wife's or father-in-law's house, he is expressly stated to have the power of life and death over her. So, also, in the Western islands of Torres Straits, though a man after marriage usually left his own people and went to live with those of his wife, he had complete control over her. “In spite of the wife having asked her husband to marry her, he could kill her should she cause trouble in the house, and that without any penal consequence to himself. The payment of a husband to his wife's father gave him all rights over her, and at the same time annulled those of her father or her family.": 2 In the first place, wives' subjection to their husbands is 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. Generally speaking, the men are their superiors in strength and courage. They are therefore not only the protectors of their wives, but also their masters. In the sexual impulse itself there are elements which lead to domination on the part of the man and to submission on the part of the woman. In courtship, animal and human alike, the male plays the more active, the female the more passive part. During the season of love the males even of the most timid animal species engage in desperate combats with each other for the possession of the female, and there can be no doubt that our primeval human ancestors had, in the same way, to fight for their wives; even now this kind of courtship is far from being unknown among savages. Moreover, the male pursues and tries to capture the female, and she, after some resistance, finally surrenders herself to him. The sexual impulse of the male is thus connected with a desire to win the female, and the sexual impulse of the female with a desire to be pursued and won by the male. In the female sex there is consequently an instinctive appreciation of manly strength and courage; this is found in most 1 Powers, Tribes of California, p. 382. VOL. I 3 2 Haddon, Head-Hunters, p. 160 sq. 3 Westermarck, op. cit. p. 159 sqq. U U women, and especially in the women of savage races, who, like the females of the lower Vertebrates, commonly give the preference to "the most vigorous, defiant, and mettlesome male." And woman enjoys the display of manly force even when it turns against herself. It is said that among the Slavs of the lower class the wives feel hurt if they are not beaten by their husbands; that the peasant women. in some parts of Hungary do not think they are loved by their husbands until they have received the first box on the ear; that among the Italian Camorrists a wife who is not beaten by her husband regards him as a fool.2 Dr. Havelock Ellis believes that the majority of women would probably be prepared to echo the remark made by a woman in front of Rubens's Rape of the Sabines,' "I think the Sabine women enjoyed being carried off like that."s The same judicious student of the psychology of sex observes:-"While in men it is possible to trace a tendency to inflict pain, or the simulacrum of pain, on the women they love, it is still easier to trace in women a delight in experiencing physical pain when inflicted by a lover, and an eagerness to accept subjection to his will. Such a tendency is certainly normal. Το abandon herself to her lover, to be able to rely on his physical strength and mental resourcefulness, to be swept out of herself and beyond the control of her own will, to drift idly in delicious submission to another and stronger will—this is one of the commonest aspirations in a young woman's intimate love-dreams."4 But although a certain degree of submissiveness comes within the normal limits of female love, though "a woman may desire to be forced, to be roughly forced, to be ravished away beyond her own will," she all the time only desires to be forced towards those things which are essentially agreeable to her. If the man's domination is carried beyond those limits, it is no longer enjoyed by the 1 Westermarck, op. cit. p. 255 sq. 2 Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Analysis of the Sexual Impulse,' &c. p. 66 sq. 3 Ibid. p. 75. woman, but is felt as a burden, and may call forth resistance. In extreme cases of oppression, at any rate, the community at large would sympathise with her, and the public resentment against the oppressor would gradually result in customs or laws limiting the husband's rights. Yet perfect impartiality is hardly to be expected from the community. The men are the leaders of public opinion, and they have a tendency to favour their own sex. On the other hand, the offended woman may count upon the support of her fellow-sisters, and thus the women combined may influence tribal habits and, ultimately, the rules of custom. Among the Papuans of Port Moresby, for instance, "it is a rare occurrence for a man to beat his wife, and he does not like to be reminded of the fact if hasty temper has led him into this mistake. The other women generally make a song about it, and sing it whenever he appears; and as no one is so sensitive of ridicule as a New Guinean savage, he will endure a great deal, even from a shrew wife, before he attempts to lift his hand."1 Among the West African Fulah, if a man repudiates his wife, the women of the village attack him en masse; "like the members of a priesthood, they hate but protect each other." We have, moreover, to consider that the children's affection and regard for their mother gives her a power which is no less real because it is not definitely expressed in custom or law. In Oriental countries, for example, the mother is always an important personage in the family. Children are afraid of their father but love their mother, and when grown-up would certainly be ready to protect her against a cruel husband." 2 It has often been said that the position of women and the degree of their dependence among a certain people are largely influenced by economic conditions. Thus Mr. 1 Nisbet, A Colonial Tramp, ii. 181 sq. 2 Reade, Savage Africa, p. 452. See also Möller, Pagels, and Gleerup, op. cit. i. 171 (Lukungu); Munzinger. Östafrikanische Studien, p. 324 (Beni A mer). 3 Cf. Burton, Sindh Revisited, i. 293; Urquhart, Spirit of the East, ii. 265 sq.; Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. 239; Westermarck, 'Position of Woman in Early Civilisation,' in Sociological Papers, [i.] p. 160. Hale maintains that the condition of women is "a question of physical comfort, and mainly of the abundance or lack of food. . . . When men in their full strength suffer from lack of the necessaries of existence, and are themselves slaves to the rigours of the elements, their better feelings are benumbed or perverted, like those of shipwrecked people famishing on a raft. Under such circumstances the weaker members of the community-women, children, the old, the sick-are naturally the chief sufferers."1 With reference to the North American Indians the observation has been made that, where the women can aid in procuring subsistence for the tribe, they are treated with more equality, and their importance is proportioned to the share which they take in that labour; whereas in places where subsistence is chiefly procured by the exertions of the men, the women are considered and treated as burdens. Thus, the position of women is exceptionally good in tribes living upon fish and roots, which the women procure with the same expertness as the men, whereas it is among tribes living by the chase, or by other means in which women can be of little service, that we find the sex most oppressed.* Dr. Grosse, again, emphasises the low status of women not only among hunters, but among pastoral tribes as well. "The women," he says, "not being permitted to take part in the rearing of cattle, and not being able to take part in war, possess nothing which could command respect with the rude shepherd and robber." Among the lower agricultural tribes, on the other hand, Dr. Grosse adds, the position of the female sex is often higher. The cultivation of the ground mostly devolves on the woman, and among peoples who chiefly subsist by agriculture it is not an occupation which is looked down upon, as it is among nomadic tribes. This gives the woman a Waitz, cit. ii. 343. Bancroft, Nasze Kales of the Pacific States, i. 242-36 * Grosse, op. cit. fp. 48, 49, 74, 75, certain standing, owing to her importance as a foodprovider.1 In these generalisations there is no doubt a great deal of truth; but they do not hold good universally or without modifications. Among several peoples who subsist chiefly by the chase or the rearing of cattle, the position of women is exceedingly good. To mention only one instance out of many, Professor Vámbéry observes that among the nomadic Kara-Kirghiz the female sex is treated with greater respect than among those Turks who lead a stationary life and practise agriculture. Indeed, the general theory that women are more oppressed in proportion as they are less useful, is open to doubt. Commonly they are said to be oppressed by their savage husbands just by being compelled to work too hard; and that work does not necessarily give authority is obvious from the institution of slavery. But at the same time the notion, prevalent in early civilisation, that the one sex must not in any way interfere with the pursuits of the other sex, may certainly, especially when applied to an occupation of such importance as agriculture, increase the influence of those who are engaged in it. Considering further that the cultivated soil is not infrequently regarded as the property of the women who till it, it is probable that, in certain cases at least, the agricultural habits of a people have had a favourable effect upon the general condition of the female sex, and at the same time on the wife's position in the family. The status of wives is in various respects connected with the ideas held about the female sex in general. Woman is commonly looked upon as a slight, dainty, and relatively feeble creature, destitute of all nobler qualities.* Especially among nations more advanced in culture she is regarded as intellectually and morally vastly inferior to In Greece, in the historic age, the latter recognised man. 1 Ibia. p. 182. 2 Vámbéry, Das Türkenvolk, p. 268. 3 Grosse, op. cit. p. 159 sq. sq. 4 Crawley, The Mystic Rose, p. 204 |