and bend its stem and snip its petals in accordance with our artificial idea of beauty: we plant it out in suitable air, at a suitable temperature, among suitable surroundings, and leave it to Mother Nature. The metaphor plays me false in one respect, for the plant has but one medium—its world of physical surroundings. When, one the other hand, we are considering human beings, and new dimension is introduced; for the human being has two mediums: first, that of which I have spoken already—the medium of outward things, which is ours by necessity; and second, the medium of thought and imagination, which is ours by choice. Who does not know that the second has a more real influence in developing character than the first?
So, surely, the one obvious unquestionable duty in this puzzling woman question is to place the growing thing, the girls—ay, and the women, if these be growing still!—in an atmosphere of pure and noble thoughts, of loft aspirations, and then to leave the result in the hands of Eternal Law. Can any one fear that this will tend to produce priggishness and self-consciousness?
But however mistakenly we may strive after self-development, the struggle is yet to mind a more edifying one than our present blatantly expressed desire to influence the other sex. Let us do it by all means—nay, we cannot help doing it, for good or evil, any more than they can help influencing us—but why counteract our own efforts by assuring them in every periodical that we mean to do it? It is not the friend who
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says, “I intend by precept and example to exercise a salutary influence over you,” who awakens in us a feeling of meekness and docility; and I cannot see why we should expect than same principle of action to be more efficacious when the two sexes instead of two individuals are concerned. If it be true that, “beyond and above all that we may do, is that which we may be,” it is yet more true that what we may say—and particularly what we may say about ourselves—is of no consequence at all. One is tempted sometimes to think that we women are forgetting altogether the words of our poetess and priestess:--
“A woman cannot do the thing she ought,
Which means whatever perfect thing she can,
In life, in art, in science, but she fears
To let the perfect action take her part,
And rest there: she must prove what she can do
Before she does it, prate of women’s rights,
Of woman’s mission, woman’s function, till
The men (who are prating too on their side) cry,
‘A woman’s function plainly is…to talk.’”
And again:--
“We want more quiet in our works,
More knowledge of the bounds in which we work;
More knowledge that each individual man
Remains an Adam to the general race,
Constrained to see like Adam, that he keep
His personal state’s condition honestly,
Or vain all thoughts of his to help the world,
Which still must be developed from its one
If bettered in its many.”
And now some young scientist will remind me ruthlessly that by using the word “evolution” I have cut the ground from under my own feet—that “trying to develop ourselves” is like trying to push the locomotive that carries is, that Nature makes no leaps, and that, slowly as women have developed throughout the ages, so slowly will they develop to the end.
I am not learned enough to refute the objection, but I should like to quote in answer to it a few words which a great man spoke to me some years ago.
“On this subject of evolution,” he said, “three things seem clear to me:--
“1. That, as a rule, Nature has worked slowly and imperceptibly, leaving behind traces of the links in the chain.
“2. That there have been from time to time periods of exceptional activity, when development has advanced with a rush, and some of the links have been lost.
“3. That in one such period of exceptional activity man was evolved.”
It is too sanguine to hope that the present age, with all its feverish unrest, its mistaken ambitions, its false estimate of intrinsic values, may yet prove to be an age of exceptional activity for women, not only as regards the comparatively accidental characteristics of the medium in which she lives, but also as regards the essential characteristics of herself?
Do we need a new revelation to tell us that such a hope can never be realised through our scrutinizing the faults of others, and loudly proclaiming ourselves the conscience of the race? The woman question, with all its special features, is subject to general, eternal laws; and the experience of the ages has surly taught is that he who would save his fellows can only do it by consecrating himself.
Notes on the Text
Definitions:
Literary References:
BY THE AUTHOR OF 'MONA MACLEAN': Female author and Medical Doctor Margaret Todd pusblished her novel Mona Maclean, Medical Student in 1892 under the pen name Graham Travers.
Under the section "Booking Office," the December 3, 1892 edition of Punch had this to say of the novel: "My Baronite has been reading Mona Maclean, Medical Student. (Blackwood.) "It is," he tells me, "a Novel with a purpose—no recommendation for a novel, more especially when the purpose selected is that of demonstrating the indispensability of women-doctors." Happily Graham Travers, as the author (being evidently a woman) calls herself, is lured from her fell design. There is a chapter or two of talk among the girls in the dissecting-room and the chemical laboratory, with much about the "spheno-maxillary fossa," the "dorsalis pedis," and the general whereabouts of "Scarpa's triangle." But these can be skipped, and the reader may get into the company of Mona Maclean when she is less erudite, and more womanly. When not dissecting the "plantar arch," Mona is a bright, fearless, clever girl, with a breezy manner, refreshing to all admitted to her company. The episode of her shopkeeping experience is admirably told, and affords the author abundant and varied opportunity of exercising her gift of drawing character. Mona Maclean is, apparently, a first effort at novel-writing. The workmanship improves up to the end of the third volume; and Miss Travers' next book will be better still." (Punch)
*Click here to go to this issue of Punch at Project Gutenberg
our poetess and priestess: Here Todd refers to Elizabeth Barret Browning (1806-1861) a highly influential poet during the early Victorian Period. The lines that follow are taken from her poem about a young woman's struggle to become a poet, Aurora Leigh, published in 1857. These lines are 814-22 and 852-860 in Book 8. At the end of the poem Aurora Leigh does not follow the proper path for a woman and becomes a writer instead, like many of the women writers of the Victorian Era. This poem is considered to be one of the most influential works in women's writing.
*Go to Victorian Web by clicking here to see some of the themes in Aurora Leigh.
References to the Period:
THE WOMAN QUESTION: This was the title of the extended debate during the Victorian Period about the rights of women; these sides debated what a women’s role is in society, education, and in the home. Should women remain at home or go out in the world as equal's to men? The idea that a woman is confined to certian duties because of her sex was argued against those who supported women finding a place in society outside of the home. Political issues that contributed to this debate included the Reform Bills and Married Women's Property Act, both of which helped start petitions to circulate for various women's issues. Economic developments also fueled this cause as the Industrial Revolution created many lower class jobs in which the conditions were awful for women ("Victorian Age: Topics, The Woman Question."). Many writers discussed this debate in their writings, including Elizabeth Barrett Browning whom Todd mentions in this article.
*For more information click here to go to the section on The Woman Question at the NAEL website.
Girton: Girton was the first all female residential college in England, and was established by Emily Davies. It became part of the University of Cambridge in 1869 in Cambridge, England ("About Girton College").
*Click here to go to the college's homepage.
Married Women’s Property Act: Before this act all of a woman's money went to her husband once they were married. The Married Women's Property Act of 1870 allowed married women to keep money they made from working and from inheritence (up to 200 pounds). There were many issues with this act because a woman's property was still not secure. The law was ammended in 1882 and gave married women the right to negotitate property and money as their husbands did. Women were recognized as separate persons apart from their husbands ("Married Women's Property Act of 1870").
*To view the Married Women's Property Act of 1882 and its revisions click here to visit the Office of Public Sector Information of the United Kingdom.
Editorial Footnote:
(1): "This paper was originally addressed to a guild of medical women and others."
Translation:
au pied de la lettre: Directly translates to “see base/foot of the letter,” meaning literally.
Commentary on the Text
Kelli Massa, March 5, 2008:
There are many interesting issues with The Woman Question that Todd brings up in this question. She brings up the idea of “the evolution of the medium” as being something of more importance than “the evolution of the individual” (689). The medium she discusses is the surroundings and the environment of the time associated with the progression of women’s rights. This is relevant for any time period experiencing a rapid social change because people do not stop in their passionate pursuit of the goal to think about what has happened up to that point. The entire society changes with situations like this, and that must be considered so people do not only focus on individuals.
Todd calls attention to the fact that since this women’s movement has started it is impossible to stop the rapid progression, but asks that women focus more on adapting and improving the current state before moving on. She refers to the current situation of the woman question as “a tangled skein” because since there have been so many advances with women it is hard to sort out what is happening. She asks women to slow down and focus on what needs to be done at the present to fix this “tangled skein”: “It is not by opening up new spheres that you will best improve the position of women; it is by filling ably the sphere that you are in” (691). She raises an interesting issue here by urging women to do the best they can at what they are doing before going to the next step. Instead of just doing a moderate job at something just to get on to the next step, it is better to make sure the best has been done with the first and then proceed to do that as well with the next. Doing so will not make the movement better because there will be weaknesses in the process.
The metaphor Todd uses with the plant works well with the ways she is encouraging women to develop in this new medium. In order for this plant to grow it needs to be cared for adequately in its physical world or it will die. When turning to women she raises the problem that humans are unlike the plant because of “the medium of thought and imagination” (691). This complicates the comparison, but she adds that the medium of the mind is more influential than the physical, and therefore, humans have power over the physical and natural world to decide on what must be done for survival. While it is important to look at the natural restraints it is more important to look at the choices one makes in the world they are living in.
The parts she quotes from Aurora Leigh discuss the idea of what women should do by nature and what women do because of society. The poem looks at the problems of women doing what they want and should do because it is their will and looks at society pushing them back. She quotes Browning saying “she must prove what she can do / Before she does it, prate of women’s rights” (692). Instead of talking about what to do, this part of the poem encourages women to do what she can and to the best of the ability. Here she criticizes the talk of women’s right because it seems to all be in ranting rather than action.
At the end Todd discusses evolution and how nature has developed in comparison to the evolution of the women’s movement. She points out there were “periods of exceptional activity” and thinks that her time can be one of them if women choose for it to be. She asks, “Do we need a new revelation to tell us that such a hope can never be realised through our scrutinizing the faults of others, and loudly proclaiming ourselves the conscience of the race?” (692). The “exceptional activity” can only happen when the people involved improve the situation by action and increasing their current situation and not by just talking about the problems.
Justin Schumacher, March 17, 2008
While Margaret Todd's article is ripe with insightful commentary on the social and natural underpinnings affecting the transcendent rise of the woman's place in society, it carries with it some contradictions that are not fully worked out. Todd's greatest paradox revolves around the means to which women can most effectively act to further their cause of equality and prominence. The author urges the female reader to set aside the "education, the development, the purification, of men" in order to "develop ourselves"; in so doing, the female will be "filling ably the sphere that you are in." This belief is pursued throughout the text, but it is nullified near the end when Todd speaks about the female's ability to persuade the male sentiment: "let us do it by all means-nay, we cannot help doing it, for good or evil, any more than they can help influencing us." This ambiguous presentation of how women can best exert their faculties to bring about change is further complicated by Todd's initial proclamation- environmental factors based in male-centered power and ideology play a much larger role in any sort of social movement than do the individual actions of women. The conflicting ideas in the author's presentation of the subject bring possibly unanswerable questions to the surface. Why would Todd so ardently encourage women to focus on their own development if she believed they had power to change the values and opinions of the constructive sex? Was Todd merely trying to instill the hope that social change followed virtuous and productive action? If women really carried with them the power to produce noticeable change of the true 'medium', why did she not provide her female readers with practical suggestions pertaining to environmental change? It is clear that Todd believes the cultivation and expression of imagination and thought more impactful in a woman's existence than the outward conditions in which she finds herself. This self-reliant notion is well-conveyed, but it is not well supported when so much credence is given to the changeless immutable law imbedded in social structure. This leads the careful reader to assume that one's positive and "exceptional activity" is necessary for women to find their voice, but it is not a real answer because it has certain limitations that can not be exceeded by mere development of character or action. This idea of limitation is further supported by Todd's assertion that "the ball has been set rolling, and will run of itself." This conveys an idea that the feminist movement the author encourages will develop in its own time and at its own pace. Like any sort of seemingly radical ideological, political, or religious movement, the movement for female equality must wait for the masses to play catch up in their acceptance of new conventions that shape social norms and values. Todd asserts that individuals can not create this social acceptance; they can only quicken the pace of its development.
Leah S, 4/03/08
I think it is interested that Todd dissects the issue of the woman question in this way. She mentions the progression of the medium, as Kelli said, rather than of the individual. I interpreted this mean not only is the change of society as a whole responsible for each individuals progression, but by calling attention to it, I feel as though Todd is requesting for women to in a sense, slow down and smell the daisies. Also as Kelli pointed out she, “asks that women focus more on adapting and improving the current state before moving on. She refers to the current situation of the woman question as “a tangled skein” because since there have been so many advances with women it is hard to sort out what is happening.” I find it very interesting that she makes this request and actually suggests that it is important to know where you came from (otherwise how else will you know where you are going), because of all the movements that have taken place since, no other groups have been encouraged to take a look at their surroundings, their cultures and society and really examine what is going on and figure out how what factors drove them to their current status. I think that by making this call, and through the progressing women that actually do this, Todd reinforces the femininity and grace of women, that are ideally characteristic and should not be lost regardless of any chosen lifestyle, including marriage, children and careers.
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Works Cited
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"Booking Office." Punch, or the London Charivari103. 3 Dec 1892. Project Gutenberg. 8 Feb 2008.
<http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16263/16263-h/16263-h.htm>.
"About Girton College." Girton College Web Site. 5 March 2008. <http://www.girton.cam.ac.uk/about/>.
"Married Women's Property Act 1870." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 21 Feb 2008, 10:20 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 3 Mar 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Married_Women%27s_Property_Act_1870&oldid=193006641>.
"Married Women's Property Act 1882." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 23 Feb 2008, 15:22 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 3 Mar 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Married_Women%27s_Property_Act_1882&oldid=193497722>.
Oxford English Dictionary Online. 27 Feb 2008. <http://dictionary.oed.com.ezproxy.emich.edu>.
"Victorian Age: Topics, The Woman Question." The Norton Anthology of English Literature Online. 28 Feb 2008. <http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/victorian/topic_2/welcome.htm>.
For Additional Reading
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Girton College Web Site. 5 March 2008. <http://www.girton.cam.ac.uk/>.
This is the main page for Girton College, the first residential women's college in England.
"The Married Women's Property Act of 1882." Office of Public Sector Information. 5 March 2008. <http://www.england-legislation.hmso.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1882/cukpga_18820075_en_1>.
This site is part of The National Archives of the UK and provides the entire act with annotations as well as other acts from the time.
"Themes in Aurora Leigh." The Victorian Web. 3 March 2008. <http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/ebb/themeov.html>.
For more information on Aurora Leigh, the poem Todd refers to in the article, visit this page. It explains the themes in the poem and how they apply to the period and The Woman Question.
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