ThePositionofWomaninPrimitiveSociety 10032701

T H E P O SI TI O N O F W O M A N
IN P R I M I TI V E SO C I E T Y
B Y T H E SAM E AU T H O R
T H E T R UT H A B O U T W O MAN
B O OK S ON A R T
A RE CO RD O F S P AN I S H PA I NT I N G
TH E P RADO ( S panish S eri es )
EL GRE CO
V E L A Z QU EZ
P I C T U RES IN TH E T A T E GA LL E RY
B O OK S ON SP A IN
M O O R I S H C I T I ES I N S PA I N
T H I N G S S EE N I N S PA I N
S PA IN REV I S I T E D : A S U M M ER H O L IDAY m GAL IC IA
S A NT I A GO D E C O M P O S T E L A ( M ed i aeval T owns ’
C A T H E D RA L S O F S O UT H E RN A N D EA S T E RN
S PA I N
TH E
PO SITIO N O F W O M AN
IN P R IM ITIV E SO C IET Y
ST U D Y O F T HE M AT RIARC HY
BY
C . G A SQ U O IN E H A R T L E Y
( M R S.W A TER L
M .
fiA L L IC H AN)
A UT HO R O F
“THE T R UT H A BO UT W O M A N .
L O NDO N
EVEL EIGH N A SH
1 9 14
D E D I C AT I O N
TO AL L W O M EN
Be n o t a s ha m e d , w o m en , y our l
pri v i e ge inc l d
u es t he r es t .
You a r e t he ga t e s o f t he b o d y , y o u a re t he ga t e s of t he sou l .
An d I s ay it i s as g re a t t o be a wo m an as t o be a man .
And I sa
y t h e re is no t hing g re a t e r t h an t he m o t h er o f m en .
’
W A L T W H ITM AN .
3 0 07 9 2
C O N T E NT S
PA R T I
TH E P R I M I TI V E F A M I L Y
C HA P .
I I N TR OD U CTOR Y
11 AN EX PO S I T I O N O F BAC H OF EN S T HEO RY
’
OF
TH E MA T R I A R C H A T E
III D I FF I CU LT I E S AND O BJ E CT I O N S : AN A TT E MP T
TO RE C O NC IL E M O T HER R I GH T W I T H T HE
-
PA T R I A R C H AL T HE O RY
I V D EV E L O PM E N T I N T HE PA T R I A R C H AL F AM I LY
AND T HE R I S E O F M O T HER P OW ER -
P A R T II
THE M O TH E R AGE C I V I L I S ATI O N
V T HE MA T R I A R C H AL FAM I LY AM O N G T HE
AM ER I CAN I ND I AN S
V I T HE MA T ER NAL F AM I LY AM O N G T HE K HA SIS
VI I F U R T HER E XAMPL E S O F T HE MAT ER NAL F AM I LY 1 47
VI I I M O T HER R I GH T C U ST O M S AND T HE T R AN S I T I O N
-
TO F A T H ER R I GH T
-
viii CONT EN TS
C RAP . P AG E
IX WO M E N AND P R I M I T I V E I ND U ST R Y
X T R AC ES OF M O T HER R I GH T C U STO M S
-
I N
ANC I E N T AND M O D ER N C I V I L I S AT I O N
XI T HE S U RV I VALS M OTHER R I GH T I N F O L K
OF -
LO RE I N HER O I C LEGE ND S AND I N FA I R Y

, ,
STO R I ES
X II CO NCLU D I N G RE MA R K S
I
T HE PRI MITI VE FAM I L Y

CH A PT ER I
I N T RO D U CT O R Y
THE twentieth cent u ry is the age of Woman
some day it may be that it will be looked back
‘
upon as the golden age the dawn some say of

, , ,
feminine civilisation We cannot estimate as yet

.
and no man can tell what forces these new con

dit ions may not release in the soul of woman .
The modern change is that the will of woman is

asserting itself Women are looking for a satis
.
factory life which is to be determined from within

,
themselves not from without by others The

, .
result is a discontent that may well prove to be

the seed or spring of further changes in a society
which has yet to find its normal organisation Yes .
,
women are finding themselves and men are dis ,
covering what women mean .
In the present time we are p assing through a

difficult period of transition There are conditions
.
of change that have to be met the outcome of ,
which it is very difficult to appreciate A trans .
formation in the thought and conduct of women ,
for which the term revolution is not too strong ,
is taking place around us ; doubtless m any experi

mental phases will be tried before we reach a new
position of equilibrium .
1 a} , 35 .
1E
’
HE P OSITIO N OF
‘
W OMAN
Thi s must be There can be no life without .
movement .
The expression a transition period is of

, , ,
course only relative We often say : This or that

, .
is a sign of the present era ; and nine tim es out o f ,
ten the thing we be lieve to be new is in reality as

,
old as the world itself In one sense the whole of .
history is a vast transition N o period stands .
alone ; the present is in every age merely the

shifting point at which the past and the future
meet All things move onwards But the move
. .
ment sometimes takes the form of a cataract at ,
others of an even and almost imperceptible current .
This is really another way of saying that the usually

slow and gradual course of change is at certain ,
stages interrupted by a more or less prolonged

,
period of revolution The process of growth from .

,
being gradual and imperceptible becomes violent ,
and conscious .
There can be little doubt that what is called

the Woman s M ovement with its disintegrating
’
influences on social opinion and practice is bringing ,
vas t and momentous changes in women s attitude ’
towards the universe and towards thems elves A .
great motive and an enlarging ideal a quickening ,
of the woman s spirit a stirring dream of a new

’
order—these are what we have gained We are

'
.
carried on though as yet we know not whither

, ,
and there is of necessity a little stumbli ng of our

, ,
feet as we seek for a way Hence the fear always .

,
tending to arise in periods of social r econstruction ,

I N PR I M ITI VE SOC I E T Y 13
which is felt by many to day as women pass out

-
far beyond the established boundaries prescribed

for their sex .
Whoever reflects soberly on the past history of

women will not be surprised at their present move
ment towards emancipation Women are reclaim.
ing a position that is theirs by natural right —a

position which once they held It may be all very .
well for those who accept the authority and head

ship of the man as the foundation of the family
and of society to be filled with bewildered fear at
,
what seems to them to be a quite new assertion

of rights on the part of the mothers of the race .
B ut has the family at all stages of growth been

founded on the authority of the f ather ? Our de
cision on this question will affect our outlook on
’
the whole question of Woman s Rights and the
relationships of the two sexes There are civi lisa .
tions older and as I believe wiser than ours that

, , ,
have accepted the predominant position of the

mother as the great central fact on which the family
has been e stablished .
The vi ew that the family much as it e x isted ,
among the Hebrew patriarchs and as it exists ,
to day was primeval and universal is very deeply

-
,
rooted This is not surprising To reverse the

. .
gaze of men from themselves is no easy task The .
predominance of the male over the female of ,
the man over the woman and of the father over the
mother has been accepted almost without question
‘
, , ,
in a civilisation built up on the recognition of male

14 THE POS ITI ON OF W OMAN
v alues and male standards of opinion Thus the .
institutions habits prej udices and supe rstitions

, , ,
of the patriarchal autho rity rest like an incubus

upon us The women of to day carry the dead
.
-
load upo n their backs and lite rally stagger beneath

,
the accumulating burden of the ages .
The Woman s M ovement is pressing us for

’
ward towards a recasting of the patriarchal view of

the relative position and duties of the two sexes .
It must be regarded as an extremely great and

comprehensive movement a ffecting the whole of
life From this wider standpoint the fight for the
.
,
parliamentary su ffrage is but as the vestibule to

progress ; the possession of the vote being no more
than a necessary condition for att aining far larger
and more fundamental ends .
It is however very necessary to remark that the

, ,
recognition of this imposes a great responsibility

upon women For one thing the practical diffi culties
.
of the present must be faced It is far from easy .
to readj ust existing conditions to meet the new

demands Present social and economic conditions
.
are to a gr eat extent chaotic We cannot safely .
cast aside in any haste for reform those laws

, , ,
customs and opinions which it has been the slow

task of our civilisation to estab lish not for men ,
only but for women We women have to work

, .
out many questions far more thoroughly than

hitherto we have done We owe this to our .
movement and to the world of men It will serve .
nothing to pull down unless we are ready also ,

I N PR I M ITI VE S OC I E T Y 15
to build up Freedom can be granted only to the

.
self disciplined
-
.
Thou that does know the S elf and the not S elf -
,
expert in every work endowed with self restraint

‘
and perfect same sightedness towar ds every cre ature

-
free from the sense of I and my—thy po wer and

energy are equal to my own and thou hast practised ,
” 1
the most severe discipline .
This little book is an attempt to establish the

position of the mother in the family It sets out .
to investi gate those early s tates of society when , ,
through the widespread prevalence of descent

through the mother the survival of the family ,
clan and in some cases the property rights were

, ,
dependent on women and not on men I start .
from the belief that the mother was at one period

the dominant partner in the sexual relationships .
This does not however at all necessarily involve

, ,
”
rule by women We must be very clear here
. .
What I claim is this The s ystem by which the .
family was built up and grouped ar ound the mother

conferred special rights on women The form of .
marriage favourable to this influence was that by

which the husband entered the Wife s family and ’
clan and lived there as a consort guest

, The -
.
wife and mother was director in t he home the ,
owner of the meagre property the distributor of ,
1
The Mahd bhd m m The Great God t hu s ad d resses
.
k k
Sha t i when he as s her t o d escribe t he d u t ies of wo m en
, .
p p
I qu ot e from a am hl et b D r Anan d a Coo m aras wam y .
S ati A Vi ndi cati on of the i ndu W oman .

16 THE POS IT I ON OF W OMAN
food and the controller of the chil dren
, Hence .
1
aris es what is known as mother right -

.
I am prompted to this inquiry by two rea sons

in the fir st place the origin of the maternal system
,
-
and the subsequent association of the mother and

the father appear to me to a fford evidence of t he
working of a natural law of the two sexes which , ,
both for social and other re as ons is of great interest ,
in the present stage of women s history The ’

.
establis hing of the mother s position is of great ’
importance If we can prove that women have

.
exercised unquestioned and direct authority in the

pas t history of human societies we shall be in a ,
position to answer thos e who to day wish to set -
’
limits to women s activities Then in the second .
,
place I am compelled to doubt certain conclusions

, ,
both of those who accept mother right and also of -

,
the greater number who now deny its occurrence .
If I am right and the importance of the maternal

,
family has been unduly neglected and the true

explanation of its origin overlooked I feel that , ,
whatever errors I may fall into I am j ustified in ,
undertaking this task M y mistakes wi ll be cor

.
rect ed by others with more knowledge than I can
claim ; and if my theory of mother right has any -
merit it will be established in more competent

,
hands The vast maj ority of investigators on these

.
questions are men I am dri ven to be li eve that

.
sometimes they are mistaken in their interpretation

M c Gee
1
The Beginning of Marriage ,
A meri can
g
A nthropol o i st, V ol . I V p 378
, . .
18 THE POS I T I ON OF W OMAN
perty and the future hope of the family rests on
,
the fem al e side S uch conditions must have exer

.
cised strong influence on the position of the women
membe rs of the primitive clan and the honour in

which they were held I t cannot be ignored . .
Of course this does not prevent the hardships of

,
savage life weighing more heavily in many ways

upon women than on the stronger men In primi .
tive societies women have a position quite as full of

anomalies as they hold among civil ised races .
Among some tribes their position is extremely

good ; among others it is undoubtedly bad but , ,
speaking generally it is much better than usually ,
it is held to be 1
Obviously the causes must be
.
sought in the environment and in social organisa

tion The diffe rences in the status and power of
.
women often occurring in tribes at the same level

,
of progress would seem to be dependent largely

,
on economic conditions The subj ect is full of .
diffi culties Not only is the position of women

.
thus variable but our kn owledge of the matter is

,
very defective It is seldom indeed that the .

, ,
question has been considered of su fli cient impo rt

ance to receive accurate attention 2
Not in fre .
quently con fli cting accounts are given by different

authorities and even by the same writer
,
.
1
W es t erm arc k Th e Pos it ion of W o m en in E arl y
,
Ci vilis at i ons S oci ologi cal Papers 1 9 0 4

”
, ,
.
2
F or i nst an ce M aine ( E arly L aw an d C u stom) in s pea k
, ,
ing o f t r ibes who st ill t race t heir d es cent fr om a s in gle

an ces t r ess , s ay s , The o u t l ines ( i e o f t he m at ern al . .
famil y ) k
m ay s till be m ar ed ou t , i f i t be wor th any one s
”
’
while to trace i t .
I N PR IM ITI VE SOC I E T Y 19
I wish it to be understood that mother right does -
not necessarily imply mother rule This system -

.
may even be combined with the patriarchal authority

of the male The unfortunate use of the term M atri
.
arckate has led to much confusion M y own know .
ledge and study of primitive customs and ancient

civilisations have made it plain to me that there
has been a constant rise and fall of male and female
dominance but I believe that on the whole the
, , , , ,
superio rity of women has been more frequent and

more successful than that of men .
It is this that I shall attempt t o prove .
The theory of mother right has been subj ected

-
to so much criticism that a re examination of the

-
position is very necessary To show its prevalence

,
.
,
to establish some leading points in its history to ,
make out its connection with the patriarchal family ,
and to trace the transition by which one system

passed into the othe r appear to me to be matters
,
primarily important The limited compass of this

.
little book will prevent my substantiating my own

views as I should wish with a full and systematic
,
survey of all authentic accounts of the peoples

among whom mother descent may be studied I
-
.
have considered however that I could summarise

, ,
the p osition in a comprehensive picture that will , ,
I hope suggest a point of V iew that seems to me to

,
have been very generally neglected .
It is necessary to enter into such an 1nqu 1ry with

caution ; the diffi culties befo re me are very great .
Nothing would be easier than from the mass of

20 THE POS ITI O N OF W OMAN
material available to pile up facts in furnishi ng a
picture of the high status of women among many
tribes under the favourable influence of mother
descent that would unnerve any upholders of the
,
patriarchal view of the subordination of women .
It is j us t possible on the other hand to interpret

, ,
these facts from a fixed point of thought of the

’
father s authority as the one support of the family ,
’
and then to argue that in spite of the mother s
,
cont rol over her children and over property she ,
still remained the inferior partner I wish to do.
neither It is my purpose to examine the evidence

.
,
and so to discover to what extent the system of

tracing descent through the female side conferred
any special claim for consideration upon women .
I shall t ry to avoid mistakes I put fo rward my

.
own opinions with great diflidence It is so easy .

,
as I realise full well to interp ret facts by the bias

,
of one s own wishes I know that the habits and

’
.
customs of primitive peoples that I have studied

closely are probably few in comparison with those
I have missed ; yet to me they appear of such
importance in the light they throw on the whole
question of the relationships of the two sexes that ,
it seems well to bring them forward .
S ince my attention now many years ago was

, ,
first directed to this question I have felt that a

,
clear and concise account of the mother age was -
indispensable for women S uch an account with a

.
,
criticism of the patriarchal theory is here o ffered

, .
Throughout I have attempted to clear up and bring

IN PR I M ITIVE SOC I E T Y 1
into uni formit y the two opposing theories of the

origin of the human family I have tried to gather
.
the facts very numerous and falling into several

,
classes by which the theo ry of the mother age could

,
-
be supported And first it was necessary to clear

.
out of the way a body of opinion the prevalence of,
which has opposed an obsta cl e to the acceptance o f

the rights of mothers in the family relationshi p .
The whole question turns upon which you start

—
with the man the woman or the woman the man
,
— .
Here it should be e x plained that this little book

is an expansion of the historical section which
treats of the M other age civilisation
-
in my
former book The Truth Abou t W oman I wish
, .
to take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude

for the generous interest and sympathy with which
my work has been received S uch kindness is very
.
’
imperfectly repaid by an author s thanks ; it is
certainly the best incentive to further work .
This little volume was suggested to me by a review

in one of the S u ffrage pape rs The writer after
.
,
speaking of the interest to women of the mother age -
and the di ffi culty there was in gaining information

on the subj ect said that , a small and cheaper
book on the matriarchate would be useful to women
”
in all countries I was grateful for this su gges
.
tion I at once felt that I wanted to write such a

.
book For one thing this particular section on

.
,
the mother age in The Truth A bou t W oman and

-
,
my belief in the favourable influence of mothe r

descent on the status of women has been much ,
22 THE POS ITI ON OF W OM AN
questioned I have been told that I had quite
.
delibe rately gone back to our uncivilised ancestors

to fish up the precedent of the matriarchate ;
that I had a llowed my prej udices to dictate my
choice of material and had thus brought fo rward
,
examples explanato ry of my own opinions ; that

I had fastened eage rly on these without inquiring
,
too carefully about othe r facts having a cont rary

tendency . I was reminded of what I well knew ,
that the mat riarchate and promiscuity with which

it is usually connected we re not universally accepted
by anth ropologists ; the tendency to day being to -
discredit bo th as being among the early phases of

“
society It was suggested that I had u nprofi t
.
ably spent my time on the historical section of my

book and had built up my theory on a curiously
,
uncertain foundation ; that I had relied too

much on the certain working of mother right and -
,
had been by no means clear in showing how from ,
such a po sition of power women had sunk into

,
”
subservience to pat riarchal rule In fact it has
.
,
seemed to be the opinion O f my critics that I had

allowed what I would have liked to have hap
pened to a ffect my account of what did happen in
the infancy of man s social life
’
.
Now I want to say quite frankly that I feel much

, ,
of this criticism is j ust The inquiry on the mot her

.
age civilisation was only one small section of my

bo ok on Woman I realise that very much was
.
hurried ove r There is on this subj ect of the origin

.
of the family a literature so extensive and such a ,

IN PR I M ITI VE SOC I E T Y 3
variety Of opinions that the work of the student

,
is far from e asy The whole question is too ex

.
tensive to allow anything like adequate treatment

within the space of a brief and necessarily in ,
sufficient , summary : My earlier investigation may

well be obj ected to as not being in certain points
supported by su fii cient proofs I know this It is
’
. .
not easy to condense the marriage customs and

social habits of many different peoples into a few
dozen pages Of course I selected my examples
.
,
.
But this I may say ; I chose those which had

’
brought me to accept mother right I was driven -

.
to this belief by my own study and reading long

before the time of writing my book What I really .
tried to do was to present to others the facts that

had convmced me But my stacks of unused notes
.
,
collected for my own pleasure during many years

of work are witness to how much I had to leave out
, .
I know that many obj ections that have been raised

to the theory of mother right were left unanswered
-
.
I dismissed much too lightly the pat riarchal theory

of the origin of the family which during late years
,
has gained such advocacy I failed to carry my .
inquiry far enough back I accepted with too little

.
caution an early period of promiscuous sexual re

lat ionships. I did not make clear the stages in the
advance of the family to the clan and the tribe ; nor
examine with su fficient care the later t ransition period
in which mother right gave place to father right
- -
.
I have been sent back to examine again my own

posi tion And to do this it was necessary first to
.
,
24 THE POS ITI ON OF W OMA N
take up the question from the position of those whose
views are in opposition to my own I have made .
a much more extensive study of those authorities

who rej ecting mother right accept a modification
,
-
,
of the patriarchal theory as the origin of the family .
This has led to some considerable recastin g of my

views Not at all however to a change in my belief
.
, ,
in mother right which indeed has now been

-
, , ,
strengthened and as I trust built up on surer

, , ,
fo undations .
By a fortunate chance I was advised to read ,
M r Andrew Lang s Soci al Origi ns which work

.
l ’
includes Mr At k inson s P ri mal L aw I am greatly

.
’
.
indebted to the assistance I have gained from these

writers It is perhaps curious that a ve ry careful
.
, ,
study of the patriarchal fa mily as it is presented by

Mr Atkinson and M r Lang has brought me to a
. .
,
conclusion fundamentally at variance from what

might have been expe cted I have gained invaluable .
support for my own belief in mother right and have -

,
found fresh proofs from the method of difference I .
have cleared up many points that previously puzzled

me I am able now to accept the patriarchal theory
.
,
without at all shaking my fai th in a subsequent

pe rio d of mother descent and mother power - -
.
The discussion on this question is now half a

century old Yet in spite of the opposition of many
.
investigators and the support of others the main

, ,
problems are still unsettled What form did the .
1
This boo k was m ent ioned t o m e in a lett er from Mr .
H . G W ells
. .
CHA PT ER II
AN E XP O S ITI O N O F B AC H OFE N S
’
TH E O R Y OF
THE MAT R I AR CHAT E

FI F TY TH REE
-
years ago in his great wo rk D as ,
M u tterrecht the S wiss writer B achofen drew the

1
, , ,
attention of the wo rld to the fact that a system

of ki nship through mothers only prevailed among
many primitive peoples while survivals of the ,
custom could be widely if but faintly traced , ,
among civi lised races Drawing his evidence from .
the actual statements of old writers but more ,
from legends and the mythologies of antiquity he ,
came to the conclusion that a system of descent

through women had in all cases p receded the rise , ,
of k ins hi p through males Almost at the same .
time Dr J F M cL ennan igno rant of the wo rk

.
2
. .
,
of B achofen came to the same opinion This led

,
.
to a reconsideration of the patriarchal theory ; and

for a time it was widely held that in the early
stages of society a mat riarchate preva iled in which ,
women held the supreme powe r Fur ther suppo rt .
1
D as M utter recht wa s p u b lish ed in St u tt gart in 1 8 6 1 .
3
Pri mi ti ve Marri age p u bli s hed 1 8 65
,
S tu d i es i n A nci en t .
Hi story ,
p
which in cl u d es a re rint o f Pri m i ti ve M ar ri a e ; g
I s t e d 1 8 76 2 n d ed 1 8 8 6
.
,
The Patri archal Theor
. . a cr i t i y ,
c is m o f t hi s t heory is b as ed on t he a ers of M r M c L enn an p p .
an d edit ed by hi s bro t h er .
W OMAN IN PR I M IT I VE S OC I E T Y 27
came from M organ with his knowledge of the

,
maternal family among Ame rican abo rigi nes and ,
he was followed by Professor Tylor M cGee and , ,
many other investigators .
Obviously this gyn aecocratic View which placed ,
woman in a new relation to man was unlikely to be ,
permanently accepted Thus a reaction to the earlier

.
theo ry of the pat riarchal family has set in especially ,
in recent years M any writers while acknowledging

.
,
the existence of mothe r descent deny that such a ,
system carries with it except in a few exceptional

,
cases mother rights of special advantage to women ;

,
-
even when these seem to be present they believe

such rights to be more apparent than real .
In bringing forward any th eory of mother right -

,
it thus becomes necessary to show the causes that

have led to this reversal in opinion To do this .
,
the first step will be to examine with considerable ,
detail the evidence for the matriarchal theory as

,
it is given by its two great supporters Now an .

,
interesting point arl ses if we compar e the view ,
of B achofen with that held by M cL ennan No .
two ways could well be further apart than those

by which these two men arrived at the same con
clu sion B oth accept an early period of promiscuous
.
sexual relationships But B achofen found t he ex

.
planation of mothe r descent in the supremacy of

-
women and believed a matriarchate to have been

,
established by them in a moral revolt against such

hetai ri sm M r M cL ennan on the other hand
. .
, ,
regarded the custom as due to uncertainty of

—
paternity the children were called after the mother
because the father was unknown .
Let us concentrate our attention on the Das

M utterrecht of B achofen whose work as the great ,
champion of matri archy claims our most carefu l

consideration And it is necessary to say at on ce
.
that there can be no doubt his view of women s ’
supremacy is greatly exaggerated S uch a rule of .
women at the very early stage of society when

,
mother kin is supposed to have a risen is not

-
,
proved and does not seem probable Even if it

, .
e xisted it could not have or igi nated i n the way and

,
for the reasons that are credited by the S wiss writer .
I wish to emphasise this point M uch of the dis .
credit that has fal len on the matriarchate has

arisen I am certain through the impossibility of
, ,
accepting B achofen s mythical account of its origin

’
.
Th is great supporter of women was a dreamer ,
rather than a calm and impartial investigator .
Founding hi s main theory on assum ptions he asks ,
us to accept these as historical facts M uch of hi s .
wo rk and his belief in women must be regarded as

the rhapsodies of a poet And yet it is the poet who .
,
finds the truth The poetic spirit is in one sense the

.
, ,
most practical of all B achofen saw the fact of .
mother powe r t hou gh not why it was the fact and he

’
-
, ,
enfolded hi s arguments in a garment of pure fiction .
To disengage from his learned book D as M u tter ,
recht
1
his theory of the origin of the M atriarchate
,
Girau d -Tenlon s L a M ere chez certai ns Peu ples

P r of
’
1
.
I A n ti qu i té is fou nd ed o n t he in t rod u ct ion t o D as Mu tter

’
de
I N PR I M ITI VE S OC I E T Y 9
is no easy task There is for one thing such

.
, ,
bewilde ring contradiction and confusion in the

material used Then the interpretation of the
.
m yt hi cal tales so freely intermingled everywhere

, ,
—
is often strained prompted by a poetic imagi nation
which snatches at every kind of allegory Often .
the views expressed are inconsistent with each other ,
the argu ments and proofs are disconnected while ,
many of the details are hopelessly obscure and

confused Yet it seems to me possible to recognise
.
the idea which brings into unity the mass of his

work— the spirit as it were that breathes into it
, ,
its life It may be found in the clea r appreciation

.
of the superstitious and mystical element in primi

tive man, and their close interweaving with the sexual
life As I understand Herr B achofen the sex act
.
,
-
was t he means which first opened up ways to great

heights but also to great depths
, .
B achofen strongly insists on the religious element

in all early human thought He believes that the .
development of the primitive community only

advanced by means of religious ideas .
Religion he says is the only e ffi cient lever

, ,
of all civilisation Each elevation and depression

.
of human life has its origin in a movement which

” 1
begins in this supreme department .
The authority for this belief is sought in religious

myths .
r echt Thi s litt le bo o k o f fas c in at in g read in g is t he bes t

.
and eas iest way o f st u d y in g B achofen

’
s t heory .
1
D as Mu tterrecht I nt ro
, ,
p x
. ii i .
Myt hical tra dition appears to be the faithful ln
t erpret at ion
of the progress of the law of life at a time ,
when the foun dations of the histo rical development

of the ancient world were laid ; it reveals the original
mode of thought and we may accept this direct
,
revelation as true from our complete confidence

” 1
in this source of history .
This mystical religious element which is the ,
essential part of D as M u tterrecht is closely con ,
nect ed by B achofen with the power of women .
As it is his belief that even at this early period

, ,
the religious impulse was more developed among

women than men he bases on this unproved hypo
,
thesis his theory of women s supremacy W her

’
.
ever gyn aecocracy meets us he says the myste ry , ,
of religi on is boun d up with it and lends to mother ,
” 2
hood an incorporation in some divinity .
Doubtless this theory of a highe r feminine

Spirituality is a pleasing one for women — but is it
true ? The insuperable di fficulty to its acceptance

arises in the first place from the fact that we can
, ,
know nothing at all of the spiritual condition of

the hum an beings among whom mother kin was -
held first to have been practised But we must go .
further than this in our doubt C an we accept for .
any period a spiritual superiority in the cha racter

of woman over man ? To me at least it is clear , ,
that a knowledge of the two sexes among all races

—
both primitive and civilised yes and among our ,
selves is su ffi cient to discredit such a supposition

, .
1
Da s Mu tterrecht I nt ro
,
.
, p . vu .
2
Ibi d Int ro p .
, . xv .
I N PR IM ITI VE SOC I E T Y 31
1
B achofen would have us believe that the mother
right of the ancient world was due to a revolt of ,
women against the degraded condition of promis

culty which previously had been universal among
,
manki nd a condition in which men h ad a community

,
of w ves and op enly li ved together like gregari ou s

i
ani mals .
Women by their nature nobler and more

,
spiritual than men became dis gusted with this ,
lawless hetai ri sm and under the influence of a , ,
powerful religious impulse combined in a revolt ,
( the first Amazonian movement ) to put

”
an end to
promiscuity and established marriage .
Over and Over again B achofen afli rms this spiritual

quality in women
’
The woman s religious attitude in particular , ,
the tendency of her mind towards the supe rnatural

and the divine influenced the man and robbed him
,
of the position which nature disposed him to take

in virtue of his physical superiority In this way .
’
women s po sition was transformed by religious
considerations until they became in civil life what
,
” 2
religion had caused them to be And again .
We cannot fail to see that of the two forms of

— —
gyn ecocracy in question religious and civil the
a
former was the basis of the latter Ideas connected .
with worship came first and the civil forms of ,

” 3
life were then the result and e x pression .
We may note in passing the greater a ffectability ,
’
of woman s nature which would seem always to ,
1
D as Mu tterrecht I nt ro p x x i v an d p I O
, .
, . . . .
2
Ibi d I nt ro p x iv
.
, .
, Ibi d I nt ro p x v
. .
3
.
, .
, . .
have had a tendency to expression in religio eroti c -
ma nifestations But to build up a theory of

.
matriarchy on this foundation is strangely wide of

the fac ts B achofen adduces the spirituality of
.
women as the cause of their power But on what .
grounds can such a claim be supported ?
It is on the evidence of licentious customs of all

kinds and on polyandry that he bases his belief ,
in a period of promi scuity He regards this early .
condition of hetai ri sm as a law of nature and be ,
lieves that after its infraction by the introduction

of individual marriage expiation was required to
,
be made to the Ea rth Goddess Demeter in tempo , ,
rary prostitution Hen ce he explains the wide

.
spread custom oi religious prostitution This .
fanciful idea may be taken to represent B achofen s ’
method of interpretation There is an intermediate

.
stage between hetai ri sm and marriage such as the ,
group marriage held by him to have been practised

-
,
among barbarous peoples Each man has a .
wife but they are all permitted to have intercourse

,
” 1
with the wives of othe rs .
Great stress is laid on the acquisition by women

of the benefits of a marriage law In the families .
founded upon individual marriage which grew u p ,
after the Am azonian revolt the women and not , ,
the men held the fir st place B achofen does not

, .
tell us whether they assigned this place to thems elves ,
or had it conceded to them Women were the hea ds .
of the fami lies the children were named after the

,
1
D as Mu tter recht , p . 1 8 .
could only arise from the thought of civilised
peoples For instance he accepts without any
.
, ,
doubt the existence of the Am azons ; and believes

,
“
that the myths which r efe r to them record a
r evolt for the eleva tion of the feminine sex and ,
through them of mankind It is on such insecure .
foundations he builds up his matriar chal theory .
There is however an aspect of t ruth in B achofen s

, ,
’
position which becomes p lain on a close r examina

,
tion To prove this I must quote a p as sage from

.
,
D as M u tterrecht as rep resenting or at least suggest

, ,
ing the opinions of those who have argued most

,
strongly against his theory When recapitulating .
the facts and arguments in favour of accepting

the supremacy of women he makes this suggestive ,
statement
The first state in all cases was that of hetai ri sm .
The rule is based upon the right of p rocreation :

since there is no individual fatherhood al l have
only one f ather—the tyrant whose s ons and dau ghters
,
they all are and to whom all the p rop erty belongs
, .
F rom thi s cond i ti on i n whi ch the man ru les by means

of hi s rude sexu al needs we ri se to that of gynaeco
,
cracy ,in which there is the dawn of marriage of ,
which the st rict observance is at first observed by

the woman not by the man Weary of always
,
.
ministering to the lusts of man the woman rai ses ,
herself by the recogni ti on of her motherhood Just .
as a child is first disciplined by its mother so are

m
,
people by their wo en It is only the wife who .
can cont rol the man s essentially unbridled desires

’
and lead him into the paths of well —

,
doing .
W hile man went abroad on di stant forays the woman ,

stayed at home ,
p u ted mi stress of the
and was u ndi s
hou sehold S he took arms against her foe and was
.
,
” 1
gradually t ransfo rmed into an Amazon .
The italics in the passage are mine for they bear ,
directly on what I shall afterwar ds have to prove

( )
1 that mother right was not
-
the first stage in the
history of the human family ; ( 2) that its existence
is not inconsistent with the pat riar chal theory .
B achofen here suggests a p re mat riar chal period -
in which the elementar y family group was founded -
on and held together by a common subj ection

to the oldest and st rongest male This is the .
primo rdial patriarchal family .
Then come the questions C an we accept mother

right ? Are there any reasonable causes to explain
the rise of female dominance ? Westermarck in ,
criticising the matriarchal theo ry has said The ,
infe rence that kinship through female s only

has everywhere p receded the rise of kinship
’
through males would be warranted only on con di
,
tion that the cause or the causes to which the

, ,
matern al s v t z n is owing could be proved to have

s
t ,
” 2
ope rated unive rsally in the past life of mankind .
Now this is what I believe I am able to do Hence

, .
it has been necessary first to clear the way of the

old erro rs B achofen s interpretation is too fancifu l
.
’
to find acceptance Will any one hold it as true

.
that the change came because women willed i t P

S urely it is a pure dream of the imagination t o
D as M u tterrecht 1 8— pp
1
19 ,
. .
2
y
The Hi s tor of Hu m an M arri a g p
e, . 105 .
credit women at this supposed early stage of society
, ,
with rising up to estab lis h marriage in a revolt ,
of purity against sexual licence and mo reover ,
effecting the change by force of arms " B achofen

w ould seem to have been touched with the Puritan
spirit I am convinced also that he understood
.
ve ry little of the nature of woman Conventional .
morality has always acted on the side of the man ,
not the woman The clue is indeed given in the

.
, ,
woman s closer connection with the home and in

’
the idea that she raises herself by the recognition

of her mothe rhood But the facts are capable
of an entirely di ffe rent interpretation It will be .
(
my aim to give a quite simple and even common ,
1
place explanation of the rise of mother descent

,
-
and mother right in place of the spiritual hypo

-
thesis oi B acho fen .
It will well however to examine further

be , ,
B achofen s own theo ry It is his opinion that the

’
.
first Amazonian revolt and pe riod of women s ru le ’
was followed by a second movement

Woman t ook a rms against her foe [i e man" . .
,
and was gradua lly t ransformed into an Amazon .
As a r i val man the A maz on became hosti le to

to the
hi m and began to withdraw from marri age and fr om
,
motherhood Thi s set li mi ts to the ru le of women

.
,
” 1
and pr ovoked the p u n i shment of heaven and men .
There is a splendid imaginative appeal in t his

rema rkable passage Again the italics are mine
. .
1
D as M u tterrecht ,
p . 85 .
It is of course impossible to accept this state

, ,
ment as B achofen does as an histo rical account

, ,
of what happened th rough the agency of women

at the time of which he is treating Yet we can .
,
find a suggestion of truth that is eternal Is the re .
nO t her e a kind of prophetic foretelling of every

struggle towards readj ustment in the relationships
of the two sexes through all the pe riods of civilisa
,
tion from the beginning until now ? You will see

,
what I mean The essential fact for woman— and

.
also for man—is the sense of community with the

race Neither sex can keep a po sition apart from
.
parenthood Just in so far as the mothe r and the

.
father attain to consciousness and responsibility in

their relations to the race do they reach develop
ment and power B achofen as a poet understood
.
, ,
this ; to me at least it is the something real that

, ,
underlies all the delusion of his work But I diverge .
a little in making these comments .
Again the origin of the change from the first period

of matriarchy is sought by B achofen in rel igion .
Each stage of development was marked by

its pe culiar religious ideas produced by the dis
,
satisfaction with which the dominating idea o i the

previous stage was regarded ; a dissatisfaction
which led to a disappearance of this condition .
What was gained by religion foste ring the cause ,
of women by assigning a m ystical and almost

,
divine character to mothe rhood was now lost

through the same cause The loss came in the .
Greek era Dionysus started the idea of the

.
divinity of fatherhood ; holding the father to be

the child s true parent and the mother merely the
’
,
”
nur se In this way we are asked to believe the
.
, ,
rights of men arose the father came to be the chief ,
parent the head of the mother and the owner of

,
the children and therefore the parent through , , ,
whom kinship was t raced We learn that at .

,
first women opposed this new gospe l of father

,
hood and fresh Amazonian risings we re the common

,
feature of their opposition But the resistance .
was fr uitless Jason put an end to the rul e of

.
the Amazons in Lemnos Dionysus and Belle rophon .
strove together passionately yet without gaining ,
a decisive victory until Apollo with calm superior , ,
ity finally bec ame the conque ro r and the father

, ,
gained the power that before had belonged to the

” 1
mothe r .
But before thi s took place B achofen relates yet ,
another movement which for a time restored the ,
early matriarchate The women at first opposing .

, ,
presently became converts to the Dionysu sian

gospel and we re afte rwards its warmest supporters
, .
M othe rhood became degraded Bacchanalian ex .
cesses followed which led to a return to the ancient ,
hetai ri sm B achofen believes that this formed a

.
fresh basis for a second gyn aecocracy He compares .
the Amazonian pe riod of these later days with that

in which marriage was fi rst int roduced and fin ds ,
that the deep religious impulse being absent ,
it was destined to fail and give place to the spiritual ,
” 2
Apo llonic conc eption of fathe rhood .
D as
1
Mu tterrecht , pp .
73 8 5 , . Co m pa re al so M c L enn an,
S tu di es , p .
32 2 ,
an d St arc ke ,
The Pri mi ti ve y
F ami l i n i ts
O ri gi n an d D evelopment .
3
Ibi d .
,
p . 85 .
In B achofen s opinion this triumph of fatherhood

’
was the final salvation This is what he says .
It was the asse rtion of fatherhood which

delive red the mind from natural appearances and ,
when this was successfully achieved human exist ,
ence was raised above the laws of natural life .
The principal of motherhood is common to all the

sphe res of animal life but man goes beyond this
,
tie in gaining pre eminence in the process of pro

-
creation and thus becomes conscious of his higher

,
vocation I n the paternal and spiritual principle

.
he breaks through the bonds of tellurism and ,
looks upwards to the higher regions of the cosmos .
Victorious fatherhood thus becomes as d istinctly

connected with the heavenly light as prolific
” 1
mothe rhood is with the teeming earth .
Here B achofen as is his custom turns to point

, , ,
an analogy with the process of nature .
Al l the stages of sexual life from Aphr odistic

hetai ri sm to the Apollonistic purity of fatherhood ,
have thei r corresponding type in the stages of natural

life from the wild vegetation of the mo rass the
, ,
prototype of conj ugal motherhood to the harmonic ,
law of the Uranian world to the heavenly light ,
which as the flamma n on u rens corresponds to the

, ,
ete rnal youth of fatherhood The connection is so .
completely in acco rdance with law that the form ,
taken by the sexual relation in any pe riod may be

inferr ed from the p redominance of one or other of
” 2
these unive rsal ideas in the worship of a people .
S uch in outline is
, , B achofen
famous matri ’
s
archal theory The passages I have quoted with

.
,
D as Mu tter recht I n t r o p xx v ii
1
, .
, . .
Ibi d I n t ro p xx ix
2
.
, .
, . .
the comments I have ventured to gi ve make plain ,
the poetic exagge ration of hi s vi ew and suffi ciently

,
prove why his theory no longer gains any consider

able support To build up a dream pict u re of
.
-
mothe r rule on such foundations was of necessity

-
, ,
to let it pe rish in the dust of scepticism But is .
the downthrow complete ? I believe not A new .
structure has to be built up on a new and surer

foundation and it may yet appear that the prophetic
,
vision of the dreamer enabled B achofen to see much

that has escaped the sight of those who have
criticised and rej ected his assumption that power
was once in the hands of w omen .
One great sour ce of confusion has a risen through

the acceptance by the supporters of the matri
archat e of the view that men and w omen lived
originally in a state of promiscuity This is the.
O pinion of B acho fen of M cL enn an of M o rgan and

, , ,
also of many othe r autho rities who have believed

,
maternal descent to be dependent on the uncertainty

of fathe rhood It will be remembe red t hat Mr
. .
M cL enn an br ought fo rwar d his theory almost

simultaneo usly with that of B achofen The basis .
of hi s View is a be lief in an ancient communism in

women He holds that the earliest form of human
.
societies was the group or horde and not the family

, .
He affirms that thes e groups can have had no idea

of kins hi p and that the men would hold their
,
women like their other goods in common whi ch

, , ,
is of course equal to a general promiscuity There

, , .
he agrees with B achofen s belief in unbridled

’
42 T HE POS ITI ON OF W OMAN
age Even after the next step was taken and the
.
,
husband came to live with his wife hi s position‘
was that of a visitor in her home where she wo ul d ,
have the protection of her own kindr ed She would .
still be the owne r of her children who would be ar ,
her name and not the fathe r s ; and the inheritance

,
’
of all property wo u ld still be in the fem al e l ine 1

.
We have he re what appears to be a much mo re

reasonable expl anation of mother kin and mother -
right than that of B achofen Yet many have .
argued powerfully against it Westermarck especi .
ally has shown that belief in an e arly stage of

,
prom iscuous relationship is altogether untenable 2

.
3
It is needless he re to enter into proof of this What .
matters now is that with the givi ng up of promis

cu it y the whole st ructure of M cL enn an s theory
’
falls to pieces He takes it for granted that at one

.
period pate rnity was unrecognised ; but thi s is

very far from being true The idea of the father s .
’
relationshi p to the child is certainly kn own among

the peoples who trace descent through the mother ;
the system is found frequently whe re st rict mono
gamy is practised A gain M r M cL ennan connects .
, .
polyandry with mothe r descent regar din g the _

-
,
custom of plurality of husbands as a development

from promiscuity He re too he has been proved to
.
, ,
be in error Whatever the causes of the origin of

.
1
S tu di es i n A nc i en t Hi s tory pp 8 3 et seq . .
, .
1
Hi s tor y of Hu m an M arri age pp 5 1 —1 33 ,
. . It is on t h is
u es t i on h at
m y o wn o in ion h as been
t p h an g ed c om are p
q
c ,
he Tru th a bou t W om an 1 20 ,
p . .
3
See ne xt ch a pt er on t he Patriarchal Theory .
polyandry it has no direct connection with mother

,
kin although it is sometimes practised by peoples

,
who observe that system .
For myself I incline to the opinion that the

,
system by which inhe ritance passes through the

mothe r needs no explanation It was necessarily .
( and ,
as I believe is still ) the na,
tu ral method of
tracing descent M o reove r it was adopted as a
.
,
matter of course by primitive peoples among whom

prope rty conside rations had not arisen After .
wards what had started as a habit was retained as

a system The r easons for naming children after
.
the mother did not rest on rel a tionship the earliest ,
question was not one of kinship but of assoc1at ion ,

.
Those were counted as related to one another who

1
dwelt together The children lived with the
.
mother and therefo re as a matter of course were

, , ,
called after her and not the father who did not
, ,
live in the same home .
All these questions will be understood better as

we proceed with our inquiry The important thing .
to fix in our minds is that mother kin and mother -
right ( contrary to the O pinion of M cL ennan and

othe r s) may very well have arisen quite ind epen
d ent ly of dubious fathe rhood It thus becomes .
evident that the maternal system O ffers no evi

dence for the hypothesis of promiscuity ; we shall
find in point O f fact that it arose out of the
, ,
regulation of the sexual relations and had no con ,
1
St arc k e ,
The Pr i mi ti ve F ami ly in i ts O ri gi n an d
D evelopmen t , pp . 6
3 , 37 .
4 4. W OMAN IN PR IMI T IVE SO CITEY
nect ion with licence It is necessary to understand

.
this clearly .
B achofen is much nearer to what is likely to

have happened in the fir st stage of the family
than M r M cL ennan though he also mistakenly
.
,
connects the maternal system with unregulated

hetai r ism S till he suggests (though it would seem
.
quite unconsciously ) the patriarchal hypothesis ,
which founds the family first on the brute force -
of the male M other right has been discredited

.
-
chiefly as far as I have been able to find because

, ,
it is impossible to accept at this early pe riod sexual

, ,
conditions of the friendly owne rship of women ,
entirely opposed to what was the probable nature

of bru te m an At this stage the eldest m al e in
.
the family would be the r uler and he would claim ,
sexual rights over all the women in the group .
B achofen postulates a revolt of women to establish

marriage We have seen that such a supposition
.
,
in the form in which he puts it is without any ,
credible foundation Yet it is part of my theory

.
,
that there was a revolt of women or rather a com ,
bination of the mothers of the group which led ,
t o a change in the di rection of sexual regulation

an d o r der But the causes of such revolt and the
. ,
way in which it was accomplished we re in m y , ,
opinion entirely different from those which B achofen

,
supposes The arguments in support of my view

.
will be given in the nex t two chapters .

CH A PT ER I I I
D I FF I C ULT I ES AN D O B J EC TIO NS Z AN ATT E M P T TO RE
C O NC I L E M O T H ER RI G H T W I T H THE P ATRI A R CHA L
-
T HE O RY .
THE foundation of the Patriar chal theory is the

j ealous sexual nature of the male This is important .
indeed profoundly Significant The st rongest argu .
ment against promiscuity is to be gained from what

we know of this factor of j ealousy in the sexual
relationships .
The season of love is the season of battle says ,
D arwin S uch was the law passed on to man from

.
millions of his ancestral lovers The action of this .
law may be observed at its fiercest intensity among

1
man s pre human ancestors C ourtship without

’
-
.
combat is rare among all male quadrupeds and ,
special o ffensive and defensive weapons for use

in these love fi ght s are found ; for this is the sex
-
tragedy of the natural world the love tale red ,

-
written in blood .
—
This factor of sexual j ealousy the conflict of
the male for possession of the female —has not been
1
The is referred t o The Tru th abou t W om an
read er
pp
,
8 7—1 1 4
. In t he co u rt s hi s an d
. p p
e r f ec t l o v e m ar ri ages
o f m an y
bird s we fi n d j ealo u s c o m b at s re lac ed by t he p
p eacef u l charm in g
o f t he f em ale by t h e m ale .
45
held in su fficient account by those who regard
promiscuity as bein g the earlies t stage in the sexual
relationships That j ealousy is still a powerful
.
agent even in the most civilised races is a fact on

which it is unnecessary to dwell This being so .
,
and since the action of j ealousy is so st rong in the

animal kingdom it cannot be supposed to have
,
been dormant among p rimitive men Rathe r in .

,
the infancy of his histo ry this passion must have

acted with very great intensity Thus it becomes
.
impossible to accept any theo ry of the community

of women in the earliest stage of the family For .
inevitably such peaceful association would be broken

up by j eal ous battles among the males in which ,
the strongest member would kill or drive away his

rivals
.
Great st ress is laid by the suppo rte rs of pro

,
m iscu it y on the danger that such conflicts must have

,
been to the growing community It is therefore .

, ,
held that in o rder to prevent this check on their

development it was necessary for the male members
,
not to give way to j ealousy but to be content with

,
promiscuous owne rship of women But this is .
surely to credit savage man with a cont rol of the

driving j ealous instinct that he could not then have
had ? What we do not find in the sexual conduct
of men as they now are cannot be credited as exist
, ,
ing in the infancy of social life We fall into many

.
mistakes in j udging these questions of sex ; we

under estimate the st rength of love passion— the
- -
uncounted ancestral forces dating back to the remote

beginnings of life D oubtless conflicts over the

.
possession of women we re frequent from the begin

’
ning of man s history But these disputes would
.
not lead to promiscuous intercourse only to a ,
change in the tyrant male who ruled over the women,
in the group .
Another fact against a belief in promiscuity is that

the lowest savages known to us are not promiscuous ,
in so far as there is no proved case of the sexual

relations being absolutely unregulated They all .
recognise sets of women with whom certain sets of

men can have no marital relations Again these .
savages are Ve ry far removed from the state of man s ’
fir st emergence from the brute as is proved by their ,
combination into large and friendly tribes S uch .
peaceful aggregation could only have arisen at a much

later period and after the males had learnt by some
,
means to control their brute appetites and j ealousy

of rivals in that movement towards companionship ,
which first resting in the sexual needs broadens

, ,
out into the social instincts .
For these reasons then we conclude that the

, ,
theory of a friendly union having existed among

males in the primitive group is the very reverse of
the truth This question has now been su fli cient ly
.
proved I am thus brought into agreement with

.
Dr Westermarck M r C rawley and M r Lang in

.
,
.
, .
,
his examination of M r Atkinson s P ri mal L aw as

.
’
well as with other writers all of whom have shown ,
that promiscuity cannot be accepted as a stage in

the early life of the human family .
48 THE POS IT I O N OF W OMAN
I have now to show how far this rej ection of
promiscuity affects our position with regard to
mother descent and mother right It is cle ar ly
- -
.
of vi tal importance to any theory that its founda

—
tions are secure One foundation that of promis
.
culty on whi ch B achofen and M cLennan the two

, ,
upholders of matriarchy base their hypothesis ,
has been ove rthrown It thus becomes necessary

.
to approach the ques tion from an altogether di fferent

position M other right m u st be explain ed without
.
-
any reference to unregulated sexual conduct I .
am thus turned back to examine the opposing theory

to matriarchy which founds the family on the patri
,
archal autho rity of the father Nor is this all What . .
we m ust expect a true theory to do is to show con

d it ions that are applicable not o nly to special cases ,
but in their main features to mankind in gene ral .
I have to prove that such conditions a rose in the

primitive patriarchal family as it advanced towards
social aggregation that would not only make pos
,
sible but as I believe would necessitate the power

, , ,
of the mothers asse rting its fo rce in the group

family Only when this is done can I hope that a
.
new belief in mother right may find acceptance -

.
The patriarchal theo ry stated in its simplest

form is this Primeval man lived in small fa mily
groups composed of an adult male and of his wife
, , ,
or if he we re powe rful seve ral wives whom he

, , ,
j ealously guarded from the sexual advances of all

other males In such a group the father is the
.
chief or patriarch as long as he lives and the family ,

5 0 THE POS ITI ON OF W OMAN
thesis must be risked as a startin g point for any -
theo ry that attempts to go so far back in the stream

of time .
We may suppose then that mankind aboriginally , ,
lived in s m all families in much the sam e way as the

great monkeys : we see the same conditio ns for ,
instance among the famil ies of gorillas where t he

, ,
gr oup never becomes large The male leader will .
not endure the rivalry of the yo ung males and as ,
soon as they gr ow up a contest takes place and the ,
strongest and eldest male by ki llin g or driving out ,
the others maintains his position as the tyrant

,
head of the family 1

.
This may be taken as a picture of the human brute

fami ly It is clear that the relation of the father
.
to the other gr oup members was not one of kinshi p ,
but of po wer Every female in my cr owd is

my property says—o r feels —Mr Atki nson s patri
.
” ’
.
,
archal anthropoid and the patriarch gives ex ,
pression to his sentiment with teeth and claws if ,
he has not yet learned to double up hi s fist with a

” 2
stone in it These were early days . .
We may conclude that the re would be many

of the se gr oups each with a male head his wives and
, ,
adult daughters and children of bo th sexes It is , .
probable that they lived a nomadic l ife fin ding a ,
temporary home in a cave r ock or tree shelter

‘
-
, , ,
in some place where the supply of food was plentiful .
1
D arwin D escen t of , M an . W all ace The ,
M alay A rchi
p g
ela o, an d B r ehm Thi erleben ,
.
1
S oci al O ri gi ns and Pri mal L aw pp 4 ,
.
, 21 . W est erm arc k ,
pp 1 3 42 Pri mal L aw pp 2 0 9 2 1 2
.
, .
, .
-
.
I N PR I M ITI VE SOC I E T Y 5 1
The area of their wanderings would be fixed by the

exist ence of other groups ; for such groups would
almost certainly be mutually hostile to each other ,
watchfully resenting any int rusion on their own feed

ing ground A further and more powerful cause
.
, ,
of hostility would arise fr om the sexual antagonism

of the m al es Around each group would be the
.
band of exiled sons haunting their former hearth

,
homes and forming a constant element of danger

,
to the solitary paternal t yrant This I take to be .
important as we shall prese ntly see For the most .

,
urgent necessity of these young men after the need ,
for food must have been to obtain wives Thi s

,
.
could be done only by capturing women from one

or other of the groups The difficulties attending
.
such captures must have been great It is therefore .

, ,
probable the young men at fir st kept together ,
sharing their wives in polyandrous union But this .
condition would not continue the group thus formed

,
wo ul d inevitably break up at the adult stage under

the influence of j ealousy ; the captured wives would
be fought for and carried off by the strongest males
to form fresh groups .
In this matter I have given the opinion of M r .
Atkinson and Mr Lang They hold that no perma

. .
nent peaceful union could have been maintained

among the groups of young men and their captive
wives Mr Atkinson gives the reason
. .
Their unity could only endure as long as the

youthfulness of the members necessitated union
for prot ect l on and their immaturity prevented the
,
5 2 THE POS I T I ON OF W OM AN
f u ll play of sexual passion And again : The .
necessary Primal Law whi ch alone could determine

peace within a family circle by recognising a
di sti ncti on between f emale and male (the in dispensa
able antecedent to a definition of marital rights )
could never have a risen in such a body It follows .
if such a law was ever evoked it must have been from ,
wi thi n the only other assembly i n exi stence viz that , .
” 1
headed by the solita ry polygamous patriarch .
Whether M r Atk inson is right I shall not attempt

.
to say ; the point is one on which I hesitate a decided

opinion ; but as this View a ffords support to my
own theo ry I shall accept it .
Now to consider the bearing of thi s on our present

,
inquiry SO far I have followed very closely the

.
fa mily group gathe red around the pat riarchal tyrant ,
under the conditions given by M r Atkin son and .
Mr Lang in Soci al Origi ns and P ri mal L aw It

.
, .
will not I think have escaped the notice of the reader

, ,
that very little has been said about the women and
their c hildren The re is no hint at all that the
.
1
S oci al O rigi ns L aw
an d Pri mal
2 30 M r At i ns on ,
p . . . k
writ es t his t o s how t hat t here c an be n o c onn ect ion bet w een
g p
t hes e ro u s o f y ou n g m al es an d t h e o ly an d ro u s m arria es p g
o f M r M cL enn an s t h eo ry
.
’
The fi rs t i t alics in t he assa e
. p g
are hi s o wn ; t h e seco n d ar e m in e W h y I w is h t o em has ise . p
t his O int w ill s oo n be s een I hav e alread y m ent ioned .
how w as reco mm en d ed t o read S oci al O r i i n s t o c on v in ce g

k
m e o f m y m ista e i n acce t in t he m ot er age p It hasg h -
.
d o n e j us t t he o pp
os i t e an d h as i v en m e t he c lu e t o m an
,
yg
d ifli cu lt ies t hat I w as be f ore u n able t o c lear u p This is .
g k
why I am f oll o w in t h is bo o rat her t h an o t her au t horit ies
in m y e x am inat i on o f t h e at ri arc hal t h eo ry p I t a e t his . k
opp o rt u ni t y o f rec o r d in g
m y d ebt t o t he au t hors an d o f ,
p
ex ress in g k
m y t h an s t o M r W ells who recomm en d ed m e
.
,
t o read t h e boo k .
I N PR I M I TIVE SOC I E T Y 5 3
women must have lived a life of their own di fferent ,
in its conditions from that of the men The female .
members it would seem have been taken for granted

, ,
and not considered except in so far as their presence

,
is necessary to excite the j ealous sexual combats

of the males This seems to be very instructive
. .
The idea of the subj ection of all females to the soli

tary male has been accepted without question .
But the group co nsisted of m any women and only

one adult man Yet in spite of this t heman is held
.
,
to be the essential member ; all the family obey

him His wife ( or wives ) and his daughters though
.
,
necessary to his pleasure as also to continue the group ,
are regarded as otherwise unimportant in fact , ,
mere property posses sions to him Now I am very .

,
sure the rights these group women must have held -
have been greatly unde rrated and the neglect to ,
recognise this has led I think to ma ny mistakes

, , .
I am wi lling to accept the autho rity of the poly

n r —
gamo s pat iarch within limits But it se ems .
probable as I shall shortly indicate that a predomi

, ,
nant influence in the domestic life is to be ascribed

to the women and the refore , the movement
, ,
towards peace within the group circle must be

looked for as a result from the feminine side of the
family rather than from the male side There is
, .
still another point I maintain that precisely through

the concentration o f t he m ale rule r on the sexual
‘
subj ection of his females conditions must have ,
arisen a ffecting the conduct and character of the

,
women : conditions moreover that would bring

, ,
5 4 THE POS IT I ON OF W OMAN
them inevitably more and more into a position
of power .
It r emains for me to suggest what I believe thes e

conditions to have been M eanwhile let us kee p one
.
fact steadily before our minds The fierce sexual

.
j ealo u sy of the males had by some m eans to be

controlled It is evident that the way towards
.
soci al progress could be found only by the peaceful

aggregation of these solitary hostile groups ; and
this could not be done without breaking down the
rul e that strength and seniority in the male conferred
upon him marital ri ght over all the females In .
other words the tyrant patriarch had in some way

,
to learn to tole rate the pres ence of other adul t

males on friendly terms within his own group .
We have to find how this fir st but momentous , ,
step in social p rogress was taken .
Let us co ncentrate now our attention on the

domestic life of the women And first we must
.
e xamine more carefully the exact conditions that

we may suppo se to have existed in these hostile
groups The father is the tyrant of the band an
.
—
ego ist Any protection he a ffords the family is in
.
his own interests he is chi ef much more than father

,
.
His sons he drives away as soon as they are old enough

to give him any trouble ; his daughters he adds to hi s
”
harem We may conceive that the domination

.
of his sexual j ealousy must have chiefly occupied

hi s time and his attention It is probable that he
.
was fed by his women ; at least it seems certain

that he cannot have provided food for them and for
IN PR I M ITI VE SOC I E T Y 5 5
all the chi ldren of the group S ex must have been .
uninte rr uptedly interesting to him In the first .
place he had to capture his wife or wives then he , ,
had to fight for the right of sole possession After .
wards he had to guar d his women especially his ,
daughters from being carried o ff in their turn

, , ,
by younger males his deadly rivals who exiled

, , ,
by sexual j ealousy from his own and the other similar

hearth homes would come with each r etu rning year
-
, , ,
more and mo re to be feared An eve r r ecurring .
s
-
and growing terror would dog each step of the

solitary paternal despot and necessitate an u n ,
ceasing watchfulness against danger and even an ,
anticipation of death For when old age or sick

.
,
ness decreased his powe r of holding his own ,
then the tables would be turned and the younger

'
,
men so hardly oppressed would raise their hands

, ,
against him in parricidal st ri fe .
You will see what all this strife suggests —the

unstable and adventitious relation of the man to the
social hearth group S uch conditions of antagonism
-
.
of each male against every other male must favour

the assumption that no advance in peace —on which
—
alone all future progress depended could have
come from the patriarchs Jealousy forced them .
into unsocial conduct .
But advance by peace to progress was by some

means to be made I believe that the way was
.
opened up by women .
I hasten to add however in case I am mistaken

, ,
here that I am V ery far from wishing to set up any

,
M su p en on t ysavage woman over savage
f or
man The momentous change was not indeed
. , ,
the result of any hi gher spiritu al qual ity in the

female nor was it a r eligious movement as is the
, ,
beautiful dream of B achofen I do not think we .
can c redit a movement as having taken place

at all r ather the change arose gradually in evitably
, , ,
and quite simply To postulate a conscious move

.
ment towards p ro gr ess o rganised by women is surely

absurd Human natur e does not star t on any new
.
line of conduct voluntarily r athe r it is forced into

,
it in connection with the conditions of life Just a .

s
savage man was driven into unsocial conduct so , ,
as I shall t ry to show savage woman was led by

,
the same conditions acting in an opposite direction ,
into social conduct .
M y own thought was drawn first to this conclusion

by noting the behaviour of a band of female turkeys
with their young It was a ye ar ago I was stay
. .
ing in a S ussex villa ge and near by my home was

,
the meadow of a farm in which families of young

turkeys were being reared He re I often sat ; and
.
one day it chanced that I was r eading Soci al Origi ns

and P ri ma l L aw I had reached the chapter on
.
M an in the B rutal S tage in which Mr Atkinson

”
, .
gives the supposed facts of brute man and the action ,
of hi s j ealous y in the fam il y group I was very much .
im pressed ; my reason told me that what the author

stated so well was probably right S uch sex u ally .
j ealous conduct on the part of savage man was likely

to be t rue ; it was much easier to accept this than the
5 8 THE POS ITI ON OF W OM AN
his offspring had fo rced the females to unite with
one anothe r The cock s strength the go rgeous
.
’
display of sex charms we re powe rless befo re this

-
,
pea ceful combination He was alone a tyrant the —.

,
dest royer of the family But I saw too that his .

, ,
polygamous j ealousy served as a means to the end

of advance in progr es s It was the male s non
’
social conduct that had fo rced social conduct upon

the females And I understood that the patriarchal
.
tyrant was j ust the one thing I had been looking for .
M y belief in mother po wer had gained a new and

-
,
as I felt then in the first delight of that discovery ,
and as I still feel a much surer because a simpler

, ,
and mo re natur al foundation .
Having now defined my position and having ,
related how such conviction came to me let me ,
proceed to examin e the causes that would lead to the

assertion of women s powe r in the abo riginal famil y
’
group From what has been said the following

.
,
conditions acting on the women may it is submitted , , ,
be fairly deduced .
I . In the group whi ch comprised the mothers

, ,
the adult daughte rs and the youn g of both

-
,
sexes the women would live on terms of

, _
association as friendly hearth mates -

.
2 . The strongest factor in thi s association woul d

arise from the dependence of the children
upon their mothe rs ; a dependence that was
of much longer duration then among the
animals on accoun t of the pre eminent help
,
-
IN PR IM I T I VE SOC I E T Y 5 9
lessness of the human child whi ch entailed ,
a more prolonged infancy .
The women and their children would form

the group to which the father was a ttached
,
by his sexual needs but remained always a ,
—
member apart a kind of j ealous fighting
specialisation .
The temporary hearth home would be the shelter

-
of the women ; and it w as unde r this shelter
that chi ldren were born and the group accu

mu lat ed its members Wh ether cave or .
,
hollow tree or some frail shelter the home

, ,
must have belonged to the women .
5 . And this state would necessarily attach the

mothe rs to the home much more closely than ,
the father whose desire lay in the opposite

,
direction of disrupting the home M o reover .
this attachment always would be present

and acting on the female children who , ,
unless captured would remain with the ,
mothers while it could never arise in the

,
case of the sons whose fate was to be driven

fro mthe home S uch conditions mu st as
,
.
,
time went on have profoundly modified the

,
’
women s outlook bending their desires to a
,
steady settled life conditions under which

, ,
alone the germ of social organisation could

develop .
Again the daily search for the daily food must

,
have been undertaken chiefly by the women .
For it is impossible that one man however ,

60 TH E POS IT I ON OF W OMAN
skilf ul a hunter could have fed all the female
,
membe rs and children of the group We .
may conceive that his attention and his time

must have been occupied largely in fighting
his rivals ; while much of his strength as ,
sole p rogenitor must have been expended in

,
sex It is therefo re probable that frequently

.
the patriarch was dependent on the food

activities of his women .
The mothe rs their inventive faculties quick

,
ened by the stress of child be aring and child -
rearing would learn to convert to their own

,
uses the most available portion of their

environment It would be under the atten
.
tion of the women that plants were first

utilised for food Seeds would be beaten
.
out roots and tubers dug for and nuts and

, ,
fruits gathered in their season and stored

for use Birds wo ul d have to be snared
.
,
shell fi sh and fish would be caught ; whi le

-
,
at a later pe riod animals would be tamed for

,
service Primitive domestic vessels to hold

.
and to carry water baskets to store the food

,
supplies would have to be made Clothes .
for protection again st the cold would come

to be f ashioned All the faculties of the
.
women in exercises that would lead to the

,
development of every part of their bodies ,
would be called into play by the work of

satisfying the physical needs of the gr oup .
8 . This interest and providence for the family

IN PR I M I TI VE S OC I E T Y 61
would certainly have its e ffect on the develop

ment of the women The formation of char
.
acter is largely a matter of attention and the ,
attention of the mothers being fixed on the

supply of the necessa ry food doubtless often ,
di fficult to obtain their energies would be

,
driven into productive activities much more ,
than in the case of the fath er whose attention ,
was fix ed upon himself .
I n all these numerous activities the women of

each group would wo r k together And .
through this co operation must have resulted

-
the assertion of the women s power as the ’
directors and organisers of industrial occupa

tions As the group slowly advanced in
.
progress such power increasing would raise

,
the women s position ; the mothers would

’
establish themselves permanently as of essen

tial value in the family not only as the givers
,
of life but as the chief providers of the food

,
essential to the preservation of the life of

its members .
And a further result would follow in the treat

ment by the male of this new o r der The .
women by obtaining and preparing food

“
would gain an economic value Wives would .
become to the patriarch a source of riches ,
indispensable to him not only on account of

,
his sex needs but on account of the more

,
pe rsistent need of food Thus the more .
women he possessed the greater would be

his own comfort and the physical p rospe rity
,
of the group The women would be come of

.
ever greater importance and the e conomic

,
po wer that they thus acquired would more

and mo re favourably influence their po sition .
There is one othe r matter in this connection The .
greater number of women in the group the

stronger would become their power of com
bination I attach great importance to t hi s
. .
Working together for the welfare of al l the ,
social motive would grow stronger in women ,
so that necessarily they would come to con

sider the collective inte rests of the group .
C an it be credited that such conditions

could have acted upon the patri arch whose ,
conduct would still be inspired by individual

appetite and selfish inclinations ? I maintain
such a view to be impossible .
Another advantage I think would arise for

, ,
’
women out of the male s j ealous tyr anny in
the sexual relationship S uch an idea may
.
appear strange if we think only of the sub

,
j ect i o n of the females to the b r ute appetite -
of the patriarch Yet there is another side

. .
The women must have gained freedom by

being less occupied with sex passions and ,
also from being less j ealously interested in

the man than he was in them It may be urged .
that the women would be j ealous of each

other I do not think this could have been
.
.
Jealousy has its roots in the consciousness

of possession and is only aroused through fear

,
of loss This could not have acted with any

.
great power among the women in the patri

archal group Their inte rest of possession
.
in sex must have been less acute in con

scio u sness than the interest of the male .
D oubtless the woman would be attracted

by the male s courageous action in fighting
’
his rival s for possession of her but when the ,
rival was the woman s son such attraction ’
would come into st rong conflict with the

deeper maternal instinct .
From the standpoint of physical strength the ,
patriarch was the master the tyrant ruler ,
of the group who doubtless often was brutal

, , ,
enough But the women leading an indepen

.
,
dent life to some extent and with their ,
mental ingenuity developed by the conditions

of their life would learn I believe to outwit
, , ,
their maste r by passive united resistance .
They would come to utilise their sex charms

as an accessory of success Thus the u m .
ceasing sexual preoccupation of the male ,
with the emotional dependence it entailed

on the females must I would suggest have
, , ,
given women an immense advantage If .
I am right here the patriarch would be in

,
the power of his women much more surely ,
than they would be in his power .
Again an antagonism must have arisen between

,
the despot father and his women in particular ,

64 THE POS I T I O N OF W OMAN
with his daughters forced to submit to his ,
brute passions I confess I fin d grave di th

-
.
culty in reconciling the view that the group

daughte rs would will ingly become the wives
of their father I cannot conceive them
.
without some powe r to exercise that choice

in love which is the right of the female
,
throughout nature There is great insistence .
by Mr Atkinson and all who have written

.
,
on the subj ect on the sexual passions of

,
the males while the d esire s of the women

,
are not considered at all Apparently they .
are held to have had none " This a ffords
yet another in stance of the strange concentra

tion on the male side of the family It is taken .
for granted for instance that in every case

, ,
the young men when driven from their home

, ,
had to capture their wives from othe r groups .
I would suggest that often the capture was

aided by the woman herself ; she may even
have escaped from the hearth home in her -
desire to find a partne r p referring the rule ,
of a young tyrant to an old one who moreover ,

'
was her fathe r I beli eve too that t he wives

.
, ,
and mothe rs must frequently have asserted

their wi ll in r ebell ion I picture indeed .
, ,
these savage women ever striving for more

privileges and step by step advancing thro ugh
,
peacefu l combination to power .
I desire also to maintain that all I have here

suggested finds support from what is known
66 W OMAN IN PR I M IT I VE SOC I E T Y
many difli cult ies will be made clearer if these guesses
ar e accepted . I believe that here in the earliest
patriarchal stage we have already the germs of the
maternal family All the chances for success in
.
power rested with the united mothers rather than

,
with the solitary fathe r Assuredly the j ealous

.
patriarchs paid a heavy price for their sex ual

domination .
CHA P T ER IV
D E V E L O P M E N T I N THE P AT R I A R CHA L F AM I LY
AND THE R I SE OF M O T H ER P O W ER -
THE essential question now is how these small

, ,
hostile groups were brought by association to expand

into larger groups In what way was the sexual
.
monopoly of the male ruler fir st curbed and after ,
wards broken down for only by this being done

,
could peace be gained ? However advantageous

the habits of the patriar ch may have been for
himself they were di rectly opposed to progress
,
.
Jealousy depends on the failure to recognise the

rights of others This sexual egoism by which one
.
,
man through his st rengt h and seniority held marital

rights over all the females of his group had to be ,
struck at its roots In other wo rds the solitary

.
,
despot had to learn to tole rate the association of

other adult males .
How was this happy change to be brought about ?

S ocial qualities are surely developed in the char
acter by union with one s fellow beings From what
’
.
has been stated it seems certain that it was in the

,
interests of the women to consolidate the family ,
and by means of association to establish their own

power Jealousy is an absolutely non social quality
.
-
.
67
Regarding its influence it is certainly absurd to
,
believe any voluntary association to have been

possible among the males of the hostile pat riarchal
groups ; to credit this is to give the lie to the entire
theo ry We are driven therefore to seek for the
.
, ,
begin nings of social conduct among the women .
I have suggested the conditions forcing them into

combination with one another against the tyranny
of the pat riarch I have now to show how these
.
causes continually acting brought the women step

, ,
by step into a position of authority and power .
The re is howeve r no suggestion of a spiritual

, ,
r evolt on the par t of women I do not wish to set

.
up any claim for because I do not believe in the

, ,
superiority of one sex ove r the other sex Cha racter .
is determined by the conditions of living If as I .

,
co nceive progress came through savage women

, ,
rather than through savage men it was because ,
the conditions were really more favourable to them ,
and drove them on in the right path However .
strange it may appear their sexual subj ection to

,
the fierce j ealousy of the pat riarch acted as a means

to an end in advancing peace .
The strongest force of union between the women

wo ul d grow out of the consciousness of an ever
"
thr eatening and common danger Not only had .
the young to be fed and cared for during infancy

and childhood but as they grew in years they
, , ,
had to be guarded from the father whose relation ,
to his o ffspring was that of an enemy It has been .
seen how the sons were banished at puberty from the

IN PR I M I TI VE SOC I E T Y 69
’
family group to maintain the patriarch s marital
rights Doubtless the strength of maternal love gained
.
in inten sity through the many failures in conflicts ,
that must have taken place with the tyrant fathe rs .
Would not this community of suffering tend to

fo rce the women to unite with one another at each ,
renewed banishment of their sons ? M ay they not ,
after the banishment have assisted their sons in

,
the capture of their wives ? I think it must be

allowed that this is possible And there is another
.
point to notice The exiled sons and their capture d

.
wives would each have a mother in the groups they

had left M ay it not be conceived that as time
.
,
brought progress in inte lligence some friendly ,
communication might have been established between

group and group in defiance of the j ealous guardian
,
ship oi the patriarchs ? Thus through the danger , ,
ever to be feared in every family there might open ,
up a way by sympathy to a possible future union .
It is part of my supposition that every movement

towards friendship must have arisen among the
women This is no fanciful idea of my own M r
. . .
Atkinson one of the strongest supporters of the

,
patriarchal theory agrees with this view though

, ,
he does not seem to see its origin and does not ,
follow up its deep suggestion B y him the move .
ment in advance is narrowed to a single issue of

peace between the father and his sons but this great ,
step is credited to the influence of the mothers .
I must quote the passages t hat refer to this — 1

1
Pri mal L aw pp 2 31 —
2 32
, . .
At the renewed banishment of each of her male
progeny by the j ealo u s patriarch the mothe r s ,
’
feelings and instincts would be increasingly lace rated

and out raged Her agonised e ffo rts to retain at
.
least her last and youngest would be even st ronge r

than with her first born It is exceedingly important
.
to obse rve that her chances of success in this case

would be much greater When this last and deares t
.
son approached adolescence it is not diffi cult to ,
perceive that the pat riarch must have reached an

age when the fire of desire may have become some
what dull whilst again his harem from the pres
, , , ,
ence of nume rous adult daughte rs would be increase d ,
to an extent that might have ove rtaxed hi s once

more active powers Given some such rather ex cep
.
t ional situation whe re a happy oppor t unity l n

,
superlative mothe r love wrestled with a for once

satiated paternal appetite in desire we may here ,
discern a possible key of the sociological p roblem

which occupies us and which consisted in a conj u nc
,
tion within one group of two adult males .
In the next paragr aph the author presents the

situation which in this way might have arisen
W e must conceive that in the march of the
,
centuri es on some fateful day the bloody tragedy

, ,
in the last act of the familiar drama was avoided ,
and the edict of exile or death left unpronounced .
P u re matern al love tri u mp hed over the demons of lu st

an d j eal ou sy A mothe r succeeded in keeping by
.
her side a male child and thus by a strange coin

, ,
cid en ce
,
that father and son who amongst all , ,
mammals had been the most deadly enemies were

, ,
now the fir st to j oin hands S o po rtentous an .
alliance might well bring the wo rld to their feet .
The family would now present for the first time the ,
IN PR IM ITI VE S OC I ET Y 71
until then unknown spectacle of the inclusion within

a domestic circle and amidst its component females
, ,
of an adolescent male youth It must however be .

, ,
admitted that such an event at such an epoch , ,
demanded imperatively ve ry exceptional qualities ,
both physiological and psychological i n the pri m i ,
tive agents The new happy ending to that old

.
wo rld drama which had ru n so long through blood

and tears was an innovation requiring ve ry unusually
,
gifted acto rs How many failures had doubtless

.
taken place in its rehearsal during the centuries ,
with less able or happy interpreters
Mr Atkinson supposes that success in the new

.
experiment was rende red possible by the rise of

new powers in nascent man Here I do not follow
.
.
him . The germ of altruism which he sees as ,
already having risen to make its force felt was ,
indeed as he says an important factor

, But is it .
credible that this altruism existed in the father I can

conceive him being won over through his own emo
t ional dependence on some specially pleasing woman
he may well have had favourites among his wives
“
I cannot accept altruism as a r eason for his

conduct under conditions acting in an exact opposite
,
way in fostering and increasing egoism M uch more .
probable is the supposition that he must have

reached the age when the fir e of desire had become
”
somewhat dulled .
I must also take exception to a further statement

of Mr Atkinson
. that with such prolonged infancy
,
there had been opportunity for the development of

”
pate rnal philoprogenitiveness And again It IS .
72 THE POS I TI ON OF W OMAN
evident that such long continued presence of sons -
could but result in a certain mutual sympathy ,
however inevitable the eventual exile It is un

neces sary for me to labour this question I may .
,
howeve r point out that the identical conditions of

, ,
the family among the anthropoid apes (on whom

Mr Atkins on bases his patriarchy) do not a fford
.
any proof of paternal altruism The polygamous .
j ealous father never enters into friendly union with

the other males He is strong and sexually beauti
.
ful but he is never social in his domestic conduct

, .
He is the tyrant in the family and the young are ,
guarded from his attacks by the mothers With .
the mothers there is protection and safety with ,
the father ownership The whole argument of the

.
patriarchal th eory is b as ed on the fact of the j ealous

conduct of the male Driven to live in soli t ary
.
enmity the patriarch could not voluntaril y tolerate

,
the pr esence of a rival if he was to maintain hi s ,
position as ruler It is impossible to get away from

.
this Mr Atkinson comes very near to this essential

. .
truth when he suggests (though he does not fully

,
acknowledge ) that the first step in social develop

ment came through the mother s love for her ’
child ; but at once he turns aside from this dr awn , ,
I think unconsciously to the common opinion of ,
the complete subj ection of the females to the

male an opinion always making it diffi cult to
,
accept the initiative in reform as coming from the

woman .
The e x cl usive and persisting idea of Mr Atkinson s

’
.
74 THE POS IT I ON OF W OM AN
pened but the advantages gained by union would
,
tend to prevent the danger So me means of pre .
serving sexual peace wit hi n the gr oup certainly

would come to be established For the first time .
,
as Mr Atkinson points out

. we encounter the ,
factor which is to be the leading powe r in future

metamorphosis i e an explicit di sti ncti on between
, . .
female and female as such .
Through this bar placed on the female members

within the fa m ily circle the sons who remained in, ,
peace would be forced to continue the p ractice of

,
capturing their wives and would bring in women ,
to live with them from o t her gr oups It is assumed .
that these captures were in all cas es hostile I have .
given my reasons for disagreeing with this view I .
hold that the youn g women may have been glad

to have been taken by the young men and most ,
probably assisted them in a surely not unnatural ,
desire to es cape from their tyrant fathe rs I .
really cannot credit such continued sexual subj e e

tion on the part of the group daughters an opinion -
,
which arises I am certain from the curious mis

, ,
conception oi the passivity of the human female in

love .
I do not wish to conceal that my conj ecture of

an active part havi ng been taken by the women ,
both in their captures and also in all the relationshi ps

of the family is opposed to the great maj ority of
,
learned opinion The r e ason for this already has

.
been suggested Almost invariably the writers on

.
thes e questions are men and the re is I imagine , , ,

a certain blindness in their view I am convinced .
that from the earliest beginnings of the human

family women have exercised a much stronger and
more direct influence than is usually believed All .
the movements towards regulation and progr ess so ,
ingeniously worked out by M r Atkinson are easier .

,
to credit if we accept the initiative as having come

from the group mothers I have an inward convi e
-
.
tion of an unchanging law between the two se x es ,
and though I cannot here attempt to give any proof ,
it seems to me we can always trace the absorp ti on

,
by the mal e of female i deas The man accepts what

.
the w oman brings forward and then assumes the,
control believi ng he is the originator of her ideas

, .
Take this case of capture If as I suggest the young

, ,
women assisted or even took the initiative in their

own captures they would very plainly not be wi lling
,
to allow se x ual relationships with another hoary

”
patriarch I would urge that here again it was by

.
the action of the young women rather than the ,
young men that the new order was established

, .
But this is a small matter If I am right the com

.
,
mu nal living and common danger among the women

would powerfully bind them together in union and ,
sever them from the male r ulers Once this is .
granted it follows that social consciousness in the

,
women must have been stronger than in the solitary

males Then there can be no possible doubt of
.
the part taken by women in the slow advancement

of the gr oup by regulation to social peace M ore .
over I believe that confirmation of what is here

, ,
76 THE POS ITI ON OF W O M AN
claimed for women will be found (as will appear
in the later part of my inquiry) in many social
habits among existing primitive peoples who still ,
live under the favourable conditions of the mate rnal

family ; habits that suggest a long evolutionary
process and that can be explained only if they have
,
arisen in a very remote beginning But enough on .
thi s subj ect has now been said .
Many interestin g qu estions arise from the action

”
of Mr Atki nson s primal law
.
’
His theory offers .
a solution of the much debated question of the -
origin of exogamy the term used first by Mr , .
M cLennan in P ri miti ve M arri age for the rule which

, ,
prohibited sexual relationships within the group

limit Continence imposed by the patria rch on his
.
sons within the group as a condition of his tolerance,
of their presence necessarily an d logically entailed

,
marriage without with women from some other ,
group This explanation of exogamy is so simple

.
that it see ms likely to be true It is much more .
reasonable than any of the numerous other theories

that have been brought forward Mr M cLennan . .
,
for instance suggests that the custom arose through

,
a scarcity of fem al es owing to the widespread ,
p ractice of female infanticide This can hardly be .
accepted for such conditions whe re they exist

, , ,
would arise at a much late r peri od Even less .
likely is the theory of Dr Weste rmarck who explains .

,
exogamy as a ri sing from an instinct against

marriage of near kin But we have no proof of .
1
S tu di es Chap V II E xogam y : It s O rig in
. .
‘
.
IN PR I M IT I VE S OC I E T Y 77
the existence o f any such instinct Mr Crawley s

’
1
. .
view is similar : he connects the custom with the

idea of sexual taboo which makes certai n marriages
,
a deadly sin It is evident that the se causes could

.
not have operated with the brute pat riarch One .
great point in fa vour of M r Atkinson s view is that

.
’
it takes us so much further back B y it exogamy .
as a custom must have been much earlier tha n

totemism as at this stage the di fferent group families
,
-
would not be distinguished by totem names ; but

its action as a law would become much stronger
when reinforced by the totem superstitions and ,
would become fixed in rigid sexual tabo os The .
strongest of these taboos is the avoidance between

brothers and sisters ; this is M r Atkinson s pri mal
.
’
law .It is a law that is still a working factor among

barbarous races and entails restrictions and avoid
,
ances of the most binding nature .
Unfortunately I have not space to write even

briefly on this important and deeply interesting
subj ect A right u nde rstanding of the whole ques
.
tion of sexual taboos with the complicated totem

,
superstitions on which they are based is very ,
necessary to any inquiry into the position of women .
B ut to do this I should have to write another book .
All I can say is this these avoidances had in their

origin no connection with the relative power O f
the two sexes ; nor do I believe it can be proved
1
Hi s tory of Hu man Marri age Chap . . X IV . Prohib it ion
o f Marr ia ge bet ween K ind red
”
.
2
Mysti c Rose .
78 T HE POS IT I O N OF W OMAN
that they were es tablished by men rather than
by women They arose q u ite naturally out of the
.
,
necessity for regul ation as a con di tion of peace .
Let me give one example that will serv e to show

how easily mistakes may arise On e of these rules .
,
co mmon among primitive peoples prevents the ,
women from eating with the men This is often con .
sid ered as a proo f of the inferior position of the women ,
whereas it proves nothing of the kind It is j ust one .
ins tance out of many numerous la ws of avoidance

between wife and husban d s ister and brother , ,
mother and son and indeed between all relations

, , ,
in the fa m ily which are part o f the gene ral rule to

,
restrict sexual fami liarity between the two sexes ,
set up at a time when moral restraints upon des ire

could act but feebly It was o nl y much later that
.
these se xual taboos came to be fixed as supe rstitions ,
that with unbreakable fette rs bo und the freedom

of women .
Here indeed are facts causing us to think We

, ,
.
pe rceive how old and strongly rooted are many

customs from which to d ay we are fighting to escape
customs of separation between women and men ,
which with appalling conservatism have descended

, ,
through the ages Will they ever be b roken down ?

.
I do not kn ow These questions are not considered

.
in adequate fashion ; often we are ignorant of the

deep fo rces dr iving the sexes into situations of
antagonis m C learly these primitive avoidances
.
shed st rong light on the sexual problems of our day .
The subj ect is one of profound interest I wish .

that it were possible to follow it but all this lies ,
outside the limit set to my inquiry and already ,
I have been led far from the patriarchal family

The group has advanced in progress and now has ,
many features in common with existing savage

peoples The friendly conj unction of the father
.
and his sons has established peace Exogamy has .
begun to be practised ; and the family in this way

has been increased not only by the presence of the
group sons but by their captured wives We have
-
, .
seen that this would necessitate certain rules of

sexual avoidance ; thus the patriarch still holds '
marital rights over his wives and the group daughters -

,
while the captured women are sacred to the group

sons .
There is now a further important change to con

sider Again the rights of the patriarch have to
.
be restricted ; a bar has to be raised to prevent his

a dding his daughte rs to his wives Only by over .
coming this habit o f paternal incest can further

social evolution bec ome po ssible .
On this question I shall give the explanation of

Mr Atkinson ; and it is with real regret that the
.
limit of my space makes it impossible to quote in

full his own wo rds 1
The change came by the .
entrance of ou tsi de su i tors as hu s bands or the dau hters

f g
and thei r accep tance as rou p members
g
-
.
At this point a di fficulty once again arises By .
what means was the patriarch brought to accept

1
Pr”i mal L aw Th e ch apt “
From t he Gr o u p t o th e
—6 3
. er
T ribe , pp . 25 0 2 .
80 THE POS I TI ON OF W OMAN
the presence of these young intruders thus us urping ,
his sexual rights over his daughters ? Mr Atkinson .
believes this could not have taken place during the

life of the patriarch The initiative in change
.
m ust have arisen irrespective of him or without ,
his presence Here Mr Atkinson appea rs to me

. .
to fall into error as once more he neglects to con

,
sider the e ffect o f the young women s own desires ’

.
I hold that by this time the group daughters

, ,
-
,
supported by their mothers mus t have been st rong

,
enough to outwit their father ( whose authority

already had been weakened ) if not openly then by , ,
decei ving him They would now see their brothers

.
living with young wives Is it c redible I as k t hat

.
, ,
they would remain content with the sexual embraces

of their father ?
In thi s connection it is of interest to note the
opposition sometimes O ffe red by young females to
the advances of an old male among the families of
monkeys I have received quite recently an account
.
of such a case in a letter from my friend M ax Henry ,
Ferrass formerly Inspector of Sc hools in India

, ,
and the author of a valuable work on B urmah .
Th is is what he says
I once was able to observe a herd of common

long tailed monkeys of the Indian plains at play
-
o n a sandbank in a river There we re about fifty

.
of all ages There was one great bull y among them

.
who looked double the size of the average adult

and must have been double the weight at any rate
—whose sport was to chase the young females
,
.
appears to be no real cause for this precaution I .
do not think it can be explained by the supe rstitious

dread of the sexes for each other exp ressing itself ,
in t his form of sex u al taboo ; as M r Crawley and .
othe r writers suggest D oubtless this is a factor

.
,
and a very powerful one inthe continuance of the ,
custom but it does not seem to me to be the true

,
explanation of its origin S uch secrecy and clan .
des tine meetings are howeve r exactly what must

, ,
have happened if th e group daugh te rs received their -
lovers as I would suggest in defiance of the will

, ,
of the patriarch M ay not the c ustom as it still

.
exists be a survival retained and st rengthened by

,
supe rstition from a time when these fugitive visits

,
were necessary for safety ? 1
M r Atkinson s view is di fferent from mine He

.
’
.
does not allow any power at all to the women He .
holds that afte r the death of the pat ria rch his ,
daughters still young would be left without hus

, ,
bands To meet this diffi culty suitors are b rought

.
f rom other groups by the brothers i e the sons , . .
settled in the group and who now rul e We are .
asked to believe that they do this to relieve them

selves oi the maintenance of their widowed sisters ,
and to prevent their being captured and carried off

to other groups According to Mr Atkinson the
. .
presence of thes e outside lovers would not be

dangerous to the family peace They would come .
1
. k
M r At i ns on refers t o t hes e c lan d es t in e m arr ia es g ,
H e d oes n ot howev er c o nnect t he c u s t o m as I su es t

, , , gg ,
p
wi t h any acti o n o n t he art o f t he y ou n w om en g .
IN PR IM I TI VE SOC I E T Y 83
from neighbouring groups from which the young

,
m en had a lready captured their wives In this .
way the strangers would be the brothers of their

women ; and thus the brother and sister avoidance
- -
the primal law already established—would prevent

any fear of interference with the established marital
rights on the part of t he new comers I strongly
-
.
di ffer from the suggestion that the brothers had to

feed and maintai n their widowed sisters ; such an
’
opinion is but another example of a failure to appre

’
ciate the women s side of the question I allow .
willingly that the sisters may have had the assistance

of their brothers ; I incline indeed to the opinion
, ,
that they would be strong enough to compel their

help though prob ably this was not necessary The
, .
group sisters and the group brothers may well have

- -
united against the father who was the enemy of

,
both To me the common sense view is that these

.
-
visits from outside suitors were fir st paid clau des

t inely at night . In the light of human nature it is
at least probable that the tyrant father was deceived
by his daughters and his sons If already he was
.
—
dead what reason was there for any fear why were
,
the visits secret ? This seems to show that I am

right ; that once more the initiative in the changes
that led to regulation must be traced back to women .
Afterwards the custom thus established would come

, ,
to be recognised and the practice of the husband

,
visiting his wife by night would persist long after the

danger making such secrecy necessary had ceased .
It will be readily seen that the introdu ction of

W U B HTU S U U L DIU U , D wu
'
I I U II I d LC V U I I U C d IIS
y
t hi s was done would be an immense gain in strengt h
, .
Again a new regul ation in the sexual relationships

would follow and the group daughters would now
,
-
have husbands of their own gen eration sacred to ,
them Fu rthermore it was the first direct step

.
in fri endly union between group and group a step

that woul d open up ways to further progress The .
husband living in his own group and visiting his

, ,
wife in hers would at once form a conn ecting link

,
between two hi t herto separate family circles which ,
friendly co nnection would not be broken when , ,
late r the custom arose of the husband leaving his

,
gr oup to take up his residence with his wife .
S uch an arrangement must have been of immense

advantage to the women Under the new order .
,
a wife married to one of these young strangers would

hold a position of considerable power that hithert o ,
had been impo ssible We have s een that the home

.
was made by the group women and must have -

,
belonged to them ; but so far the co ntinuance of a ,
daughter in the home had entailed the acceptan ce of

her father as a h usband ; the only way of escape
—
be ing by captur e which whether forced or as I
hold aided by the girl s desire —s ent her out from
, ,
’
her own family as a stranger into a host ile group .
Now this was reve rsed and the hus band entered
,
as the alien into her home and family .
The following obs ervation of M r Atkinson in this .
connection m u st be quoted as it is in strong agree ,
ment with my own view

IN PR I M IT I VE SOC I E T Y 85
As a wife who had not been captured who in , ,
fact as an actual member of the group itself was

, , ,
so to speak the capturer her p osi ti on i n regard to ,
her dep endent hu sband wou ld be p rof ou ndly modi fied ,
in comparison with that of the ordinary captive

female whereas such a captive sei z ed by the usual
, ,
process of hostile capture had been a mere chattel ,
utterly without power ; she as a free agent i n her ,
own home wi th her will backed by that of her brothers

,
[ why not I would

,
ask her siste r s and her mother
,
” 1
cou ld i mp ose law on her su bj ect sp ou se .
In the foregoing sentences M r Atkinso n a ffi rms .
the fateful significance to women of this new form

of marriage I am in whole hearted agreement with
.
-
this opinion I glean here and there from the

.
wealth of M r Atkinson s suggestions statements

.
’
which indicate how nearly he came to seeing all

that I am trying to establish Yet I am compelled .
,
to disagree with his main argument ; for always

when he touches the woman s side he falls back at ’
once to consider the question in its relation to the

males as the only important members in the group
‘
I do not for instance accept his view that the captive

, ,
wives were mere chattels They could not under .

,
the conditions have been without some considerable

,
power even if it arose only from the sexual depend

,
ence of their owners upon them M uch more .
significant however is Mr Atkinson s View regarding

, , .
’
the authority of the wife in these new peaceable

marriages He sees one point only as arising from
.
such a position and finds a psychological factor

,
Pri mal L aw p 2 5 6 1
, .
86 THE POS I TI ON OF W O M AN
of enormous power now for the first time able to
,
make itself felt in the play of sexual j ealousy on

,
”
the part of the wife She would now impose
.
law on her subj ect spouse and such law di ctated

,
by j ealousy wo u ld ordain a bar to intercourse

between him and her more youthful and hence more
attractive daughters Now I do not deny that
.
,
such a factor may have acted for the incentive to ,
j ealousy arises always from individual as opposed

to collective possession S till I do not think
.
j ealousy can have been strong in thi s case and , ,
even if it were not any reversion on the part of an

,
alien father to the habits of the patriarch must

have been impossible ; such conduct would not
have been tole rated by the other males in the group ,
nor by the daughters now able to get young

,
husbands for themselves To limit the wife s power

.
’
to this single issue can hardly be consistent with

the conditions of the case Mr Atkinson in common
. .
,
with many other anthropologists seems disposed to ,
underrate the evidence regarding the far reaching -
importance of this form of marriage Among .
existing examples of the maternal family the ,
mother rights and influences of women are dependent

-
la rgely on the position of the husband as a stranger

in her family home This matter will become clear
.
in the later part of my inquiry .
With the establ ishment of thi s new peaceful

marriage the way was cleared for future progress ;
it is but a few further steps for the group to grow
into the clan and the tribe The family group has
.
-
.
increased greatly in size and in social organisation ,
from the time when it consisted of the patriarch

—
,
and his community of women and young children .
The group sons have brought in wives from other

-
groups and have founded families ; the group

daughters now have husbands who live with them .
Primitive regu lations over the marital rights have

arisen enabling peace to be maintained Each
,
.
family to some extent would be complete in itself .
As the gr oups advanced in progress totem names

,
would come t obe used as family marks of distinction ,
taken usually from some plant or animal Peaceable

.
mar riages between the sons and daughters of the

di fferent groups would more and more become the
habit and would gradually take the place of capture
,
marriages The regulation of the se x ual relation

.
ships by which certain women and certain men

,
became sacred to each other would become more

,
strongly fixed by custom ; and afterwards the law

would follow that a group of kindred distinguished
,
by its totem mark might not marry within the

,
hereditary name The religious superstitions that

.
came to be connecte d with these totem names would

make binding the new order in the marriage law .
When this stage was reached exogamy would be

strictly practised ; and in all cases under the com
l t e maternal system the woman on marriage
p e
would remain in her fami ly home where the husband

,
would come to live with her as a kind of privileged

guest.
There is one other matter that must be noted .

The totem name was inherited from the mothe r ,
and not the father This was the natural arrange

.
ment When the group was small there may have

.
,
been a communal ownership of the group children -
by the mothers under the authority of the father

, .
But this would not continue for long ; when the

group increased in numbers the mother and her ,
chi ldren would keep together as a little sub family -
in the larger circle This wo ul d be es pecially the

.
case with captured wives who would bring with ,
them the totem marks of their groups and t hi s ,
would be the name of the children The naming of .
the children after the mother would also be the

simplest way of d istinguis hi n g between the o ffspring
of different wives a distinction that would often
,
be necessary during the earlier conditions among

, ,
the polygamous fathers .
It is however an entirely mistaken view that

, ,
the father s relation to the child was ever unrecog

’
nis ed. The taking of the name of the mother arose

as a matter of course and was adopted simply as ,
being the most convenient custom It is manifest .
that mother descent has no connection with a period

-
of promiscuity Quite the reverse All the con

. .
dit ions of mother right arose out o f the earliest

-
movements towards order and regulation in the

relationships of the sexes and were not the r esult ,
of licence Nor was the naming of the child after

.
the mother so much a question of relationship as

”
of what may be called social kinship The .
causes which led to the maternal system are closely

90 THE POS ITI ON OF W OM AN
and the inadequacy of this summ ar y ; but if the
suggestions brought forward shall prove in them
selves to have merit it has seemed to me that a
,
fruitful field of investigation has been opened .
M uch new ground had to be covered in this attempt

to picture the position of women at a pe riod so
remote that the di fficulti es are ve ry gr eat I hope .
at least to have cleared away the old errors which ,
connected mother descent with uncertainty of

-
paternity and an early period of promiscuity .
Recognising sexual j ealousy as the moving force

in brute man I have accepted that the primeval
,
family was of the patriarchal type I have traced

.
the probable development of the group family -

,
expanding by successive steps into larger groups

living in peaceful association In the earlier stage
.
,
whilst the men lived as solitary despots the women

,
enj oyed a communal life It is thus probable that

.
the leading power in the upward movement of the

group developin g into the clan and tribe arose among
the united mothers and not with the father The
, .
women were forced into social conduct On this .
belief is based the theory of mother power -

.
The most important result we have gained is the

proof that the maternal system was framed for order ,
and has no connection with sexual disorder It is .
enough if I have suggested reasons to show that

this widespread custom which is practised still
,
among many peoples has nothing about it that is

,
exceptional nothing fantastic nothing improbable

, , .
I hold it to be a perfectly natural arrangement

IN PR IM ITI VE S OC I E T Y 91
the practical outgrowth of the practical needs of

primitive peoples The strongest and the one cer
.
tain claim for a belief in mother right and mother

-
power must rest on t his foundation It is left for

.
the second part of my book to prove how far I am

right in what I claim
.
P ART II
T HE MO T HER C I VI L ISATIO N
It
’
s no t t oo lat e t o see k a n ewe r world
’
k
Tho m u ch i s t a en m u ch ab id es ,
an d t ho
'
g
W e are n o t n ow t he st r en t h whi ch in o ld d ays
M o v ed eart h an d hea v en t hat whi ch we are we are
, ,
p
O n e equ al t em er o f heroic hearts
k
Made wea by t im e an d ru le bu t st ro n in will ,
g
To s t ri v e t o see
, k
t o fi nd and not t o yi eld
, ,
.
TE N N Y S O N .
CHA PT ER V
THE MAT R I A R CHA L FAM I LY AM O N G THE
AM ER I CA N I N D I A N S
IT is time now to turn to the actual subj ect of

this investigation in order to see how far the theory
,
of mothe r right has been helpe d by the lengthy

-
examination of the patria rchal gr oup .
S ince the publication of D as M u tterrecht much has

been written that has tended to raise doubts as to
the soundness of the matriarchal theory at least in ,
the form held by its early supporters A reaction .
in the opposite direction has set in before which the

,
former belief in mother — power has been transformed ,
and now seems likely to disappear altogether In .
r ecent years Westermarck

,
S tarcke Andrew Lang
, , ,
N W Thomas and Cr awley among others have

. .
,
given utte rance to this view The prevalence of a

.
system tracing descent through the mother is ac

cept ed by the maj o rity of learned opinion though ,
it would seem somewhat grudgingly M r C rawley . .
is the only writer as far as I know who denies that

, ,
such a practice was ever common ; the cases in

which it still exists as these cannot be denied he
, ,
regards as exceptions He a ffi rms : The re is no

.
evidence that the maternal system was ever general

95
or always preceded the paternal system And .
again : Though frequent maternal descent cannot ,
have been either universally or generally a stage

”
through which man has passed 1
.
Mr Crawley considers this assumption may be

.
taken for granted ; so that he does not trouble

himself about proofs The subj ect O f mother right
.
-
is dis missed as unworthy of serious attention S uch .
an attitude is surely instructive and i llustrates the ,
failure to which I have already pointed in con

, ,
s id ering the woman s side in these questions

’
.
There would seem to be a tendency to doubt as

being possible any family arrangement favourable
to the authority of women Even when descent .
through the mother is accepted as a phase in social

development it is denied that such descent confers
,
any special rights to women .
One reason of this prej udice must be sought in

the persistence of the puritan spirit the obj ection
to mother kin rests mainly on the obj ection to
-
loose sexual relationships Th u s it became neces

.
sary to attempt a new explanation of the origin of

the custom and hence my examination of the
,
primordial patriarchal group It may be thought .
that I should have done better to confine my inquiry

to existing primitive peoples But if I am right .
, ,
mother power is rooted much further back than

-
his tory and arose first in the dawn of the human

,
family This had to be establis hed

. .
It is clearly of vital importance to an inquiry

that claims to set up a new belief in a discredited
1
The Mys ti c Rose , pp .
460 -
46 1 .
by the evidence that is open to all investigato rs .
Nothing will be gained by exaggeration and by

claiming over much for women The term matri .
archal takes too much for granted that women at

one period ruled S uch a view is far from the
.
truth All I claim then is this : the system by

.
, ,
which the descent of the name and the inhe ritance

of property passes through the female side of the
family placed women in a favourable position with ,
definite rights in the family and clan rights which , ,
in some cases resulted in their having great and

,
even extraordinary power This I think may be.

, ,
granted If descent through the father stands as i t

.
,
i s held to do for the p redomi nance of ma n over woman

—the hu sband over the wife then i t i s at least surely
,
p ossible that descent through the mother may i n some

cases have stood for the p redomi nance of the wife over
the hu sband . The r eader will j udge how far the

examples of the maternal family I am able to bring
forward support this claim .
The evidence for mother right has neve r yet been

-
fully brought into notice ; but much of the evidence

is now available Our knowledge of the customs of
.
primitive peoples has incre as ed greatly of late

years and these a ff ord a wide field for inquiry
, .
And although the examples of the complete maternal

family existing to day are few in number—probably
-
not more than twenty t ribes yet the impo rtant

1
,
fact is that they occur among widely separated

1
This is t he n u m ber gi v en by Pr o f T y l or Th e Mat ri
. .
archal F am ily Syst em N i neteen th Cen tu ry J u ly 1 8 9 6

”
.
, ,
peoples in all the great regions of the uncivilised

world M oreover side by side with these are found
.
, ,
a much larger number of imperfect systems which ,
give unmistakable evidence of an earlier maternal

stage S uch examples are specially instructive ;
.
they belong to a transitional period and show the ,
maternal family in its decline as it passes into a

new patriarchal stage ; often indeed we see the one , ,
system competing in conflict with the other .
In this connection I may note that Westermarck

does not accept an early period when descent was
traced exclusively through the mother ; he gives a
long list of peoples among whom the system is not
practised These passages occur in his well kn own
.
-
Cri ti ci sm of the Hyp othesi s of P romi scu i ty and hi s

1
,
whole argument is based on the assumption that

mother right arose through the tie between the
-
father and the child being unrecognised B ut .
mother descent has no connection at all with nu

-
certainty oi paternity I venture to think Dr . .
Westermarck has not su flrcient ly considered th is ’
aspec t O f the question and if I mistake not it is

, , ,
this confusron of mother descent with pronriscui t y -
which explains his attitude towards the maternal

system and his failure to recognise its favourable
,
influence on the status of women In his opinion .
this system of tracing descent does not materi al ly

affect the relative power of the two se x es 2
I n such .
1
Hi stor y of Hu man Marri age pp 9 7
—1 0 4 , . .
2
The Pos it ion of W om an in Early Ci v ilis at ions ,
Soci ologi cal Papers ,

1 904 .
1 00 THE P O SITIO Ng
gor W OMAN
a view I cannot help thinking he is mistaken ; and
I am supported in this by the fact that he makes the
important q u alification that the husband s power is ’
impaired when he lives among his wife s kinsfolk ’

.
Now it is this fo rm of marriage or the more primi

, ,
tive custom when the husband only visits his wi fe ,
that is practised among the peoples who have pre

served the complete maternal family Under such .
a domes tic arrangement whi ch real ly reverses the

,
position of the wife and the husband mo t her right ,

-
is found ; this maternal marriage is indeed the true , ,
foundation of the woman s power Where the

’
.
marriage system has been changed from the maternal

to the paternal fo rm and the wife is taken from the
,
protection of her own kindred to live in the home of

her husband even when descent is still traced
,
through the mother the chi ef authority is almost

,
always in the hands of the father Thus it need not .
cause surprise to find mother descent combined with

-
a fully established patri a rchal rule But among .
such peoples practic es may often be met with t hat

can be explained only as survivals from an earlier
maternal system M oreover in othe r cases we

.
, ,
meet with tribes that have not yet advanced to the

maternal stage A study of exi sting tribes and
.
,
of the records of ancient civil isations will yield any ,
number of examples .
Unmistakable traces of mother right may indeed -

, ,
be found by those whose eyes are opened to see in

, ,
all rac es In peasant festivals and dances and in

.
,
many religious beliefs and ce remonies we may ,

THE EP OSI TION or
E W OM AN
America Australia India and other countries
, ,
.
S uch examples formed a necessary part of the

historical section of that wo rk ; they are even more
necess ary to this inquiry M any new examples will
.
be given and the examination of the whole subj ect

,
will be more exhaus tive These chapters will be.
followed by a discussion of certain difli cu lt ies and ,
an examination of the t ransition period in which

the maternal family gave way to the second patri
archal stage with the family fo unded on the authority
of the father A short chapter will be devoted to the
.
work done by women in primitive tribes and its

impo rtance in relation to their position Then will .
come as full an account as is possible of the traces

of the mother age to be found in the records of ancient
-
an d existing civilised races while a brief chapter will

be added on certain myths and legends which help to
’
elucidate the theory of women s early power The .
final chapter wil l treat of general conclusions with an ,
attempt to suggest certai n facts which seem to bear

on present d ay problems Throughout I shall .
support my investigation ( as far as can be done in a

work prim arily designed for a text book) by ex -
amples which in each case have been carefully

, , ,
chosen from trustworthy evidence of those who are

pe rsonally acquainted with the habits o f the peoples
of whom they write I shall try to avoid falling
.
into the error of a one sided view Facts will be

-
.
more important than reflections and as far as ,
p ossible I
,
shall let these speak for themselves .
Let us now concentrate our attention on the

complet e maternal family where the clan is grouped

,
around the mothe rs .
The examples in this chapter will be taken from

the aboriginal tribes of No rth and S out h America
among whom traces of the maternal system are
common while in some cases mother right is still in
,
.
-
force At the period of Eu ropean discovery the

.
American Indians we re already well advanced in the

primitive arts and were very far removed from
,
savagery Their domestic and social habits showed

.
an organisation of a very r emarkable character ;

among certain t ribes the re was a communal maternal
family interesting and complicated in its arrange
,
ments S uch customs had prevailed from an

.
antiquity so remote that their o rigin seems to have

been lost in the obscurity of the ages It is possible .
,
however to see how this communism in living may

,
have arisen and developed out of the conditions we

have studied in the far distant patriar chal groups .
For this reason they afford a very spe cial interest to

our inquiry .
M organ who was commissioned by the American

,
Government to report on the customs of the aborigi

nal inhabitants gives a description of the system as
,
it existed among the Iroquois
Each household was made up on the principle

of kin The married women usually sisters own
.
, ,
or collate ral were of the same gens or clan the

, ,
symbol or totem of which was often painted upon the

house while their husbands and the wives of their
,
sons belonged to several other gentes The children .

were of the gens of their mother As a rule the sons .
brought home their wives and in some cases the ,
husbands of the daughters we re admitted to the

maternal househ o ld Thus each household was .
composed of persons of diffe rent gentes but the ,
predominating numbe r in each h o usehold would be

” 1
of the same gens namely that of the mother , ,
.
We see he re at once the pe rsistence and develop

, ,
ment of the conditions and late r custo ms of the

pat riar chal family group no w evolved into the clan
-
,
.
In the far dis tant days the j ealous spirit was still
-
strong ; now it has been curbed and regulated and ,
the female yoke binds the clan together We have .
the mothe rs as the cent re of the communal home ;

the sons bringing their wives to live in the circle ,
while the daughte rs husbands are received as ’
pe rmanent guests Unde r such a system the .
mothe rs are related to each othe r and belong to the ,
same clan and their children afte r them ; the fathe rs

,
are not bo und togethe r by the same ties and are
of di fferent clans The limits within which marriage

.
can take place are fixed and we can t race the action ,
of the ancient p rimal law in the bar that prohibits

the husband from being of the same clan as his wife .
Though the husband takes up his abode in the wife s ’
family dwelling the re du ri ng her life and hi s good

,
behavi ou r he still belongs to his own family

2
, The .
children of the marriage are of the kind red of the

1
M or gan H , ou s es an d Hou se L i fe of-
the A m eri can A bor i
gi n es ,p . 64 .
3
T y lo r, The Mat riarchal Fam il y Sys t em ,
N i neteen th
Cen tu ry J u ly
, 1 89 6 .
separate families These houses were erected on .
frames of poles covered with b ark and were from, ,
fifty to a hun dr ed feet in length A passage way .
led down the centre and rooms were portioned off ,
on either side the doo rs were at each end of the

pass age An apartment was allotted to each family
. .
There were several fireplaces usually one for every ,
four families which were placed in the central

,
passage : there were no chi mneys The Iroquois .
lived in these long ho uses Ho de no sau nee up to ,

- - - -
,
A D 1 700 and in occasional instances for a hundred

. .
,
years later They we re not peculiar to the Iroquois

.
,
but were used by many t ribes Unfortunately this .
wise plan of living has now al most entirely p assed

away .
I wish that I had space to give a fuller account of

1
these families Each household practised com
.
m unism in livin g and made a common stock of the ,
provisions acquired by fishi ng and hunting and by ,
the cultivation of maize and plants The curs e of .
individual accumul ation would seem not to have

existed Ownership of land and all property was
.
held in common Each household was direct ed by .
the matron who supervised its domestic economy .
After the daily meal was cooked at the several fires ,
the matron was sum moned and it was her duty to ,
apportion the food f rom the kettle to the di fferent

families according to their respective needs What .
1
The r ead er is f t o M o rgan s in t erest in
re erred
’
Hou ses g
an d H ou se L i fe of
-
theg
‘
A bori gi n es It is r o m t his w o r t hat
. f k
many of t he facts I g i v e hav e be en t a en k .
IN PR I M ITI VE SOC I E T Y _ 1 07
food remained was placed in the charge o f another

woman until it was required by the matron In .
this connection M r M o rgan says :

. This plan of
life shows that their domestic economy was not
without method and it displays the care and
‘
management of women low do wn in barbarism for

'
, ,
husbanding their resources and for improving their

conditions .
In this statement made by one who was intimately

,
acquainted with the customs of this people there is

surely confirmation of what I have claimed for
women ? The further we go in ou r inquiry the more
we are driven to the conclusion that the favourable
conditions uniting the women with one another
exerted a powerful influence on their character I .
think this is a view O f the maternal family system

that has never received its proper meed of attention .
It must be noted that the women did not eat with

the men ; but the fact that the appo rtioning of the
food was in the women s hands is su fficient proof that
’
this separation of women and men common among ,
most primitive peoples has no connection with the

,
superiority of one sex over the other It is interest .
ing to find that only one prepared meal was served

in each day But the pots were always kept boiling
.
over the fires and any one who was hungry either
, ,
from the household or from any other part of the

village had a right to order it to be taken O ff and to
,
eat as he or she pleased .
We may notice the influence of their communistic

living in all the Indian customs At all times the
.
1 08 THE P OS ITI ON OF W OM AN
law hospitality was st rictly observed Food was
of .
dispensed in eve ry cas e to those who needed it ; no

excuse was ever made to avoid giving If through .
misfortune one household fell into want the needs ,
were freely supplied fr om the stock laid by for future

use in anothe r household Hunger and destitution
.
could not exist in any part of an Indian village or

encampment while plenty p revailed elsewhe re .
S uch gene rosity at a tim e when foo d was often

difficult to obtain and its supply was the fir st con
,
cern of life is a remarkable fact Nor does this

, .
gene rosity seem as might be thought to have led to

, ,
idleness and improvidence He who begged when

.
,
he could w o rk was stigmatised with the d isgraceful

,
name of poltroon or beggar but the miser

who ref used to assist hi s neighbour was b randed as
a bad cha racter M r M organ commenting on
. .
,
this phase of the Indi an life says I much doubt

if the civilised wo rld would have in their institutions
any system which can properly be called more
humane and charitable .
These reflections induce one to ask : What were

the causes of t hi s humane system of living among
a people conside red as uncivilised ? Now I do not ,
wish to claim ove rmuch for women We have seen

.
,
however that the cont rol and distribution of the

,
supply of food was placed in the hands of the

mat rons thus their association with the giving of
,
food must be accepted Is not this fact suffi cient

.
to indicate the reason that made po ssible this com

m unis m ? To me it is plain t hat these remarkable
sense of independence and personal di gnity univer
”
sally att ributed to the Indian character .
Regarding the part taken by the women in the

government we have very remarkable testimony
, .
Sc hoolcraft in his elaborate study of the customs

1
,
of the In di an tribes states that the women had a ,
co nservative powe r in the po litical deliberations .
The matrons had their representatives in the public

councils and they exercised a negative or what we
, ,
call a veto power in the important question of the

, ,
declaration of war They had also the right to

.
in terpose in bringing about a peace Heriot also .
affirms : In the women is vested the foundation

of all real autho rity They give efficiency to the .
councils and are the ar biters of war and peace .
It is also to their d isposal that the captured slaves

are co mmitted And again
. Although by
custom the leaders are chosen fr om among the men ,
and the affairs whi ch concern the tribe are settled

by a council of ancients it would yet seem that they ,
only repr esented the women and assisted in the ,
disc ussion of subj ects which principally related to

that sex 2
.
These remarkable social and domestic conditions

were common to the American Indians under the
maternal system The direct influence of women
.
,
as directors thr ough the men is a circumstance of ,
1
Hi s tori cal and S ta ti s ti cal Infor m ati on Respecti ng the
Hi s tor y Con di ti on and Pros ects of the Ind i an Tri bes of the
, ,
Un i ted S ta tes 6 v ols V o l

, . II p 1 9 5 See also N otes
, .
, . .
the Iroquoi s an d The Ind i an i n hi s W i gwam

—
.
1
Heriot , op ci t , 32 1 32 2
. pp . .
IN PR I M I T I VE SOC I E T Y 111
much interest Among the S enecas an Iroquoian

.
,
t ribe with the complete maternal family the ,
authority was very certainly in the hands of the 0
women M organ quotes an account of their family

.
system given by the Rev Ashur Wright for many

,
.
years a resident among the S enecas and famili ar ,
with their language and customs .
As to their family system it is probable that ,
one clan predominated (in the houses ) the women ,
taking in husbands however from other clans

, , ,
and sometimes for novelty some of their sons ,
bringing in their young wives until they felt b rave ,
enough to leave their mothe rs Usually the female .
portion ruled the house and we re doubtless clannish

,
enough about it The stores were in common but

.
,
woe to the luckless husband or lover who was too

shiftless to do his share of the providing No matter .
how many chi ldren or whatever goods he might

have in the house he might at any time be ordered
,
to pack up his blanket and budge and after such ,
orde rs it would not be healthful for him to attempt

to disobey ; the house would be too hot for him and ,
unless saved by the intercession of some aunt or

grandmothe r he must retreat to his own clan or
, , ,
as was often done go and start a new matrimonial

,
alliance in some other The women were the great

.
powe r among the clans as everywhe re else They .
did not hesitate when occasion required to knock

, ,
o ff the ho rns as it was technically called from the

’
, ,
head of a chief and send him back to the ranks of the

W arrior . The o riginal nomination of the chief also
”
always rested with them .
Mr M organ a ffirms his acceptance of the Indian

.
’
women s authority and says , ,
after quoting this
passage The mother right and gyn aecocracy -
among the I roquois here p lainly indicated is not

over dr awn The mothers and their children as
-
.
,
we have seen we re of the same gens and to them the

, ,
household belonged The position of the mother .
was eminently favourable to her influence in the

household and tended to strengthen the maternal
,
” 1
bond .
It is important to note that among the Iroquois

polygamy is not permitted nor does it appear ever ,
to be pract ised M any instances are reported in the

.
Seneca t ribe of a woman having more than one

husband but an Iroquoian man is never allowed
,
more than one wife 2

This is the mo re remarkable .
when we consider the fact that the mothers nurse

their children for a very long period during which ,
time they do not cohabit wi th their husbands .
S uch entire absence of polygamy is to be explained ,
in part by the matern al marriage a system whi ch

, ,
in its origin was closely connected with sexual

regulation ; nor would plurality of wives be possible
in a society in which all the members of both sexes
enj oyed equal p rivi leges and were in a position of ,
absolute equality M arriages usually take plaCe at

.
an early age Under the mate rnal form the .

,
husband living with the wife wo rked for her family ,
and commonly gained hi s footing only through hi s

service As suito r he was required to make presents
.
1
Hou ses an d Hou se li fe of A meri can A bori gi nes pp 6 5 —
-
66 ,
. .
2
M o r gan L eagu e of the Ir oqu oi s p 32 4
,
Her io t op ci t ,
. .
,
. .
,
pp . 2
3 3 3 2
, 9 S ch oo lc r aft
. op ci t V o l I I I p ,
1 9 1 . .
,
.
,
. .
these maternal peoples have solved many diffi culties
of domestic and social life better than we ourselves
have done
The Wyandots another Iroquoian tribe ma in , ,
t ain ed the maternal household though they seem to ,
have reached a later stage of development than the

Senecas They camped in the form of a ho rse shoe
.
-
,
every clan together in regular orde r M arriage .
between membe rs of the same clan was forbidden ;

the childr en belonged to the clan of the mother .
The husbands retained all their rights and privileges

in their own gentes though they lived in the ,
g en tes of their wives After marriage the pai r .
resided for a time at least with the wife s mothe r

, , ,
’
but afterwards they set up housekeeping for

2
themselves .
We may note in this change of residence the

c reeping in of changes which in evitably led in
time to the decay of the maternal family and
the reassertion of the pat riarchal autho rity of
the father Thi s is il lust rated further by the
.
M u s qu ak ies also be long ing to the Algonquian

,
stock Though still o rganised in clans descent

.
,
is no longer reckoned through the mothe r ; the

bridegr oom however se rves his wife s family and
, ,
’
he lives in her home This does not make him .
1
C harleroi x V ol 48 ,
. V p , .
, q u o t ed by Hart land , p
o . ci t .
V o l 1 1 p 66
.
, .
1
Powell R ep B ur E thn ,
. . I , 63
.
of her clan but she belongs to his till his death or

, ,
divo rce separates her from him As for the children . ,
the minors at the te rmination of the marriage

belong to the mother s clan but those who had
’
,
’
had the puberty feast are counted to the father s
clan 1
.
The male authority was felt chiefly in periods of

war This may be illustrated by the Wyandots
.
,
who have an elaborate system of government I n .
each gens there is a small council composed of four

women called yu wai yu wd na
,
-
chosen by the
- - -
heads of the household These women select a .
chief of the gens from its male members that is , ,
from their brothers and sons He is the head of the .
g en ti le council The council

. of the tribe is com
posed of the aggregated genti le councils ; and is thus
made up of four fi ft hs of women and one fi ft h of
- -
men The sachem of the t ribes or tribal chief is

.
,
-
,
chosen by the chiefs of the gentes All the civil .
government of the gens and of the t ribe is carried on

by these councils ; and as the women so largely
outnumbe red the men who are also— with the one
,
exception of the tribal chief—chosen by them it is

-
,
evident that the social government of the gens and

tribe is largely controlled by them On military .
a ffairs however the men have the direct authority

, , ,
though as has been stated the women have a veto

, ,
power and are allowed to exercise a decision in

favour of peace There is a military council of all
.
the able bodied men of the tribe with a militar y

-
,
1
O wen ; M u squ ak i e Indi ans p 72 , . .
1
chief chosen by the council . This seems a very
wise adj ustment of civic duties ; the constructive
social wo rk and the maintainin g of peace directed
by the women ; the destructive work of war in the
hands of men .
Powell gives an inte restin g account of their com

muh al life Each clan owns its own lan ds whi ch it
.
cultivates ; but within the se lands each househ old

ha s its own patch It is the women councill o rs who
.
partiti on the clan lands among the hou seholds .
The pa rtition takes place eve ry two yea rs But .
while each household has its own patch of groun d ,
the cultivation is co mmunal ; that is all the able ,
bo died women of the clan take a sha re in cultivating

every patch Each clan has a right to the service
.
of all its women in the cultiva tion of the soil It .
would be diffi cu lt to find a mo re striking example

than this of co mmunism in labo u r I claim it as .
proof of what I have s t ated in an ea rlie r chapter of

the condi tions d riving women into combination and
soc ial conduct .
If we turn now to the South American contin ent

we shall find many interesting survival s of the com
p le t e materna l family ,
in particular among the
Pueblo peoples of New M exico and Ariz ona so ,
called from the S panish wo rd pu eblo a town The ,

.
customs of the people have been carefully studied

and recorded by Bancroft S choolcraft M organ
, , ,
1
I h av e sum m arised t he acco u nt of t he W y an d ot
g ov ernm ent as gi v en by Hart lan d who qu ot es from ,
Powell s W y an d o t Go v ern m ent

’
F i rs t A nnu al R epor t
”
—
,
of th e B u rea u of A meri can E th n ology 1 8 7 9

,
1 8 8 0 pp 6 1 ff,
. .
hundred or more families according to the number ,
of apartments .
Among the Creek Indi ans of Georgia M organ ,
recounts a somewhat di fferent mode of communal

dwell ing as forme rly being practised In 1 790 they .
were living in small houses placed in clusters of ,
from four to eight together ; and each cluster

formin g a gens or clan who ate and l ived in common
, .
The food was prepared in one hut and each family ,
sent for its portion The smalles t of these garden

.
cities contained 1 0 to 40 groups of houses the ,
largest from 5 0 to These communistic dwelling

houses are so inte resting and so important that I
would add a few words He re we have among these
.
,
maternal peoples a system of living which appe ars

to be identical with the improved conditions of
associated dwell ing now beginning to be tried How .
often we consider new thin gs that really are very

old " In the li ght of these examples our co ,
operative dwelling houses and garden cities can no

-
longer be regarded as expe riments They were in .
use in the mother age when many of our new ( I)

-
,
ideas seem to have been common Can this be .
be cause of the extended power held by women who ,
are more practical and careful of detail than men

are ? I believe that it is po ssible This would .
e xplain too the revival of the same ideas to day

, ,
-
,
when women are taking up their part again in social

1 Schoolcraft ,In di an Tribes, 2 62 p .
,
gi v es an ac cou nt of
t h ese h o u ses . p
A s im ilar lan o f liv in g is port ed
re of t he
Maya I nd i ans .
life To tho se who are questioning the waste and

.
discomfo rt of our solitary homes I would recommend

a ca reful study of this p rimitive communism I .
would point out the connection of the social ideal

with the mate rnal family while the home that is
,
solitary and unsocial must be regarded as having

arisen from the patriarchal customs I have had .
occasion again and again to note that collective

interests are more conside red by women ; and indi
vidual interests by men This at least is how I see
.
, ,
it ; and a stu dy of the Indian mate rnal families

seems to give confirmation to such a conclusion .
But to return to the Pueblo peoples The t ribes .
ar e divided into exogamous totem clans Kinship .
is reckoned through the women and in several ,
tribes we find the complete maternal family .
Am ong such pe oples the husband goes to live with the

wife and becomes an inmate of her family If the .
house is not large enough additional rooms are built

,
on to the communal home and connected with

those already occupied Hence a family with many
.
daughters increases while one consisting of sons

,
dies out.
The marriage customs and relationships between

the young men and the girls are instructive ; they
vary in the diffe rent t ribes but have some points
,
in common The Pueblos are monogamists and

. ,
polygamy is not allowed amongst them Bancroft .
reco rds a ve ry curious custom The morals of the

.
young people are carefully guar ded by a kind of

secret police whose duty it is to report all irregular
,
1 20 THE PO S ITI ON OF W OMAN
ities and in the event of such takin g place the
young man and the girl are compelled to marry 1
.
Now whatever opinion may be held of such inter

,
fe rence with the love m aking of the young people-

,
it affords st rong p roof of the error which has hitherto

connected the maternal system with un regulated
sexual relationships Thi s is a fact I am again and
.
again compelle d to po int out ris king the fear of ,
wearyin g the reade r .
Among some t ribes freedom is permitted to the

women before marriage He riot states that the .
natives who allow this j ustify the c u stom and say ,
that a young woman is mist ress of her own person ,
” 2
and a free agent . The tie of marriage is however , ,
obse rved mo re strictly than among many civilised

monogamous races And this is so although divorce
.
,
is always easy and by mutual consent ; a couple

being able to separ ate at once if they are diss atisfied
with each othe r He re are facts that may well
.
cause us to thi nk As for the courtship the usual

.
,
custom is reversed ; when a girl is disposed to marry

she does not wait for a young man to propose to
her but selects one to her liking and then consults
, ,
her family as to his suitability as a husband The .
sui to r has to serve the bride s family before he can ’
be accepted and in some cases the conditions are

,
binding and excee dingly curious .
How simple and really beautiful are the conditions

of life among thes e people may be seen from the
1
Ba n c r o f t , o p . ci t .
, pp .
5 46 5 4 7
, .
1
Heri ot , p
o . ci t .
,
p .
340 .
1 22 THE POS I TI ON OF W OMAN
permanent gues t The chi ldren— at least the female
.
—
children have their shar e in the common home ;
the father has none Outside the house the .
husband has some prope rty in the fields al though in ,
earlier times he had no possesso ry rights and the

land was held in common M odern influences have .
reached the Z u hi and mother right seems to have

,
-
”
begun its inevitable decay 1
.
The Hopis another Pueblo t ribe are more con

, ,
serv at iv e and with them the women own all the

,
property except the horses and donkeys which ,
belong to the men Among the Pu eblos the women .
commo nly have contr ol over the gr anary and they ,
are ve ry provident about the future Ordinarily .
they try to have one year s provisions on hand It

’
is only when two years of s carcity succeed each

other that the community suffe rs hunger Like .
the Z ufi is the Hop is are monogamists Sexual

,
.
freedom is ho wever permitted to a gir l before

, ,
marriage This in no way det racts from her good

.
repute ; even if she has given birth to a child she

will be sure to ma rry late r on unl ess she happens ,
to be shockingly ugly Nor does the child suffe r .

,
for among these maternal peoples the bastard takes ,
an equal place with the child born in wedlock The .
b ride lives for the first few weeks with her husband s ’
family during whi ch time the marriage takes place

, ,
the ce remony bein g performed by the bridegroom s ’
mother whose family also provides the bride with

,
1
M rs St ev ens o n in t he R eport B u reau E thnolog i cal
—
.
, ,
XXI I I , pp . 290 29 3 .
IN PR I M I T I VE SOC I E T Y 23
her wedding outfit The couple then return to the

.
’
home of the wife s parents where they remain , ,
either permanently or for some years until they can

, ,
obtain a separate dwelling The husband is always .
’
a stranger and is so treated by his wife s kin The
,
.
dwelling of his mother remains his true home in ,
sickness he returns to her to be nursed and stays ,
with her until he is well again Often his pos ition .
in his wife s home is so i rksome that he severs his

’
connection with her and her family and returns to ,
his old home On the othe r hand it is not u n

.
,
common for the wife should her husband be absent , ,
to place his goods outside the door an intimation

which he well underst ands and does not intrude ,
upon her again 1

.
Again among the Pueblo peoples we may con

, ,
sider the S ai Like the other tribes they are

.
divided into exogamous totem clans descent is

t raced only through the mother The t ribe through .
various reasons has been greatly reduced in numbers ,
and whole clans have died out and under these ,
circumstances exogamy has ceased to be strictly

enforced This has led to othe r changes The S ai
. .
are still no rmally monogamous When a young .
man wishes to marry a girl he speaks first to her

parents ; if they are willing he addresses himself
to her On the day of the marriage he goes alone
.
to her home carrying his presents wrapped in a

,
1
Vot h , Tradi ti on s o f the Hopi , pp 6 7 9 6 , 1 33
.
, R ep B u r . . .
B thu XIII 340 Hart lan d P ri m i ti ve P

aterni ty , V ol II
—
.
, , , , .
PP .
74 76
blanket his mother and father having preceded him
,
thither When the young people are seated to

.
gether the parents address them in turn enj oinin g ,
unity and forbearance This constitutes the ce re .
mony Tribal custom requires the bridegroom to

.
reside with the wife s family 1 ’

.
All the Pueblo peoples are more advanced than

the greater num be r of the neighbour ing tribes their
matrimonial cus toms are mo re refined their domestic ,
li fe much happier and they have an appreciation ,
?
of love a rare thi ng in pri mitive peoples
,
Among
other tribes purchas e of a wife is common always ,
a sure sign of the enslavement of women Thus in .
Columbia what is most prized in a woman is her

aptitude for labo u r and the price paid for her ,
( usually in ho rses ) depends on her capacity as a

beast of burden Sometimes as in C alifornia a .
, ,
suitor obtains a wi fe on credit but then the man is ,
called half married ; and until her p rice is paid

he has to labo ur as a slave for her parents Here .
,
as elsewhere mo rali ty is simply a custom of habit ;

,
Ban croft says that purchase of a wife has become

accepted as honourable so that among the C ali ,
fornian Redskins the children of a wife who has cost

” 3
nothing to her husband are looked down upon .
S uch customs are in sh ar p cont rast to the liberty

granted to the woman among the Pueblos As an .
1
Rep B u r E thn
. . . IX p , . 1 9 . H art lan d , Ibi d .
,
pp .
—
76 77 .
1
Ban cr o ft , p
o . ci t V ol
.
, . I p 5
, .
49 .
1
Ban cro ft , op . ci t V ol . . I p , . 2 77 . Pow er s ’
Tri bes f
o
C ali for ni a , pp . 2 2, 5 6 .
1 26 T HE POS IT I ON OF W OMAN
e xample of the complete mate rnal family among
the Seri Indians on the south wes t coast of North
,
-
America now reduced to a single tribe Their

,
.
curious and interesting marriage custo ms have

been described by M cGee who visited the people to ,
repo rt on their customs for the American Gove rn

ment The Seri are probably the most primitive
.
tribe in the American continent At the time .
of Mr M cGee s visit they preserved the maternal

.
’
system in its e arly form and are therefore an ,
instructive e xample by which to estimate the

1
position of the women .
The tribe is divided into exogamous totem

clans Marriage is arranged exclusively by the
.
women The elder woman of the su i tor 5 family

.
’
carries the proposal to the girl s c lan mother If ’

.
thi s is ente rtained the question of marriage is

,
discussed at length by the matrons of the two c lans .
The girl herself is consulted ; a facal is erected for

her and after many deliberations the bridegroom is
, ,
p rovisionally received into the wife s clan for a year ’
under conditions of the most exacting character .
He rs expected to prove hi s worth ines s of a perma

nent relationshi p by demonstrating hi s abili ty as a
provider and by showing himse lf an implacable
,
foe to aliens He is compelled to support all the

.
fem al e r e latives of his bride s family by the products ’
of his skil l and industry in hunting and fishing for

one year There is also another provision of a very
.
curious nature The love r is permitted to share the

.
ya c al or sleeping
, r obe provided for the
-
prospective
,
1
The Beginnin g of Marri age A meri can A n thro ,
pologi s t, V ol I X p 376
.
,Also Rep B u r B thu X V I I 2 75
. . . .
, .
IN PR I M ITI VE SOC I E T Y 1 27
matron by her kinswomen not as a privileged ,
spouse but merely as a protective companion ; and

,
throughout this probationary time he is compelled

—
to maintain continence he must display the most
”
indubitable proof of his moral force .
Thi s test of the S eri lover must not mistakenly be

thought to be connected as might appear with the
, ,
modern idea of continence As is pointed out by

.
M cGee it arose out of the primitive sexual taboos

, ,
and is imposed on the young man as a test of his

strength to abstain from any sexual re lationships
outside the proscribed limits S uch a moral test.
may once have been common but seems to have ,
been lost except among the S eri tho ugh a curious

vestige appears in the anti nuptial treatment of the
-
bridegroom in the S alish t ribe The material test

,
.
is common among many peoples and must not be ,
confused with the later custom of payment for the

wife by presents given to her family S till t hi s Seri .
m arriage is one of the most curious I know among

any primitive peoples And the continence de
.
m anded from the bridegroom appears more extra

ordinary if we compare it with the freedom granted
to the bride . D urin g this period the always
dignified position occupied by the daughters of the
”
house culminates .Among other privileges she is
allowed to receive the most intimate attentions
from the clan fellows of the group
-
S he is the .
receiver of the supplies furnished by her lover ,
measuring his competence as would be husband -

.
Through his ene rgy she is enabled to dispense

largess with a lavish hand and thus to dignify her
,
clan and honour her spouse in the most e ff ective

way known to p rimitive life ; and at the same time
s he enj oys the imme as ur able moral stimulus of
realising she is the a r bite r of the fate of a man who
be comes a warrior or an outcast at her bidding and ,
through hi m of the future of two cla ns —she is

raised to a responsibili ty in bo th personal and
t ribal aff airs which albeit temporary is hardly
, ,
lower than that O f the warrior chief At the clo se .
of the year if all goes well the probation ends in a

, ,
feast provided by the love r who now becomes the ,
husband and finally ente rs his wife s facal as con

,
’
sort guest
-
His position is wholly subordinate
.
,
and without any authority whatever either over ,
his chi ldren or over the property In his mother s .

’
bu t he has r ights which seem to continue after hi s

,
marriage but in hi s wife s hut he has none

,
’
.
I have now collected togethe r with as much ,
e xactitude as I co u ld what is known of the maternal

,
fa mily in the Ame rican continents There are many .
tribes in which descent is reckoned through the

father and it would be bold to assert that these
,
have all passed through the mate rnal stage An .
examination of their customs shows in so me cas es , ,
survivals whi ch point to such conclusion ; among

,
othe r t ribes it seems p robable that the maternal clan

has not developed As ill ustrations of mother
.
powe r I claim the examples given speak for

,
themselves It may of course be urged that these

.
, ,
complete maternal families are exceptions and ,

Another curious fact which has not hi therto
,
received speci al notice though appar ently of con

,
s id erable inte rest is the p revailing feminine physio

,
g n o m y of the m al es
, at least of those of the no r thern
section If any one will take the t rouble to study
.
carefully a hundr ed or mo re good photographs of

males of pure blood he wil l find that two thirds if ,
not a greater proportion show femini ne faces The

, .
f u ll sign ificance of this fact is not apparent but it

,
seems to be ar to some extent upon the question of

”
the evolution of the race .
What this fact suggests is a problem to which it

is very difficult even to guess at an answer Does .
this lack of d iffe rentiation in the physiogn omy of the

Indians po int to something much deeper ? Are
the men really like the women ? S uch a conception
opens up conside rations of very gr eat significance .
S o far as I understand the matter it appears that

, ,
as well as the deep inhe rent differences between the

two sexes there are othe r di fferences due to diverg
,
ence in function It see ms probable that changes in

.
environment or in function ( as when one sex for ,
some reason or othe r performs the duties usually

,
undertaken by the other sex ) may alter or modify

,
the di ffe rences which tend to t hr ust the sexes apart .
I feel very sure that there can be changes in the

secondary sexual characters of the male and female .
This is sufficiently proved by many examples C an .
we then accept the theory that an environment

, , ,
I N PR I M ITI VE SOC I E T Y 31
’
which favours women s forceful function may modify
,
the infinitely complicated characters of sex which as

, ,
yet we so imperfectly unde rstand ? I do not know

,
with any certainty Yet I can see no other inter

.
p ret at i on ; and
, if I mistake not
,
it may be possible
in this way to cast a light on one of the most
di fficult problems with which we are faced to day-
.
CHA PT ER VI
THE MAT ER N A L F AM I LY AM O N G THE K HA SIS
T H ERE are perhaps no people among whom the

, ,
famil y in the full maternal form can be studied with

more advantage than the Khasi Hill tribes in the ,
no rth e ast of India This race has a special interest

-
.
as a people who in modern times have preserved

, ,
their independence and their ancestral customs

through many cent uries We find mother descent .
-
strictly practised combined with gr eat and even

,
extraordinary rights on the part of the women .
The isolation of the Khasis may account for this

conservatism but as will appear later there are
, , ,
other causes to expl ain the freedom and power of

the Khasi women We are fortunate in having a
.
fuller knowledge of the Khasi tribes than is common ,
of many primitive peoples Their institutions and .
inte resting domestic c ustoms have been carefully

noted by ethnologists and travellers and in all ,
accounts there is united testimony to the high

status of the women I will quote a statement of
.
S ir Charles Lyell which affi rms this fact very

1
,
strongly
Their social organisation presents one of the
1
In an I nt rod u ct i on t o The K hasi s b y P R G u rd on, . . .
This wor k , wri tt en by o ne who had a l on g an d int im at e

1 32
the children are remarkably pretty In both the .
sexes st rongly developed calves are conside red a

mark of beauty It is in te resting to note that the
.
men usually wear their hair long and when it is ,
cut short a single lock is prese rved at the back

, ,
which is called it ni u htrong the grandmother s ,

’
lock . In some dist ricts the men pull out the hairs
of the moustaches with the exception of a few hairs
,
on either side of the upper lip In characte r these .
people are independent simple tru thful and st rai ght , ,
forward ; cheerful in disposition ; and light h earted -
by nature They thoroughly appreciate a j oke

.
,
especially the women Among the men there is .
some drunkenness but not among the women , ,
though they are the chief dist illers of spirits M en .
and women work together usually at the same ,
occupations We learn t hat the K hasis have an

.
unusual love of nat ure and are fond of music ; thus ,
they have names for birds and flowers also for ,
many butterflies and moths These are t raits not .
usually found in the people of India .
There rs a point to note of special interest in their

language All the nouns have a masc ul ine and a
.
feminine gender and the feminine noun s immensely

,
predominate The sun is feminine the moon

.
,
masculine In the pronouns there is one form

.
only in the plural and that is feminine It may,

.
—
seem that these matters noted so briefly are —
unimportant ; but it is such little thi ngs that de
serve attentive study At least they se rve to show.
that the Khas is have reached a high level of primitive

IN PR I M I TI VE SOC I E T Y 1 35
culture ; and they indicate further the strong im

portance of the feminine idea which is the main ,
interest in our inquiry .
A few words must be said about the organisation

of the t ribes These tribes are formed in sections
.
—o i which the chief are the Khasi S ynteng and , ,
W ar Each section or tribe is divi ded into clans

.
and sub clans these ar e strictly exogamous To

-
.
marry within the clan is the greatest sin a Khasi

can commit This would explain the strict reckon
.
ing of descent through the mothers .
The Khasi clan grew from the family There is .
a sayi ng common among the people L ong j aid no ,
”
ka kynthei , From the woman sprang the t ribe .
All the clans trace their descent from ancestresses

re called K i Iwubei Tynrai
( grandmothers ) who a ,
literally grandmothers of the root 1 e the root of the

, , . .
tree of the clan In some clans the name of the

.
ancestress survives as for instance K yngas hou ni ng

, , , ,
”
the sweet one K a Iaw shu bde is the ancestress
.
of the S ynteng tribe and it is curious to note that

,
she is credited with having fir st introduced the art

of smelting iron S he is also said to have founded
.
1
a market in which she successfully traded in cattle .
It is hardly possible to exaggerate the esteem in

which the tribal ancestress is held ; she is so greatly
reverenced that she may truly be said to be deified .
In such worship rests the foundation of the deep

1
The K hasi s ,
pp
6 2 64 8 2 Al l t h e fact s I h av e i v en
.
, , . g
o f t h e K h asi s are t a en f rom M r k
Gu r d o n s w o r , u nl es s
’
. k
o t herwise st at ed .
1 36 THE POS ITI ON OF W OMA N
tribal piety K a Iawbei
. the fir st mother has , ,
the foremost place of honour by her side and acting ,
as her agent is U Su id Ni a her brother There is , .
another fact to show the honour in which the female

ideal is held The flat memorial stones set up to
.
perpetuate the memory of the dead are called after

the mothers of the clan whi le the standing stones
,
ranged behi nd them are dedicated to the male

kins men on the female side These table stones .
are excee dingly interesting They are exactly like .
the long stones and d olrnens which are found in

Brittany in Ireland in Galicia in S pain and other
, , ,
parts of Europe Is it po ssible that some of these

.
memorials whose history has been lost were also

, ,
set up to commemorate the mothers of tribes ?

But be t his as it may among the Khasis whe re
, ,
ancient custom and tradition have been preserved ,
goddesses are mo re important than gods Almost .
all the other deities to whom propitiation is o ffered

are female M ale personages also figure and among
.
,
them Thaulang the husband is revered

,
1
S till the , .
chief divinity rests in the goddesses ; the gods are

represented only in their relation to them The .
powers of sickness and death are all female and ,
these are most frequently wo rshipped Again the .

,
p rotectors of the household are goddesses I wish .
that I had space to write of their curious yet ,
1
An incant at ion us ed in ad d ress in t his god be ins g g
0 Fat her, Thau lang who has t enabled me t o be bo rn
, ,
g
who has t i v en m e m y st at u re and m y l if e
”
T his is v ery .
c ert ainproo f t hat t he m at ern al s ys t em am on t he K h as is g

has n o connect ion wi t h u ncert aint y of at ern it y p .
Nongkrem but also the mother of the S iems of
,
Nongkrem .
It must be noted that the S iems or rulers of

the states are always men They are chosen from .
’
the eldest sister s children Possibly the case of the .
High Priestess of Nongkrem who is the nominal ,
head of the state points to an ea rlier period of rule

,
by women ; but to d ay the tempo ral power is

delegated to one of her sons or nephews who be comes ,
the S iem I need not labo ur this question over

.
much ; it is actualities I wish to deal with As I .
have repeatedly said there is no sure ground for

,
beli evin g that the matern al system involves rule by

women This may have happened in some c as es
.
,
but I do not think that it can ever have been

co mmon I am very certain however of the error
.
, ,
in the view which accepts the subo rdination of

women as the co mmon condition among barbarous
peoples whereas there are indi cations and proofs
,
in all directions of a mo re or less strong assertive

ness on their part and always in the direction of
,
social unity and sexual regulation The fact that .
the maternal system res ulted in the limitation of

the freedom of the male members of the family is ,
in my opinion to be attributed to those po we rful

,
female qualities which exer cised an immense in

flu en ce on early societies Regarding what has been
.
said I think it cannot be denied that while individual

,
rights were of far more im poft ance to the males ,
the idea of the family and social rights we re in ,
their turn essentially feminine sentiments Thus

,
.
IN P RI M I T I VE SOC I E T Y 1 39
it was in the women s interest to consolidate the

’
family and by means of this their own power ; an d

,
they succeeded in doing so to an extraordinary

extent in primitive communities without help of ,
the maternal customs which as I have tried to

, ,
make Clear arose out of the conditions of the

,
primordial family and by the action of the united

mo thers If I am right then here is the primary
.
, ,
cause of the women s position of authority in the

’
communal maternal family .
I am ve ry certain of the rights such a svst em

conferred upo n women ; rights that are impossible
under the patriarchal family which involves the ,
subordination of the woman to her father first and

afterward to her husband In proof of this let us.
now consider marriage and divorce the laws of ,
inheritance and other customs of the Khasis And

, .
—
first we may note that polygamy the distinctive
t —
cus om of the patriarchs does not exist ; as M r .
Gurdon remarks such a practice would not be in

,
vogu e among a people who observe the matriarch

”
ate. This is the more remarkable as the Khasi
women conside rably outnumber the men In 1 90 1 .
there were 1 1 1 8 females to 1 0 0 0 males At the .
present time the people are monandrist s There .
are instances of men having wives other than those

they regularly marry but the practice is not com
,
mon S uch wives are called stolen wives and

.
,
their Children are said to be from the top i e , . .
from the branches of the clan and not the root .
In the War Country the Children of the stolen

wife enj oy an equal Share in the father s property ’
with the Children of the regular wife Polyandry .
is said to be pract ised but the fact is not mentioned

,
by Mr Gurdon ; in any case it can prevail only

.
among the poo rer sort with whom too it would , , ,
often seem to mean rather facili ty of divorce than

the simultaneous admission of plurality of husbands 1
.
The courtshi p customs of Khasi youths and

maidens are simple and beautif u l The young .
people meet at the dances in the spring time when -

,
the girls Choose their future husbands There is no .
practice among the K has is of exchange of daughters ;

and there is an ent ire absence of the patriarchal
idea of their women as property M arriage is a .
?
simple contract unaccompanied by any ceremony
,
After marriage the husband lives with his wife in

her mother s home Of late years a new custom
’
.
has arisen and now in the Khasi tribe when one

, ,
or two Children have been born and if the marri age ,
i s a happy one the couple frequently leave the

,
family home and set up housekeeping for them

,
selves When this is done husband and wife pool

.
,
their earn ings for the support of the family This .
is clearly a depart ure from the maternal marriage ,
a step in the direction of father right Among the -

.
Synt engs the pe ople who have most closely pre

,
served the customs of the matriarchate the husband ,
does not even go to live with his wife he only visits ,
her in her mother s home In Jow ay this rule is

’
.
1 Fis cher Tou r A s Soc Ben gal V ol I X Part II

,
. . .
, ,
.
, ,
p . 8 34 .
1
Dalt o n D escri pti ve E thnology of B engal p 5 7
, , . .
1 42 T HE POS ITI ON OF W OMAN
the Children Cherish a very strong aff ection for all ,
their sym pathi es and a ffection bind them to her and

her famil y .
The conditions of divorce vary in the separate

tribes Among the Khas is both parti es must agree
.
to the dissolution of the tie With the S ynteng

.
and War tribes such mutual consent is not neces sary ,
but the partner who C laims release from the other ,
wi thout his or her consent must pay compensation

, .
A woman ca nnot be divorced during pregnancy .
The form of divorce is simple among the Khasis

it consists of the exchange of fi ve cowri es This is .
done in the presence of witnesses and the ceremony ,
must take p lace in the open air Then a crier goes

.
around the village to proclaim the divorce using ,
the following wo rds
K aw —hear
oh village rs that —U and K have
,
been separated in the presence of the elde rs H ci .
thou oh young men canst go and make love to

, ,
K— for She is now unmarried and thou Oh maidens

—
, , ,
canst make love to U H ei there is no let or

”
hindrance from henceforth .
And here I would pause although it leads me a

,
little aside to make a point that to me seems to

,
be of special importance Obviously t hi s simple

.
divorce by mutual consent was made easy in its

wo r king by the maternal system The great dr aw .
back to the dissolution of the marriage tie in the

patriarchal fa mily is the e ffect it has on the lives
of the C hildren ; but in the maternal family such
IN PR I M I TI VE S OC I E T Y 1 43
evil does not exist for the children always live with
,
the mother and take her name B y saying this I .

,
do not wish to imply that I am necessarily recom

mending such a system but that it had its ad van
tages for the m
,
othe r and her Children I think cannot , ,
be denied Its failure arises as is evident from the

.
, ,
alien position of the father in relation to his children .
In the primitive maternal family the place of the

father to a great extent is filled by the maternal
, ,
uncl e Among the Khasis he is regarded in the

.
light of a father It is his duty to assist the mother

.
in the management of the family The husband is .
looked upon merely as u shong kha a begetter

1
,
.
Only by the later marriage custom when the wife ,
and children leave the home of her mother has the ,
father any recognised position in the home There .
”
is no gainsaying the fact writes M r Gurdon that , .
,
the husband is a stranger in the wife s home and ’
it is certain he can take no part in the rites and

ceremonies of his wife s family ’
.
The important status assigned to women becomes

clearer when we consider the laws of inheritance .
Daughte rs inherit not sons The youngest daughter

, .
is heiress to the family property but the other ,
daughters are entitled to a share on the mother s ’
death No man can possess property unless it is

.
self acquired Among the S ynteng such property

-
.
,
’
on the man s death goes to his mother This would .
seem to be t he primitive custom There is now a .
provision that if the wife undertakes not to re marry

,
-
1
The K hasi s ,
p . 81 .
1 44 T HE POS ITI ON OF W OMA N
she has half of her husband s property which de ’
scends to her youngest daughter In the Khasi .
states a man s property if acquired before hi s

’
marriage goes to his mother but what is gained

, ,
afterwards goes to the wife for the youngest ,
daughter Only in the War country do the sons

.
inherit from the father with the daughters but ,
something in addition is given to the youngest

daughter The family property always descends
.
in the female line For this reason daughters are

.
,
of mo re importance than sons A family without .
daughters dies out whi ch among the Khasis is the

,
greatest calamity as there is no one qualifi ed to

,
bury the dead and perform the re ligious rites .
Thus both the Khasis and the Synt engs have a plan
of adoption The male members of any family if
.
,
left without females are allowed to call in a young

,
girl from another family to perform the family

religious ceremonies She takes the place of the
.
youngest daughter and becomes the head of the

,
household S he inherits the ancestral property

. .
In the face of these facts it can hardly be denied

that mother right and mother power among the
- -
Khasis are still very much alive Here at least .
descent through the mother does involve power to

women and confers exceptional rights especially
, ,
as r egards inhe ritance I have already called

.
attention to the equa lity of the women with men

in the code of sexual mo rality This is so impor .
tant that it is wo rth while to follow it a little further .
That freedom in love carries with it domestic and

1 46 W OMAN IN PR IM IT I VE SOC IE T Y
however my purpose in this book to offer opinions of
,
my own on these problems of the relations of the

two sexes ; I prefer to leave the facts of the mother
age to speak for themselves Those whose eyes are
.
not blinded will not fail to see 1

.
1
Cha p m an Cat t has an art icle
M rs . p
in t he A ril n u m ber
of H arper s M ag az i ne on A Su rvi v al
’
o f Mat r ia rchy
”
.It
g i v es an acc o u nt o f her v is it t o t he M alay St at es and t he
,
p
fav o urable os it ion o f t he wom en u n d er t he m at ern al
c us t o ms . g
I hav e recei v ed a lett er from t he reat Am er ican
p g
c ham io n O f W o m en s R i hts in w hi ch s h e s t at es ho w
’
p g k
leas ed s he is t hat I am wr i t in t hi s boo on t he Mot h er
age . There are m an y
facts s he s ays
"
, , o f t he earl y
p ower o f women whi ch t he g
r eat world d oes not k
n ow
”
.
C H A P T ER V I I
F U RT H ER E XAM PL ES O F THE MAT ER NA L F AM I LY
P U RS U I N G our inquiry into the social organisation

of mother right an interesting example occurs
-
,
among the peoples of the M alay S tates where , ,
notwithstanding the centres of Hindu and M oslem

influence much has been retained of the maternal
,
system once universally prevalent The maternal .
—
,
marriage here known as the amb anak in which

,
el ,
the husband lives with the wife paying nothing to ,
the support of the family and occupying a sub

ordinate position may be taken as typical of the
,
former condition But among the tribes who have

.
.
come in contact with outside influences the custom

of the husband visiting the wife or residing in her ,
house is modified and in some cases has altogether

, ,
disappeared .
From a private correspondent a resident in the ,
M alay S tates I have received some interesting notes

,
about the present conditions of the native tribes

and the position of women In most of the M alay
.
States exogamo us matriarchy has in comparatively

modern times been superseded by feudalism (i e .
the pat riarchal rights of the father) But where the .
old customs survi ve the women are still to a large

,
1 47
1 48 THE POS I TI ON OF W OMAN
extent in control The h u sband goes to live in the
.
wife s village ; thus the women in each group are a

’
compact unity while the men are strange rs to each

,
othe r and enter as unorganised individuals This .
is the real basis of the women s power In other ’

.
tribes where the old c u stoms have changed the

, ,
women occupy a distin ctly inferior position and ,
un der the influence of Islam the idea of secluding

adult women has been for centuries spreading and
”
increas ing in force Here again clear proof is
.
, ,
shown of the maternal system exercising a direct

in fluence on the position of women And thi s .
statement is in agreement with Robertson S mith ,
“
who in writing of the maternal marriage says : And
—
, ,
it is re ma r kable that when both customs the

woman receiving her husband in her own hut and ,
the man takin g his wife to hi s—o ccur side by side

am ong the sam e people descent in the former case ,
is traced through the mother in the latter through ,
” 1
the father .
In its ancient form the maternal communal

family has notably pers isted among the Padang
Highlanders of S umatra These people live in .
village communities with long timber hoirses placed

,
in barrack like rows very similar to the communal

-
,
dwellings of the American Indians The houses are .
gay in appe arance and are adorned with carved and

,
coloured woodwork One dwelling will contain as

.
many as a hundred people who form a sa mandei ,

-
,
1 Marri age and K i ns hi p i n E arly A rabi a ,

p .
74 . See als o
M ars d en Hi story of S u matra p 2 2 5
, , . .
whose authority is great This power is dependent .
on the inheritance ; as is the descent so is the pro ,
perty and its t ransmission is arranged for the benefit

,
of the maternal li neage For thi s reason daughters .
are preferred rather than sons .
This account of the Padang M alays may be

s upplemented by the Jesuit missionary De M ailla 5
’
description of the maternal marriage in the Island

of Formosa 1
S peaking of this marriage M cGee
.
,
says : If it had received the notice it deserves it ,
mi ght long ago have p laced the study of maternal

ins titutions on a sounder basis .
The Formosan youth wishing to m arr makes

music day by day at the maid 5 door till ywillin g ’
, ,
she comes out to him and when the y are agreed , ,
the parents are told and the marr i age feast i s,

’
prepared in the bride s house whence the bride ,
O om returns no more to his fathe r regar ding his ,
ather in law 5 house as his own and himself as the

’
- -
,
support of it while hi s own father 5 ho use rs no more

,
’
to him than 111 Euro pe the bride s home 15 henceforth ’
to her when she qu i ts it to live with her hus band .
Thus the Fo rmosans set no sto re on sons but aspire ,
to have daughters who procure them sons ln law to

,
- -
”
become the support of their old age .
It will be noted that here the house is spoken of as

’
the father s and not as belonging to the mother
, .
The bridegroom is the suitor and we see the creeping ,
in of property co nsiderations always associated with

1
Lettres ede fi an tes et cu ri eu x , V ol X V I I I ,
. p .
4 4 1 , c o ied p
in D unhald e D escription de la
, Clu ne, V ol I , . p 1 66 , an d
.
C it ed b y M cGee .
IN PR I M IT I VE SOC I E T Y 15 1
the rise of fathe r right Th ough the husband has

-
.
as yet no recognised position and lives in the wife s ’
home he is valued for his service to his father in

,
-
law clearly a step in the direction of property

,
assertion Among many of the M alay hill tribes

.
of Formosa the maternal system is dying out ,
though the old law forbidding marriage within the

clan remains in force .
These changes must be expected wherever the

transition towards father right has begun ; the -
older forms of courtship and marriage so favourable ,
to the woman are replaced by patriarchal customs

, .
One or two curious examples of primitive courtship ,
in which the initiative is taken entirely by the girl

may be noted here Among the Garos tribe it is not
.
only the privilege but the duty of the girl to select

,
her lover while an infringement of this rule is

,
severely and summarily punished Any declar ation .
made on the part of the young man is regarded as an

insult to the whole mahdri (motherhood ) to which
the gir l belongs a stain only to be expiated by
,
liberal presents made at the expense of the mahari

’
of the over forward lover The marriage customs

-
.
are equally curious On the morning of the wedding

.
a ceremony very similar to capture takes place only ,
it is the bridegroom who is abducted He pretends .
to be unwill ing and runs away and hides but he

.
,
is caught by the friends of the bride Then he is .
taken by force weeping as he goes in spite of the

, ,
resistance and counterfeited grief of his parents and

’
friends to the bride s house where he takes up his
, ,
residence with his mothe r in law It is instructive - -
.
to find that these marriages are us ually successful .
Although divorce is easy it is not frequent The , .
Garos wi ll not h as tily make engagements be cause , ,
when they do make them they intend to keep ,
” 1
them .
In Par aguay we are told the women are generally

, ,
endowed with stronger passions than the men and ,
are allowed to make the proposals ?

So also among
the Ahit as of the Phili ppine Islands where if her , ,
clan parents will not consent to a love match the

-
gir l seizes the young man by the hair carries him ,
o ff and declares she has run away with him In

, .
such a case it appears the marriage is held to be

valid whether the parents consent or not ?
A
similar custom of a gentler character is practised ,
by the Tarrahum ari Indians of Northern M exico ,
among whom according to L um bolt z the maiden

, ,
is a pers istent wooer employing a repertoire o f

really exquisite love songs to soften the heart of a
r eluctant swain 4
Again in New Guinea where .
, ,
the women held a very independent position the ,
girl is always regarded as the seducer Women .
1
D alt on D escri pti ve E thnology of B en gal p 6 4 1 42
p
. .
, , ,
The Mat riarchal Theory N i neteenth

’
See also T y lor , ,
Centu ry J u ly 1 8 9 6 p 8 9
, ,
. .
1
M oo re M arri age C u s toms
,
. Modes of C ou rts hip , et c
261 R engger N atu r eschi chte der S angelli ere von g
P
.
,
1 1 c it ed b y W es t erm ar op ci t 15 8 k p
a
ar u ay , . . . .
Pri miti v e Marria e an art icle in

.
, ,
3
eeler ,
”
g ,
g
Pro ress 1 8 8 5“ ,
1 28 ,
p . .
4
M c Gee , The Be inn in o f Marr ia e , g
A meri can g g
A n thropolo i s t, V ol Ig . X .
15 4 THE PO S ITION OF WOMAN
The Pelew Islanders of the South Sea have customs
in many respects the same as those of the Khasi
t ribes They preserv e strict maternal descent
.
,
and like the Khasis the deities of all the clans are ,
goddes ses The life and social habits of the people

.
have been described by Ku bary a careful and ,
sympathetic observer for long resident in the ,
island 1
The tribes are di vided into exogamous
.
clans and intermarriage between any relations on

,
the mother s side is unlawful These clans are

’
.
grouped together in villages and the life is of a

communal character Each village consists of .
about a score of clans and forms with its lands a ,
petty independent state .
Again we find the maternal system intimately

connected wi th religious ideas and it is interesting ,
to recall what was said by B achofen : Whe rever

gyn aecocracy meets us the mystery of religion is
bound up with it and lends to motherhood an in ,
corporation in some di vinity Among these .
Islanders every family traces its descent from a

woman—the co mmon mother of the clan And .
for this reason the members worship a goddess and

not a god In the different states there are besides
.
,
other special deities usually a goddess and a god , ,
but as thes e are held to be derived di rectly from a

household goddess it is evident that here as among
-
, ,
1
D i e soci alen E i nr i chtu ngen der P elauer D ie R eli gi on .
,
de P elau er M r F raz er Golden B ou gh Part I V A doni s

. .
, , , ,
A tti s O si r i s pp 38 7 et s eq
, ,
s u m m aris es t he acco u nt o f
. .
,
K u b ary See al so W ait z Gerl an d V ol V Part II p 1 0 6

.
-
,
.
, ,
.
et s eq an d an acco un t o f t h e Pelews g i v en b y Y mer

.
, .
IN PRI M IT IVE S O C IETY 15 5-
the Khasis goddesses are older than the gods

,
.
This is shown also by the names of the goddesses .
There is another fact of interest some women are

reputed to be the wives of the gods they are called ,
Amalali eys and have a great honour paid to them ,
while their children pass for the o ffspring of the

gods .
The reverence paid to the ancestral goddesses is

explained by Mr Ku bary as arising from the im
.
portance of women in the clans .
The existence of the clan depends entirely on the

life of the women and not at all on the life of the
,
men If the women survive it is no matter though

.
,
eve ry man in the clan should perish for the women ,
wi ll as usual marry men of another clan and their

, , ,
o ffspring will inherit their mother s clan and thereby ’
prolong its existence W hereas if the women of the

.
clan die out the clan necessarily becomes extinct ,
even if every man in it should survive ; for the men

m ust as usual marry women of another clan and
, , ,
their o ffspring will inherit their mother s clan and ’
not the clan of the father which accordingly with , ,
the death of the father is wiped off the community

, .
I quote this passage because it s hows so clearly

what I am claiming that descent through the ,
mother under the condition of strict exogamy

, ,
conferred a very marked distinction on the female

members of the clan whose existence depended on
,
them ; this cannot possibly have failed to act

favourably on their position I may note too in .
, ,
passing the fallacy of M r M cLennan s View that

, .
’
15 6 T HE PO S IT ION OF WO M AN
polyandry (which it will be remembered he held
, ,
to have been developed from and connected with

mother des cent ) arose as a resul t of female in
-
fan t icide . S uch a practice is clearly impossible in

clans whose existence depends on the life of its
female members daughters am ong them are pri zed
more highly than sons .
The case we are now examining affo r ds the

strongest confirmation of the honour paid to women
un der the strict maternal system Take alone the .
titles that these Pelew islanders give to their women ,
as Adhalal a p elu mothers of the land and Ad

, ,
halcil a blay mothers of the clan

, The testimony
of those who know the ir customs is that the women
enj oy complete eq u ality with the men in every
res pect Mr Ku bary affirms the p redominance of
. .
female influence in all the social life of the clan .
He asserts wi thout qual ification that the women

, ,
bo th politically and socially enj oy a position superior

to that of the men The eldest women in the clans
.
exercise the most decisive influence in the conduct

of affairs ; the head men do nothing without full
consultation with them and their power extends to
,
a ffairs of state and even to foreign politics No .
chief would venture to come to a decision without

the app roval of the mothers of the fa mil ies As .
one consequence of this power the women have clubs

of association similar to the clubs of men that are
common in so many tribes A curio u s privilege
.
given to women is recorded The women have an

unl imited privilege of striking fining or if it be
, ,
15 8 T HE PO S IT ION OF WOMAN
under marriage conditions much less favourable
than the complete maternal form The Pelew .
women have another source of power ; their position

has an industrial as well as a kins hip basis In .
this island the people subsist mainl y on the produce

of their taro fields and the cultivation of this their
, ,
staple foo d is carried out by the women alone And

,
.
t his identification of women with the industrial

process has without doubt contributed materially
to the predominance of female influence on the social
life of the people Whe rever the control over the
.
means of production is in the hands of women we ,
find them exercising influence and even authority .
Among these islanders the women do not merely

bestow life on the people they also work to obtain
,
that which is most es sential for the preservation of

life and therefore they are called mothers of the
,
” 1
land .Now considering this honour paid to the
,
Pelew women it is clearly impossible to regard their

,
work in cultivating the taro as a sign of their sub

ordi nate position in the social order The facts of .
primitive life are often mistaken This is a question .
to which I shall refer again in a later chapter .
In the same way among the Pani Kotches tribes ,
of Bengal we find the women in a privileged posi

,
tion due to their greater industrial activity and

,
in telligence .
It is the Women s busin ess to dig the soil

’
to sow and plant as well as to spin weave and

, ,
brew bee r ; they refuse no task and leave only the ,
1
Fra z er , p
o . ci t .
, p .
38 0 .
IN PRI M IT IVE S O C IETY 15 9
coarsest labour to the men The mother of the .
family marries her daughte r at an early age ; at

the feast of betrothal she dispenses half as much
again to the bride as to the bridegroom elect As -
.
for the grown u p girls and the widows they know

-
,
very well how to find husbands ; the wealthy never

lack p artne rs The chosen one goes to reside with
.
his mother in law who both reigns and governs

- -
, ,
with her daughte r for prime minister If the .
consort permits himself to incur expenses without

special authorisation he must meet them as best
,
he can Fathers of families have been known to be

.
sold as slaves the wives refusing to pay the penalties

,
they incurred Unde r these circumstances it was

.
,
” 1
lawful for them to marry again .
Here as among the Pelew islanders special

, ,
industrial conditions are combined W ith the maternal

system and as a result we find what may perhaps
, , ,
be termed an economic matriarchy Another .
cause of authority quite as powerful is the posses

, ,
sion by women of inherited property Among .
barbarous peoples the impo rtance of this is not so

great but where mother descent has for any reason
,
-
, ,
been maintained up to a time when individual

possession has been developed and property is
large we meet with a remarkable
, pe cuniary
matriarchate based on the women holding the
,
magic power of money .
An example may be found in the interesting

Touaregs of the S ahara a race very far advanced ,
in civilisation who even at the present day have

, , ,
1
Ho d gs on j ou rnal of A s i ati c S oci ety of B engal 1 8 4 7
, ,
( D alt on ) .
1 60 THE PO S IT ION OF WOMAN
preserved their independence and many of their
ancient cus toms Among them all relationship is
.
still maternal and confers both rank and inhe ritance .
”
The child follows the blood of the mothe r and ,
the son of a slave or serf father and a noble woman

”
is noble It is the womb which dyes the child
.
,
the To ua regs say in their primitive langu age 1

All .
property descends only through the mothe r and by ,
means of accumulation the greatest part of the

fort une of the co mmunity is in the hands of women .
This is the real basis of the women s power Abs o

’
.
lute m istress o f her fort une her actions and her , ,
chi ldren who belong to her and be ar her name the

, ,
Ta rgui woman goes where she will and exercises a

real authority The unusual position of the wife
.
is significantly in d icated by the fact that although ,
polygamy is pe rmitted by the law she practicall y ,
enforces monogamy for the conditions of divorce are,
so favourable for a woman that she can at on ce

separate from a husband who attempts to give her
a rival Again the initiative in courtship is taken
.
by the woman who chooses from her s u itors the

,
?
one whom she herself prefers
It is interesting to note that the Targui women
know how to read and write in greater numbers
than the men D uveyrier states that to them is due
.
the prese rvation of the ancient Libyan and Berber

writings ?
Leavin g domestic work to their slaves ,
the Ta rgui ladies occupy themselves with reading ,
1
D u v ey ri er ,
g
Touar e du N or d ,
p .
337 cl s eq .
D i e S ahara 1 81
,
pp .
, 209 , 2 34 .
3 Ibi d .
,
p .
38 7 .
1 62 THE PO S IT ION OF WO MAN
verses in his praise and wishes for his good fortune .
Her fri end may without being censur ed cut the

, ,
name of the lady on the rocks or chant her virtues .
Friends of di ffe rent sexes say the Toua regs are ,

’
for the eyes and heart and not for the bed o nl y as , ,
among the Arabs 1

Letourneau in quoting these
.
’
passages from D uveyrie r makes the following ,
comment S uch customs as these indi cate delicate

instincts which are absolutely foreign to the Arabs
, .
They strongly remind us of the times of our southern

troubado urs and of the cou rs d amou r which were
’
” 2
the quintessence of chivalry .
The fo regoing example is exceedingly inte restin g ;

it shows women holding the position that as a rule
belongs to men and is thus worthy of most careful
,
study but at the same time we must guard against

,
accordi ng it a gene ral value which it does not possess .
S uch a case is exceptional though it by no means ,
stands alone and the social position of Ta rgui women

,
is analogo us to that of the women of ancient Egypt .
It is important to note that their great in dependence

arose through the persistence of maternal descent ,
and co ul d not have been maintained apart from that

system which placed in their hands the strong power
,
of wealth Here then is ce rtain proof of the

.
, ,
favourable influence mothe r descent may exercise -
on the status of women It is be cause of thi s I have .
brought forward thi s example of the Targui women .
Enough has now been said I have examined .
the institution of the maternal family both in the ,
1
D u v y ri er p
o ci t p 2
4 9
80 —
. . . .
, ,
1
Let ou rn eau ,
The E volu ti on o f Marri age ,
pp . 1 1 81 .
IN PR I MIT IVE S O C IETY 1 63
early communal stage and also under later social

conditions whe re in certain cases mother descent
, , ,
-
has been maintained In all the examples cited I

.
have given the marriage customs and domestic

habits of the people as they are testified to by
authorities whose records cannot be questioned .
M any similar examples it may be said might be

, ,
brought forward from other races and the proof ,
of mother right and mother power greatly strengt h

- -
ened thereby There is however so much similarity

.
, ,
in the maternal family so much correspondence in

,
the marriage forms and social habits prevailin g

among races widely separated that the points of ,
di fference are little in comparison with those they

have in common M y obj ect is not so much to
.
exhaust the subj ect as to bring into relief the radical

differences between the maternal communal clan ,
with its social life centred around the mothers and ,
the opposite patriar chal fo rm in which the solitary

family is founded on the individual fathe r I hold .
that othe r conditions being equal the one system is

, ,
favourable to the autho rity of women the other to '

,
the authority of men The facts which have been

.
cited are I submit amply sufli cient to support this

, ,
V l eW .
We have seen that the life of the maternal clan is

—
dependent on the women and not upon the men ;
we have noted that the inheritance of the family
name and the family property passing through the
women adds considerably to their impo rtance and ,
that daughters are preferred to sons We have .
found women the organisers of the households the ,

guardians of the household stores and the dis ,
t ribu t ors of food under a social organisation that

may be termed a communal matriarchy M ore .
import ant than all else we have noted the remarkable

,
freedom of women in the sexual relationships ; in

courtship they are permitted to take the active
part ; in marriage their position is one of such power
that sometimes they are able to impose the form
, ,
of the marriage ; in divorce they enj oy equal and ,
even superio r ri ghts of separation ; moreover they

, ,
are always the owners and controllers of the children .
Nor is the influence of women restricted to the

domestic sphere We have foun d them the advis ers
.
,
and in some cases the dictato rs in the social organisa

,
tion under the headmen of the clan Then we .
e xamined the cases in which the women s power has ’
an industrial as well as a kinshi p basis and have ,
”
proved the e x istence of an economic matriarchy .
And further even than this we have fo und women

,
the sole possesso rs of accumulated wealth and noted ,
that under the favourable conditions of such a

,
”
pecuniary matriarchy they are able to obtain a
,
position in learning and the arts excelling that of

the men We have even seen goddesses set above
.
the gods and women worshipped as deities

, .
Now I submit to the j udgment of my readers

what do these examples of mother right show if not
-
,
that broadly speaking women were the dominant

, ,
force in this stage of the fa mily No doubt too .
much importance may be attached to the idea of

women ruling This is an erro r I have tried to
.
guard against M y aim throughout has been to

.
C HAPTER VII I
MO TH R R I GHT
E -
C U ST O M S AN D THE T RAN SI T I O N TO
FATHER RI GHT-
E N D EAVO U R has been made in the previous

chapters to present the case for mother right as -
clearly and concisely as possible The point we .
have now reached is this while mother right does -
not constitute or make ne cessary rule by women ,
under t hat system they enj oy considerable power as

the res u lt ( 1 ) of their organised position under the
maternal marriage among their own clan kindred -
,
( )
2 of their importance to the male members of the
clan as the transmitters and holders of property .
It is necessary to remember the close connection

between these mother right customs and the com
-
m un al clan which was a free association for mutual

,
protection This is a point of much interest As

. .
we have seen the undivided family of the clan could

,
be maintained only by descent through the mothers ,
since its existence depended on its power to retain

and protect all its members In this way it de .
stroyed the solitary family by its opposition to the

,
authority and will of the husband and fathe r .
These conclusions wi ll be strengthened as we

continue our examination of mother right customs -
1 66
WOMAN IN PRI M IT IVE S O C IETY 1 67
as we shall fin d them in all parts of the world I .
must select a few examples only and describe them

ve ry briefly not because these cases o ffe r less
,
interest than the complete maternal families already

examined but because of the length to which this
,
part of my inquiry is rapidly growing The essential .
fact to establish is the prevalence of mother descent -
as a probable unive rsal stage in the past history of

mankind and then to show the causes which by
, ,
undermining the dominion of the maternal clan led ,
to the adoption of father right and the re establish

- -
ment of the pat riar chal family .
Let us begin with Aust ralia where the aboriginal

,
population is in a mo re primitive condition than any

other r ace whose i nstitutions have been investigated .
I can notice a few facts only from the harvest of

information brought together by anthropologists
and travellers The tribes are grouped into exo
.
g a m ou s sub divisions
-
,and each group has its own
land from which it takes a local name Each group .
wanders about on its own territo ry in order to hunt

game and collect roots sometimes in detached
,
families and less often in larger hordes for there

, , ,
seems to be a tendency to local isolation A .
remarkable feature of the social o rganisation is found

in the more advanced tribes where in addition to
, ,
the division into clans the group is divided into

, (
male and female classes All the members of such

.
clans regard themselves as kinsmen or brothers and ,
sisters ; they have the same totem mar k and are

bound to protect each other The totem bond is
.
stronger than any blood tie while the sex totems ,
are even more sacr ed than the clan totems .
M uch confusion has arisen out of the attempts to

explain the Australian system ; and for long the
close totem kinship was supposed to a fford evidence
of group m arriage by which a man of one clan was
,
held to have sexual rights over all the women in

another clan But further insight into their customs
.
has proved the error of such a view which arose ,
from a misunde rstanding of the terms of relationship

used among the tribes Nowhere is marriage bound
.
by more severe laws ; death is the penalty for sexual

intercourse with a person of a forbidden clan An d .
it is certain that there is no evi dence at all of com

mu nis m in wives 1
.
A system of taboos is very strongly established ,
and as we should expect the women appear to be

most active in maintain ing these sexual separations .
If a man even by mistake kills the sex totem of the

, ,
-
women they are as much enraged as if it were one

,
of their own children and they will turn and attack

,
hi m with their long poles .
In Australia it is easy to recognise a very early

stage in human society The organisation of the .
family group into the clan is still taking place .
M oreover the most primitive patriarchal con ditions

,
have not greatly changed for the males are great ,
individualists and cannot readily su ffer the rights

of others than themselves M other right can hardly .
-
be said to exist and the position of women is low

, .
1
See W es t erm arck , o p
. ci t . pp .
5 4 5 6
- .
1 70 THE PO S IT ION OF WO M A N
It is certainl y difi cult to decide on the priority
of thi s or that custom But what is signifi cant is
.
that in Aust ralia the tribes which maintain the male

line of descent must be as signed to the lowest stage
of development The rights established by marriage
.
among them are less clearly defin ed and the use of ,
the totem marks with the sexual taboos arising

,
from them are less developed Everything tends

, .
to show that clan organisation and union in peace

have arisen with mother descent which cannot thus
-
,
be regarded as a survival from the ea rlier o rder but

—
,
as a later development a step forward in progress

an d social regulation .
I take th is as being exceedingly important : it

serves to establi sh what it has been my purpose to
show that in the first stage the family was patri
,
archal small hostile groups living unde r the j ealo u s

-
authority of the fathe rs ; and that only as advance

ment came did the maternal clan develop since it ,
arose through a community of purpose binding all

its members in peace and thereby control ling the
warring individual i nterests The re asons for
.
mother descent have been altogether misunderstood

-
by those who regard it as the earliest phase of the

family and co nnect the c ustom with se x ual di so rder
,
and uncertainty of paternity In all cases the clan

.
system shows a marked organisation with a much ,
stronger cohesion than is possible in the restricted

family which is held together by the force of the
,
father It was within the clan that the rights of the

.
father and hus band were endangered : he lost his

IN PRIMIT IVE S O C IETY 1 71
position as supreme head of the family and be came

,
an alien member in a free association where his

position was strictly defined The incorporation
.
of the family into the clan arose through the struggle

for existence forcing it into association ; it was the
subordinate position of the husband under such a
system which finally made the women the rulers of
the household If we regard the social conditions
.
of the maternal system as the first stage of develop .
me n t they are as di fficult to understand as they

,
become intelligible when we consider it as a later and

benefi cent phase in the growth of society .
This then I claim as the chief good of the maternal

, ,
system As I see it each advance in progress rests

.
,
on the conquest of sexual distrusts and fi erceness

forcing into isolation These j ealous and odious
.
monopolist instincts have been the bane of humanity .
Each race must inevitably in the end outlive them ;

they are the surviving relics of the ape and the tiger .
They arise out of that self concentration and in

-
tensity of animalism that binds the hands of men

and women from taking their inheritance The .
brute in us still resents association Am I wrong

.
in connecting this individual monopolist idea of

M y power M y right with the paternal as opposed
to the maternal family ? At any rate I find it
absent in the communal clan grouped around the
mothers where the enlarged family makes common
,
cause and life is lived by all for and with each other .
An instructive example of the j oint maternal

family is furnished by the Na irs of M alabar where ,
we see a very late development of the clan system .
The family group includes many allied families who ,
live together in large commun al houses and possess

eve rything in common There is common tenure of.
land over which the eldest male member of the

,
community presides ; while the mo ther and after ,
her death the eldest daughter is the ruler in the ,
household It is impossible to give the details of

.
their curious conj ugal customs The men do not .
marry but frequent other houses as lovers without

, ,
ceasing to live at home and without being in any ,
way detached from the matern al family There is .

,
however a symbolic marriage for every girl by a

, ,
rite known as tyi ng the tali but this marriage

serves the purpose only of initiation and the couple ,
separate after one day When thus prepared for .
marriage a Na ir gir l chooses her lovers and any

, ,
number of unions may be entered upon without any

restrictions other than the strict prohibitions relative
to caste and tribe These later marriages unlike
.
,
the solemn initial rite have no ceremony connected

,
with them and are ente red into freely at the will of
,
1
the woman and her family .
Now if we rega rd these customs in the light of

,
what has a lready been established it is clear that ,
they cannot be regarded as the first stage in the

maternal family S uch a view is entirely to mistake
.
the facts The Na irs are in no r espect a people of

.
1
Starck e s Pri mi ti ve
’
F ami ly pp 85 -
88 L et ou rneau
pp 8 —8
. .
, ,
E volu ti on of M arri a e g , . 0 1 , 3 1 1 -
31 2 . Hart lan d ,
y
Pri m i ti ve Patern i t V ol ,
. I pp 2 69
, .
,
288 .
1 74 T HE PO S ITION OF WOMAN
distinction between the restricted famil y and the
communal clan The clan as a confederation of
.
members was opposed to the family whose inte rests

were necessarily pe rsonal and selfish S uch com .
mu nism to some may appe ar strange at so early a

,
stage of primitive cultures yet as I have mo re , ,
than once pointed out it was a pe rfectly natural

,
development ; it arose t hrough the fierce struggle

f or ex istence forcing the primitive hostile groups
,
to expand and unite wi th one another for mutual

protection S uch conditions of primitive socialism
.
were spec iall y favourable for women As I have .
again and agai n affir med the collective motive was

,
more conside red by the mothers and must be sought ,
in the organisation of the maternal clan But since .
individual desires can never be wholly subdued and ,
the male nature is ever directed towards self asser -
tion the clan orga nised on the rights of the mothers

, , ,
had always to contend with an opposing fo rce .
At one stage the clan was able to abso rb the family ,
but only under exceptional conditions could such a

system be maintain ed The social o rganisation of
.
the clan was inevitably broken up as society ad

vanced .With greate r security of life the individual
interests reasserted their power and this undermined,
the do minion of the mother .
To bring these facts home we must now consider

,
some further examples of mother right in order to -

,
show how closely these customs are connected with

the conditions of the maternal familiar clan .
The Yaos of Africa have what may be regarded

as a matri archal organisation Kinship is reckoned .
and prope rty is inherited through the mother .
Wh en a man marries he is expected to live in his ,
wife s village and his first conj ugal duties are to

’
build a house for her and hoe a garden for her ,
mother This gives the woman a very important

.
po sition and it is she and not the man who usually

, , ,
1
proposes marriage .
In Africa descent through the mother is the rule ,
though there are exceptions and these are increasing , .
The amusing account given by M iss Kingsley of 2
Joseph a member of the Batu tribe in French

,
C ongo strikingly illustrates the prevalence of the

,
custom When asked by a French ofli cial to furnish

.
his own name and the name of his father Joseph ,
was wholly nonplussed M y fader " he said . .
Who my fader ? Then he gave the name of his

mother The case is the same among the negroes
. .
The Fanti of the Gold C oast may be taken as typical .
Among them an intensity of a ffection (accounted for

partly by the fact that the mothers have exclusive
care of the children ) is felt for the mother while the ,
father is almost disregarded as a parent n ot wit h ,

:
standing the fact that he may be a wealthy and

powerful man The practice of the W amoim ia.
,
where the son of a sister is preferred in legacies ,

’
because a man s own son is only the son of hi s
wife is typical The Bush husband does not live
, .
1
Alice W ern er , O ur Su bj ect R aces , N ati on al R eformer,
Au g . 8 9 7,
1 p 1 69
. .
1
Travels, p 1 09
. .
1 76 THE PO S ITION OF WO M AN
with his wife and often has wives in different ,
1
places .
In Africa the clan system is firmly estab lished ,
which explains the prevalence of mother descent -

.
Women on the whole take an important position

, , ,
and here as e lsewhere their inheritance of property

, ,
enables them to maintain their equality with their

husbands Individual possession of wealth is
.
allowed but a married man usually cannot dis pose

,
of any prope rty unl ess his wife agrees and she acts ,
as the representative of the c hildren s claims upo n ’
the father The privilege that according to Laing

.
, ,
the Soulima women have of leaving their husbands ,
when they please is also proo f o f the maternal ,
customs ?
M oreover among some tribes the in , ,
flu ence of the mothers as the heads of families ex

tends to the coun cils of state ; it is even said that
the chiefs do not decide anything without their
?
consent
M other right is still in force in many parts of
-
India though owing to the influence of B rahminism

,
on the aboriginal tribes the examples of the maternal

fa mily are fewer than might be expected Among .
the once powerful Koochs the women own all the

property whi ch is inherited from mother to daughter
, .
The husband lives with his wife and her mother and , ,
1
Li ppert ,
K ul tu r g V ol II ,
es chi chte, et c 5 7
. H,art la n
. d p . .
,
P ri mi ti ve Pa terni ty V ol I pp
2 74 2 8 6
—
. . .
, , ,
1 Le t ou rneau , pp .
30 6 30 7 ; c it in Lain g
Tr avel s i n g ,
W estern A fri ca .
3
Gi rau d - Teu lon , L es or i gi n es du m ar i a g e et de l a fam i lle
,
pp . 21 5 et seq .
woman s kindred still curbin g the rights of the
’
husband .
The existence of mother descent among the -
peoples of Western As ia has been ascertained with

regard to some ancient tribes ; but I may pass these
over as they offer no points of special interest
,
.
I must however refer b riefly to the evidence brought

, ,
forward by the late Prof Rober t son S mith of 1

.
mother right in ancient Arabia We find a decisive

-
.
example of its favourable influence on the position

of women in the custom of beena marriage Under .
this maternal form the wife was not only freed from
,
any subj ection involved by the payment of a bride

price in the form of compulsory service or of gifts to
her kindred ( which always places her mo re or
less under authority ) but she was the owner of ,
the tent and the hous ehold property and thus ,
enj oyed the li berty which ownership always entails .
This explains how she was able to free herself at

pleas ure from her husband who was really noth ing ,
but a tempo ra ry lover Ibn Batua even in the .

,
fourteenth century found that the women of Z ebid

we re perfectly ready to marry strangers The .
husband might depart when he pleased but his ,
wife in that case could never be induced to follow

him S ne bade him a friendly adieu and took upon
.
herself the whole charge of any children of the

marri age The women in J ahi liya had the right to
.
dismiss their husbands and the form of dismissal ,
1
Ki n s hi p an d M arri a g e in E a r ly A r abi a . See als o
Bart on S em i ti c O
,
r i gi n s
.
IN PRI M ITIVE S O C IETY 1 79
was this If they lived in a tent they turned it

r ound ,
so that if the door faced east it now faced
west and when the man saw this he knew he was
, ,
dismissed and did not enter The tent belonged .
to the woman : the hus band was received there ,
and at her good pleasure We find many cases of

.
becu a marriage among widely di fferent peoples .
Frazer cites an interesting example among the

1
tribes on the north frontier of Abyssinia partially ,
S emitic peoples not yet under the influence of

,
Islam who preserve a maternal marriage closely

,
resembling the becua form but have as well a ,
purchase marriage by which a wife is acquired by

,
the payment of a bride price and becomes the -
property of her husband .
A very curious form of conj ugal contract is re

corded among the Hassanyeh Arabs of the White
Nile whe re the wife passed by contract for a portion
,
of her time only unde r the authority of her husband .
It illust rates in a striking way the conflict in marriage

between the old rights of the woman and the rising
power of the husband .
When the parents of the man and the woman

meet to settle the price of the woman the price ,
depends on how many days in the week the marriage

tie is to be st rictly obse r ved The woman s mother.
’
first of all proposes that taking eve rything into

,
consideration with due regard to the feelings of the

,
family she could not think of binding her dau gh

,
t er to a due observance of that chastity which
1
A cademy ,
March 2 7, 1 8 86 .
180 THE PO S ITION OF WO M AN
m at rim ony is expe cted to command for more than two
days in the week After a great deal of apparently
.
angry discussion an d the promise on the part of the

,
relations of the man to pay more it is arranged that ,
the ma rriage shall hold good as is customa ry among ,
the first fa m ilies of the tribe for four days in the ,
week vi z M onday Tuesday Wednesday and

, .
, ,
Thursday and in compliance with old established

,
cus tom the marriage rites during the three remain

,
ing days shall not be insisted on during which days ,
the bride shall be pe rfectly free to act as she may

think proper either by adhe ring to her husband and
,
home or by enj oying her f reedom and independence

,
” 1
from all observance of matrimonial obligations .
A f urther striking example of mother right is -
furnished by the M ariana Islands where the position ,
of women was distinctly superior .
Even when the man had contributed an equal

share of property on marriage the wife dictated ,
everything and the man could undertake nothing

,
without her approval ; but if the woman committed

an o ffence the man was held responsible and suffe red
,
the punishment The women could speak in the

.
assembly ; they held property and if a woman asked ,
anything of a man he gave it up without a murmur ,

.
If a wife was unfaithful the husband could send her ,
home keep her property and kill the adulte rer ; but
, ,
if the man was guilty or even suspected of the same

offence the women of the neighbourhood destroyed
,
his house and all his visible property and the owne r ,
was fortun ate if he escaped with a whole skin ; and
S pen cer D escri pti ve S oci ology V o l

1
, , . V p 8
, .
,
c it in g
Pet heric k Egypt the S ou dan and C entral
, , ,
A fri ca pp
,
. 1 40
1 4 1 .
182 THE PO S ITION OF WO MAN
to be found This was done by a sys tem of buying
.
the wife from her clan kindr ed in which case she -

,
became the property of her husband .
The change did not of course take place at once

, , ,
and we have many examples of a transition period

where the old customs are in conflict with the new .
Both fo r ms of marriage the maternal and the pur ,
chase cont ract are practised side by side by many

,
peoples These cases are so inst ructive that I must

.
add one or two examples to those already noticed .
The ambelanak marriage of S umatra is the mate rnal

form but the re is another marriage known as dyu rdu r
’
,
,
by which a man buys his wife as hi s absolute pro

perty There is a complicated system of payments
.
,
on whi ch the husband s rights to take the wife to

’
hi s home depends If the final sum is paid (but

.
this is not commonly claimed except in the case of

a quarrel between the families ) the woman becomes
to all intents and purposes the slave of the man ;
but if on the other hand as is not at all uncommon
, , ,
the husband fails or has difli cult y in making the

main payment he becomes the debtor of his wife s
, )
’
fami ly and he is practically the slave all his labour

, ,
being due to his wife s family without any reduction

’
in the debt which must be paid in fu ll before he

, ,
regain s hi s liberty ?
In Ceylon again there are , ,
two forms of marriage called beena and deega , ,
which cause a marked di fference in the position of

the wife A woman married under the becu a form
.
lives in the house or immediate neighbo urhood of

1
Marsd en Hi stor y of S u matra pp 2 2 5 —
, 227 , . .
her parents and if so married she has the ri ght of

,
inheritance along with her brothers ; but if married

’
in deega she goes to live in her husband s house and

1
village and loses her rights in her own family .
In Africa whe re the beena maternal marri age is

usual and the husband serves for his wife and lives
,
with her family it is said that families are usually,
more or less willing for valu e recei ved to give a woman

to a man to take away with him or to let him have ,
his beena wife to transfer to his own house Among .
the Wayao and M ang anj a of the Shirehighlands ’
south of Lake Nyassa a man on marrying leaves his ,
own village and goes to live in that of his wife ;

but as an alternative he is allowed to pay a bride
, ,
price in which case he takes his wife away to his

,
home ?
Again among the Banyai on the Z ambesi ,
if the husband gives nothing the children of the

marriage belong to the wife s family but if he gives ’
,
’
so many cattle to his wife s parents the children are
his ?
S imilar cases may be found elsewhere In the .
Watubela Islands between New Guinea and C elebes a

man may either pay for his wife befo re marriage or ,
he may without paying live as her husband in her

, ,
’
parents house working for her In the former case
, .
,
the children belong to him in the latter to the ,
mother s family but he may buy them subsequently

’
at a price 1
C ampbell records of the L im boo tribe
.
‘
1
Forbes E leven , Years i n Cey lon ,
V ol . I p , .
333 .
1
M ac d on ald A fri can a, V ol I ,
, p . 1 36.
3
Li vin gst one Travels 622 , ,
p . .
1 Ri
ed el , p
2 0 5 ; c it ed b y M c L enn an ,
. Patri archal T heory ,
p .
32 6 .
184 THE P O S ITION OF WOMAN
( where the bride is usual l y purchased and lives with

the hus band ) that if poverty compels the bride
,
groom to serve for hi s wife he becomes the slave ,
of her fathe r ,
until by his work he has redeemed
” 1
his bride . An interesting case occurs in some
Californian tribes where the husband has to live
with the wife and wo rk until he has paid to her ,
kindred the full price for her and her child So .
far has custom ad vanced in favour of father right -
that the children of a wife not pai d for are regarded

?
as bastards and held in contempt
Wherever we find the payment of a bride price -
,
in whatever form there is sure indication of the

,
decay of mother right woman has be come property

-
.
Among the Bassa Komo of Nigeria marriage is

usually e ffected by an exchange of sisters or other
female relatives The men may marry as many
.
wives as they have women to give to other men .
In this tribe the women look after the children ,
but the boys when four years old go to live and

, ,
?
work with the fathers The husbands of the
Bambala tribe ( inhabiting the Congo states between
the rivers Inzia and Kwilu ) have to abstain from
visiting their wives for a year aft er the b irth of each
child but they are allowed to return to her on the
,
payment to her father of two goats 4

Among .
the B assanga on the south west of Lake M oeru the -
children of the wife belong to the mothe r s kin ’
l A i i S i ety of B engal V ol I X p 60 3
1
j ou r na s a t c oc , .
, . .
1Bancroft V ol I p 5 49
,
.
, . .
l A f i S i ety V I II
3
j ou rn a r ca n oc 1 5 et s eq
, , .
1 To r d ay an d J o y ce j A I X XXV 4 1 0, . . .
, , .
186 THE PO S ITION OF WOMAN
the mother cannot pledge her children without the
consent of her brother or other male head of 1
the fami ly The fathe r has the right to ransom the

.
?
child An even stronger example of the property
val ue of chi ldren is furnished by the custom found
among many tribes by which the father has to ,
make a present to the wife s family when a child ’
” 1
dies this is called buying the child A similar .
custom prevails among the M aori people of New

Z ealand when a child dies or even meets with an ,
accident the mother s relations headed by her

,
’
brothers turn out in force against the fathe r He

,
.
must defend himself until wounded Blood once .
drawn the combat ce ases ; but the attackin g party

,
plunders his house and appropriates the husband s

’
property and fina lly sits down to a feast provided

,
?
by him
These cases with the inferences they suggest
, ,
show that the power a husb and and father po ssessed

over his wife and her children was gained through
’
purch ase And it is not the fact of the husband s
.
power howeve r great it might be t hat is so important

, , ,
but the fact that by the change in the form of

marriage the wife and her children were cut off
from the woman s clan kindred whose duty to ’
-
,
protect them was now withdrawn Here then .

, ,
was the reason of the change from mothe r right to -
father right The monopolist desire of the husband

-
.
to possess for himself the woman and her chi ldren

1
jou r A
.
fr Soc I 4.1 2 .
, , .
1
Hart lan d P ri mi ti ve Paterni ty V ol
, , . I pp
, . 2 75 et s eq .
3
O l d N ew Z eal an d 1 10 ,
p . .
( pe rhaps the deepest rooted of all the instincts )

reasserted itself But the regaining of t hi s indivi dual
.
possession by man was due not to male st rength , ,
but to purchase I must insist upon this As soon

. .
as women became sexually marketable their free

dom was doomed .
There are many interesting cases of transition in

which the children belong sometimes to the mother
and sometimes to the father Again I can give one .
or two examples only In the island of M angia

.
the parents at the birth of the child arranged

between themselves whether it should be dedicated
’
to t he father s god or to the mother s The dedica
’
.
tion took place forthwith and finally determined ,
?
which parent had the ownership of the child
Among the Haidis children belong to the clan of
,
the mother but in exceptional cases when the clan

,
of the father is reduced in numbe rs the new born ,

-
child may be given to the father s siste r to suckle ’

.
It is then spoken of as belonging to the paternal

?
aunt and is counted to its father s clan It is also ’
possible to transfer a chi ld to the father by giving

it one of the names common to his clan There .
are many curious customs practised by certain
t ribes wavering between mother and father descent

, .
In S amoa religion decides the question At the .
birth of a child the totem of each parent is prayed

to in turn (usually though not always starting with
, ,
that of the father) and whichever totem happens

1 M c L enn an , The Patr i archal T heor y .
1
y
S u rve of Can ada R e ort for 1 8 78 - 79 ,
, p 1 34 B . C it ed by
F raz er, Totemi sm , 76 p . .
188 T HE PO S ITION OF WO M AN
'
to be invoked at the moment of birth is the child s
totem for lif e and decides whether he or she belongs
to the clan of the mother or the father ?
Equally
curio u s was the custom of the Liburni where the ,
chi ldren were all brought up together until they

we re five years old They were then collected and
.
exa mined in o rder to trace their likeness to the

men and they were assigned to their fathers accord
ingly Whoever received a boy from his mother
.
in this way regarded him as hi s son ?

S imilarly
wi t h the Arabs where one wo man was the wife of
,
several men the custom was either for the woman

,
to decide to which of them the chi ld was to belong ,
or the child was assigned by an expert to one of

the j oint husbands to be regarded as hi s own ?
These facts throw a strong light on the bond

between the fathe r and the child which was a legal ,
bond not de pendent as it is with us upon blood

, , ,
re lationship Fatherhood really arose out of the

.
own e rshi p of purchase And for this re ason the .
father s right came to extend to all the children of

’
the wife It does not appear that the husband makes

.
any distinction between his wife s chi ldren even if ’
they were begotten by other men Chastity is not .
regarded as a virtue and in those cases where ,
unfai thfulness in a wife is punished it is always ,
be cause the woman who has passed from the pro ,
t ect ion of her kindred acts without her husband s

’
permission Interchange of wives is common

.
,
1
T u rn er S am oa
, 78 , p . .
1
D as M u tter recht 20 q u ot e d b p
y S t ar c e op k ci t
1 2 6—
. .
, .
, , ,
pp . 127 .
3
k
W il en D as M atri a rchal bei den al ten A rabern
, , p . 26 .
1 90 T HE PO S ITION OF WOMAN
superstition on thi s question—a belief in a kind of
magic in cha stity But indeed continence had at
.
, ,
first no co nnection with mo rals The sense of owner .
shi p has been the seed plot of our mo ral code To it -

.
we are indebted for the fir st germs of the sexual in

hi bit ions which sanctifi ed by religion and suppo rted
, ,
by custom have under the unreasoned idealism of

, ,
the common mind filled life with cruelties and ,
j ealous excl usio ns wi t h s uicides and murders and

, , ,
secret shames ?
This brings me to su m m arise the point we have

reached Father right was dependent on purcha se
.
-
posses sion and had nothin g to do with actual fathe r

hood The payment of a bride price the giving
.
-
,
of a s ister in exchange as a lso marriage with a slave

, ,
gain ed for the hus band the control over his wife
and ownership of the children I could bring .
forward much more evidence in p roof of this fact

that property and not kin ship was the basis of
, ,
fatherhood did the limits of my space allow me

,
to do so ; such cases are co m mon in all parts of

the world whe re the transitional stage has been
reached The mate rnal clan with its strong social
.
,
cohesion is then broken up by the growing powe r

of in dividual interests pushin g aside the old customs ,
and bringing abo ut the restoration of the fami ly .
I believe that the causes by which the father gai ned

his position as the dominant partner in marriage
m ust be clear to every one from the e xamples I
1
This p ass ag
is q u ot ed fro m The Tr u th a bou t W om an
e ,
p . 1 71 .I gi v e it here, bec aus e its im o rt an ce s eems t o m e p

to be v ery reat g .
IN PRIMIT IVE S O C IETY 191
have given Fatherhood established in the first

.
stage of the family on j ealous authority now after , ,
a period of mo re or less complete obscuration rises ,
again as the dominant force in marriage The .
father has bought back his position as patriarch .
On the othe r hand the mothe r has lost her freedom

that came with the protection of her kindred ,
under the social organisation of the clan Looking .
back through the lengthening record we find that ,
another step has been taken in the history of the

family This time is it a step forward or a step
.
,
backw ard ? This is a question I shall not try to

answer for indeed I am not sure
, , , .
Yet in case I am mistaken here let me say at

,
once I am certain that this return to the restricted

family was a necessary and ine vitable step The .
individual forces had to triumph This may seem

.
a contradiction to all I have j ust said What I .
wish to show is this one and all the phases in t he

development of society have been needful and
fruitful as successive stages in growth ; yet none
—
can continue none be regarded as the final stage ,
for each becomes insu ffi cient and narrow from the

standpoint of the needs of a later stage We have .
reached the thi rd stage—the patriarchal family

which still endures And last and hardest to
.
eradicate is that monopoly of sexual possession ,
“
which says : This woman and her children are mine
I have tabooed her for life M ankind has still to
.
outlive this b rute instinct in its upward way to

civilisation .
C HAPTER I X
W O M EN AN D PR I M I T IVE IN D UST R Y
I HAVE referred in an earlier chapter to a letter
fr om Mr H G Wells sent to me after the publica
. . .
,
tion of my book The Truth abou t W oman Now

,
.
,
there is one sentence in this letter that I wish to

quote here because it brings home j ust what it
is my purpose in this chapte r to show—that the
,
mother age was a civilisation owing it s institutions

-
,
and its ear ly victories over nat ure rather to the ,
genius of wom an than to that of man M r Wells . .
does not indeed say this He rej ects the mother

, ,
.
age and in questioning my acceptance of it as a

,
stage in the past hi stories of societies he writes ,
The primitive matriarchate never was anything

mo re tha n mother at the washing tub and fathe r -
looking miserable .
It seems to me that here in his own inimitable way

, ,
Mr Wells (though I think quite unconsciously ) sums

.
up the past labo ur his tory of woman and man

-
.
His statement has ve ry far reaching considerations -

.
It forces us to accept the active utility of primitive

woman in the community—a utility more de
v eloped and practical than that of man This .
was really the basis of women s position of powe r ’

.
192
194 THE PO S IT ION OF WOMAN
discovery ; seeds c as t into the ground sprouted and
gave the first start of agriculture The plant wo rld .
gave women the best returns for the e fforts they

made and they began to store up food Contrivance
, .
followed contrivance each one making it po ssible

,
for women to do more Certain animals possibly

.
,
brought back by the hunters from the forests were ,
kept and tamed Presently the use of fire was

.
— —
discove red we know not how but women became
the guardians of this source of li fe And now .
,
instead of caves or tree shelte rs there were huts

-
,
and tents and houses and of these too women

, , ,
were frequently the b uilders The home from the

.
first was of greater importance to the women ; it

was the place where the errant males rej oined their
wives and children and hence the women be came
,
the owne rs of the homes and the heads of house

holds For as yet the men were occu pied in fi ght ing
. .
The clumsy and the stupid a mong them were

—
killed soonest ; the fine hand the quick eye these,
prevailed age by age Tools and weapo ns were

.
doubtless fas hioned by th ese fighters but for ,
destruction ; the male s attention was directed

’
m ai nly by hi s own desires And may we not .
accept that among the most pressing activities of

women was the need to tame man and make him
social so that he could endure the rights of others
,
than himself ?
So through the long generations the life of human
societies continued Those activities due to female
.
,
in fluence developin g and opening up new ways in

,
IN PRI M IT IVE S O C IETY 195
all directions until we have that early civilisation

, ,
which I have called the mother age

,
-
.
All the world ove r even to this day this separation

, ,
in the labour activities of the two sexes can be

traced Destructive work demanding a special
.
,
development of strength with corresponding periods ,
of rest falls to men ; and contrasted with this violent

,
and intermittent male force we find with the same ,
uniformity that the work of women is domestic

,
an d constructive being connected with the care

,
of children and all the various industries which

—
radiate from the home work demanding a di fferent
kind of strength more enduring more qontinu ou s
, , ,
but at a lower tension .
B onwick s account of the work of Tasmanian

’
women may be taken as typical

In additi on to the necessary duty of looking
afte r the children the women had to provide all
,
the food for the household excepting that derived

from the chase of the kangaroo They climbed .
up hills for the opossum ( a very di fficult task t e ,
quiring great strengt h and also skill ) delved in the ,
gr ound for yams native bread and nutritious roots

, , ,
groped about the rocks for shellfish dived beneath ,
the sea for oysters and fished for the fi nny tribe
, .
In addition to this they carried on their frequent

, ,
tramps the household stu ffs in native baskets o f

,
” 1
their own manufacture .
Among the Indians of Guiana the men s work is ’
to hunt and to cut down the trees when the cassava

,
is to be planted When the men have felled the

.
1
D aily L i fe an d Origi n of the Tasmani ans p 5 5 ,
. .
trees and cleaned the ground the women plant the ,
cassava and undertake all the subsequent operations

agriculture is entirely in their hands They are .
little if at all weaker than the men and they work

, , ,
all day while the men are often in their hammocks
smoking ; but the re is no cruelty or oppression

1
exercised by the men towards the women .
In Africa we meet with much the same conditions

of labour The work is done chiefly by the
.
women this is universal ; t hey hoe the fields sow

, ,
the seed and reap the harvest To them t oo falls

, .
, ,
all the labo ur of house b uildi ng grindin g corn -

, ,
brewing beer coo king washing and caring for

, , ,
almost all the material interests of the community .
The men tend the cattle h u nt go to war ; they , ,
also spend much time sitting in council over the

” 1
conduct of a ffairs .
I may note the inte resting account of Prof .
3
Haddon of the wo rk of the Western Tribes of the
Torres S traits
The men fished fought b u ilt houses did a little

, , ,
gardening made fis h li nes fi sh hooks spears and

,
-
,
-
, ,
othe r implements constructed dance masks and

,
-
head dresses and all the paraphe rnalia for the

-
,
various ceremonies and dances They performed .
all the rites and dances and in addition did a good ,
deal of strutting up and down loafi ng and yarnin g ,

.
’
The women cooked and prepared the food did most ,
1
Ev erard im Thur n A mon , g th
In di ans of Gu i an a e .
1
M ac d on al d Eas t Centr al Afr ican Cu s t oms j ou rnal
,
”
,
g
A n thropolo i ca l In s ti tu te F eb 1 8 9 0 , 34 2 .
,
p . .
1
j ou g
r nal A n thropolo i cal In s ti tu te F eb 1 89 0 342 ,
.
,
p .
a short club flew to the assistance of their husbands
,
” 1
and brothers In Central Australia the men
.
occasionall y beat the women through j ealousy but ,
on such occasions it is by no means rare for the

?
women single handed to beat the men severely
, ,
Again men carry on as a rule the negotiations on

, , ,
tribal concerns but in such matters exceptions are

,
very numerous Among the Australian Dieyerie .

,
C urr states that the women act as ambassadors to

arrange treaties and invariably succeed in their ,
mission ?
The same conditions are found among
the American Indi ans M en are the hunters and .
fis hers but women also hunt and fish Among the

,
.
Yahgan of Tie rra del Fuego fishi ng is left entirely

to the women and this is not at all unusual
4
,
.
Mrs Allison states of the Sirnilk ameen Indians of

.
B ritish Columbia that formerly the w omen were

”
nearly as good hunters as the men but being ,
sensitive to the ridi cule of the white settlers they ,
have given up hunting ?

In hunting trips the help ,
of women is often not to be despised Warburton .
Pike writes thus I saw what an advantage it is

to take women on a hunting trip If we killed .
anyt hi ng we had only to cut up and cache the

,
meat and the women would ca rry it On returning

,
.
to camp we could throw ourselves down on a pile

1 L i e an d A dven tu res o
f W i l l i a m B u ck ley p 43
f ,
. .
1
j ou rn alA nt h g
ropolo i cal In s ti tu te Au g 1 8 9 0 ,
.
, p . 61 .
1 A u s trali an R aces ci t ed by Ellis M an and , ,

W om an ,
p g n ote .
‘ H a d es et
y De niker Mi ssi on ,
Sci en tifique de Cape Horn ,
t om e v ii , 1 8 9 1 .
5
j ou rnal o f the A n thropolo i cal In g
s ti tu te, F eb . 1 89 2 , p .
30 7
.
of cari bou skins and smoke our pipes in comfort ,
” 1
but the women s work was never fin ished
’
This .
account is very suggestive The man undergoes .
the fatigue of hunting and when he has thrown ,
the game at the woman s feet hi s part is done ; it’
is her duty to carry it and to cook it as well as to ,
make the ves sels in which the food is placed The .
skins and the refuse are hers to utilise and all the ,
industries connected with clothing are chiefly in her

hands ?
Hearne in his delightful old narrative
, ,
speaks of the assistance of women on hunting

expeditions
For when all the men are heavy laden they can
neither hunt nor travel to any considerable distance
and in case they meet with any success in hunting ,
who is to carry the produce of their labour ?

He adds with a charming frankness
Women were made for labour ; one of them can
carry or haul as much as two men can do They .
also pitch our tents make and mend our clothing

, ,
keep us warm at night and in fact there is no , , ,
such thing as t ravelling any considerable distance ,
or any length of time in this country without their

,
” 3
ass1st ance .
Numerous other examples might be added which

illust rate how women take part in the destructive
work of men ; conversely we find not a few cases o f
1
W arbu rt on Pike B arren Grou n ds p 75
, , . .
1
Hav eloc k Ellis M an an d W oman p 5
,
A j ou rn ey from Pri n ce of W al es s F ort

. .
,
1
N orthern
’
to the
O cean p, .
5 5 .
200 THE PO S IT ION OF WO M AN
the co operation of men in the women s activities
-
’
.
The wo rld over women are usually the weavers

,
and spinners ; but with the Navaj o and in some of

the Pueblos the men are among the best weavers ?
Among the Indi ans of Guiana the men are specially

s kilful in basket weaving and here a lso they as
-
,
well as the women spin and weave ?

M o re curious
is the custom in East Africa where all the sewing
for thei r own and the women s garments is done by
’
the men and ve ry well done Sen

,
is here so .
enti rely recognised as men s work that a wife may ’
obtain a divo rce if she can show a neglected rend

” 3
in her petticoat .
It is a common mistake aris ing from insufficient ,
knowledge to suppose that savage women are

,
spe cially subj ect to oppression Their life is hard .
as we look at it but not as they look at it We, .
have still much to learn on these matters An even .
greate r error is the view that these women are a

source of weakness to the m ale members of their
families The ve ry reve rse is the t ruth Primitive
. .
women are strong in body and capable in work .
Fison and Howitt in discussing this question state, ,
of the Au stralian women In times of peace they , ,
are the hardest wo rkers and the most us eful members

of the co m munity And in times of war they.
,
are pe rfectly capable of taking care of thems elves

at all times and so far from being an encumbrance
,
1
M as o n op ci t,
10 . .
,
p . .
1
,
g
Im Th u rn A m on the In di ans of ri ti s h Gu i an a B .
1 Macd onald , j ou rnal A n thropologi cal In s ti tu te, Au g . 1 89 2 .

containing a stone mortar 1 9 6 lb in weight for .
more t han half a mil e on a sandy road without

any per ceptible e xhaustion The proportion of the .
active aged is much la rger than among civilised

people .
I may pause to note some of the n umerous

industries of which women were the originators .
First of all woman is the food giver ; all the

,
-
labo urs relati ng to the preparation of food and to ,

‘
the utilisation of the side produc t s of foodstuffs

are usually foun d in the hands of women Women .
are everywhere the primitive agriculturists They .
beat out the see ds from plants ; dig for roots and
tubers strain the poisonous j uices from the cas sava
,
and make bread from the residue ; and it was under

their attention that a southern grass was first
developed into what we know as In dian corn ?
The removal of poisonous matter from tapioca by

means of hot water is also the discovery of savage
?
women All the evolution of primitive agriculture
may be traced to women s industry Power tells ’
.
of the Yoki a women in Central Calif ornia who

employ neither plough nor hoe but c ultivate the ,
ground by digging the earth deep and rubbing it

fine with their hands and by this means they get ,
an excellent yield ?
Women have everywhere been
the first potters ; vessels were needed for use in
cooking to carry and to hold water and to store
, ,
1
Thom as Sex an d S oci et ,
,
1 36 y p . .
1
Mas on op ci t
,
24 . . p . .
1
Con t N orth A meri can E thnolo y , V ol
. g . III p
, . 1 67
.
the supplies of food For the same reason basket s .
were woven Women invented and exercised in

.
common multifarious household occupations and

industries C uring food tanning the hides of
.
,
,
—
animals spinning weaving dyeing all are carried , ,
on by women The domestication of animals is

.
usually in women s hands They are also the

’
.
primitive architects ; the hut in widely di fferent ,
—
parts of the world among K affi rs Fuegians , ,
Polynesians Kam t schat dals — is built by women

,
[
We have seen that the communal houses of the

American Indians are mainly erected by the women .
Women were frequently though not always the , ,
primitive doctors Among the Kurds for instance .

, ,
all the medical knowledge is in the hands of the

women who are the hereditary haki ms
,
?
Women
seem to have prepared the first intoxicating liquors .
The Quissama women in Angola climb the gigantic

?
palm trees to obtain palm beer In the ancient -
legends of the North women are clearly represented ,
as the discoverers of ale ?
It would be easy to go on almost indefinitely

multiplying examples of the industries of primitive
women There can be no doubt at all that their
.
work is exacting and incessant ; it is also inventive

in its variety and its ready application to the
practical needs of life If a catalogue of the primi .
tive forms of labour we re made each woman would ,
1 M rs
Bishop j ou rney s i n Persi a an d K u rdi stan cit ed
.
, ,
by H Ellis op ci t
.
,
6 . .
, .
ou r A n throp In s t V ol I p 1 9 0
j
2
. . . . .
, ,
Mag ic Son gs of t he F mns F olh lore M ar , . 1 89 2 .

204 THE PO S IT I ON OF WO M AN
be found doing at le as t half a dozen things while a - -
man did one We may accept the statement of

.
Prof M ason that in the early histo ry of mankin d

.
women were the industrial elaborative conser , ,
vat iv e half of society All the peaceful a rts of

.
to day were once women s peculia r province Along

’
-
.
the lines of industrialis m she was pioneer inventor , ,

” 1
author originato r , .
There is another matte r that must be noted The .
primitive division of labour bet ween the sexes was

not in any sense an a rr angement dictated by men ,
nor did they impose the women s tasks upon them ’

.
The view that the women are fo rced to work by the

laziness of the men and that their heavy and ,
incessant labour is a proof of their degraded position

is entirely out of focus Quite the reverse is the .
t ruth Evidence is not wantin g of the great advan

.
tage a r ising to women from their close connection

with labour It was largely their control over the
.
food supply and their position as actual producers

which gave them so much influence and even ,
authority in the mother age In this connection I -

.
may quote the statement of M iss Werner about the

African women as representing the true conditions
I cannot say that so far as my own observations
,
went the women s lot seemed to be a specially hard

,
’
one In fact they are too important an element

.
,
in the community not to be t reated with conside ra

tion The fact that they do most of the heavy
.
fi eld wo r k does not imply that they are a down

-
1
A meri can A n ti qu ari an , J an . 1 8 99 .
women are strong in body and capable in work ,
.
The powers they enj oy as well as their manifold

activities are the result of the ir position as mothers ,
this function being to them a source of strength and

not a plea of weakn ess .
They who are accustomed to the ways of

civilised women only remarks Mr Fison can , .
,
hardly be lieve what savage women are capable of ,
even when they may well be supposed to be at their

weakest For instance an Australian tribe on the
.
,
march scarcely take the trouble to halt for so

slight a performance as chi ldbirth The newly .
born infant is wrapped in skins the ma rch is re ,
sumed and the mother t ru dges on with the rest

,
.
M oreover as is well known among many tribes

, ,
elsewhe re it is the father who is put to bed while ,
t he mother goes about her wo r k as if nothing had

” 1
happened .
Another im po rtant advantage arisin g to women ,
through their identification with the early industrial

process was their position as the first property
,
owners They were almost the sole creators of

.
ownership in land and held in this respect a position

,
of great power This explains the fact that in the

.
tr ansactions of the North American tribes with the

C olonial Government many deeds of assignment bear
?
female signatures A form of divorce used by a
husband in ancient Arabia was : Begone for I ,
” 1
will no longer drive thy flocks to pasture In .
1
K ami la oi an d K u nai p 35 8
r r , . .
1
R at z l Hi tor y f M ank i n d V l II p 1 3
e ,
s o ,
o .
, . 0 .
1
R bert n Smi t h
o Ki ns hi p and Marri age
so , in E arly
A rabi a p 6 5
, . .
almost all cases the household goods belonged to

the woman The stores of roots and berries laid
.
up for a time of scarcity were the property of the

wife and the husband would not touch them
,
without her permission In many cases such .
property was very extensive Among the M eno .
mini Indians for instance a woman of good cir , ,
cu mst ances would own as many as 1 2 0 0 to 1 5 0 0
birch bark vessels -?

In the New M exico Pueblos
what comes from the outside of the house as soon
as it is inside is put under the immediate control of
the women B andelier in his report of his tour
.
,
in M exico tells us that his host at C ochiti New

, ,
M exico could not sell an ear of corn or a string of

,
chili without the consent of his fourteen year old - -
daughter Ignacia who kept house for her widowed

, ,
” 1
father .
I must now bring this brief chapter to a close .
But first I would give one further example It is .
an account of the Pelew matrons work in the taro ’
fields Here the richest and most influential women

.
count it their privilege to labour and it will be re ,
membered that these women are called mothers

”
of the land They are politically and socially
.
superior to the men ; and t heir posit ion is dependent ‘
largely on their close connection with the staple

industry of the island .
1
Ho ffm an
The Menom in i I n d ians
, F ou rteen th Report ,
of the B u reau of A m eri can E thnology p 2 8 8 , . .
1
I ap ers of t he A rchwalogi cal Ins ti tu te of A meri ca V ol II
p
.
, ,
. 1 3g
208 WOMAN I N PR IM I T I VE S O C IETY
The richest woman in the village looks with
pride on her taro patch and although she has
,
female followers enough to allow her merely t o

superintend the wo r k without takin g part in it ,
she nevertheless prefers to lay aside her fine apron ,
and to betake he rself to the field merely clad in a ,
small apron that barely hides her nakedness with ,
a little mat on her back to protect her from the

b u rning heat of the sun and with a shade of banana
,
leaves for her eyes There dripping wi th sweat

.
,
in the burning sun and coated with mud to the

hips and over the el bows she toils to set the younger
,
women a good example M oreove r as in every

.
,
other occupation the K alitho the gods must be

, ,
invoked and who could be better fitted for the

,
discharge of so im portant a duty than the M other

’
of the House .
Here is a picture of labo ur that may well make

women pause to think .
21 0 THE PO S IT I ON OF WOMAN
has been so commonly and so mistakenly con , ,
nect ed It does not seem to have been held as

.
possible that the mother age was a much later -
development whose social customs were made for

,
the regulation of the family relationships A num .
ber of very primitive races exhibit no t races that ,
have yet been discovered of such a system and , ,
have descent in the male line This has been .
thought to be a further p roof against a maternal

stage But here again is an error ; we are not
.
entitled to rega rd mother descent as necessarily the

-
primitive custom I believe and have tried to show

.
,
from the examples of the Australian tribes and

elsewhere that in many cases the stage of the
,
mate rnal clan has not been reached If I am right .
here we have the way cleared from much conf usion

, .
I would suggest as a lso possible that the re may

, ,
among some pe ople have been ret rogressions customs

, ,
and habits found out as beneficial and pe rhaps for ,
long practised have by some tribes been forgotten

,
.
The re can be no hard and fast rule of progress for any

race The whole subj ect is thorny and obscure and
.
,
the evidence on the question is often contradictory .
S till I hold the claim I make is not without foun

dation I have tried to show how the causes which
.
led to the maternal system were perfectly simple

and natural ca u ses arising out of needs that must
,
have operated universally in the past history of

mankind And this indicates a maternal stage at
.
some period for all branches of the human family .
Again the widespread prevalence of mothe r right -

survivals among races where the patriarchal system

has been for long firmly established lends support
to such a View which will be strengthened by the
,
evidence now to be brought forward It will be .
necessary to go step by step from one race t o ,
another and to many different countries and I

, ,
would ask my readers not to shrink from the trouble

of following me .
Let us turn first to ancient Egypt where women ,
held a position more free and more honourable than

they have in any country to day -
.
Herodotus who was a keen observer records his

, ,
astonishment at this freedom and writes ,
They have established laws and customs op

posit e for the most part to those of the rest of
mankin d With them women go to market
.
and traffi c ; men stay at home and weave The .
men carry burdens on their heads ; the women on

their shoulders The boys are never forced to
.
maintain their parents unless they wish to do so ;

the irls are obliged to even if they do not wish
it .
” g ,
From this last rule it is logical to infer that women

inherited property as is to day the case among the
,
-
Beni Amer of Africa where daughters have to

- 1
,
provide for their parents .
Diodoru s goes f urther than Herodotus he affi rms

that in the Egyptian family it is the man who is
subj ected to the woman .
1
Herod ot u s Boo k I I p 35
, , . .
1
S t arcke The Pri mi ti ve F am i ly
, ,
p . 67 .
21 2 THE PO S IT I ON OF WOMAN
All this explains why the queen receives more
power and respect than the king and why among , ,
private individu als the woman rules over the man

, ,
and that it is stipulated between married couples ,
by the terms of the dowry contract that the man -

,
” 1
shall obey the woman .
There is probably some exaggeration in t hi s

account nevertheless the demotic deeds in a
, , ,
measure confirm it By the law of maternal

, .
inheritance an Egy ptian wife was often richer

,
than her husband and enj oyed the dignity and

,
freedom always involved by the possession of

property M ore than three thous and three hundred
.
years ago men and women were recogni sed as equal

in this land .
Under such privileges the wife was entirely

preserved from any subj ection ; she was able to
dictate the terms of the marriage She held the .
right of maki ng contracts without autho risation ;

she remained absolute mistress of her dowr y The .
marriage contract also specified the sums that the

-
husband was to pay to hi s wife either as a nuptial ,
gift or annual pension or as compensation in case

,
of divorce In some cases the whole property of

.
the husband was made over to the wife and when ,
thi s was done it was stipulated that she should

,
provide for him during his life and discharge the ,
expens es of his burial and tomb .
These unusual propriet ary rights of the Egyptian

wife can be explained onl y as being traceable to
D iod orus Boo k I p 2 7
1
, , . .
pers isted after descent was changed from the
maternal to the p a ternal line The marriage
.
contracts may thus be regarded as enforcing by

agreement what would occur naturally under the
maternal customs The hus band s property was
.
’
made over by deed to the wife (at first entirely ,
an d afterwards in part ) to secure its inheritance by
the children of the marriage It was in such wise

.
way the Egyptians arranged the di ffi cult problem

- —
of the fusing of mother right with father right .
In the very ancient civi lisation of Babylon we

fin d women in a position of honour with privileges ,
simil ar in many ways to those they enj oyed in

Egypt There are even indications that the earliest
.
customs may have gone beyond those of the Egyp

tians in e x alting women All the available e vidence
.
points to the conclusion that at the opening o f

Babylonian history women had complete indepen
dence and equal rights with their husbands and
brothers It is significant that the most archaic
.
texts in the primitive language are remarkable

for the precedence given to the female se x in al l
formul as of add ress Go ddesses and gods
”
Women and men are mentioned always in that
,
order ; this is in itself a decisive indication of the

high status of women in thi s early period And .
there are other traces all pointing to the conclusion

that in the civilisation of primitive B abylon mother
right was still in active force Later (as is shown
.
by the C ode of Hammurabi ) a woman s rights though ’

,
not her duties were more circumscribed ; in the

,
I N PRI M IT IVE S O C IETY 21 5
still later Neo Babylonian periods she again ao

-
,
quired th rough the favourable conditions with

,
regard to property full liberty of action and equal

,
?
rights with her husband
Let us now turn our attention to the Graeco
Roman civilisation It is convenient to take fir st
.
a brief glance at Rome I may note that the family

.
he re would certainly appear to have developed from

the primitive clan or gens At the dawn of history
, .
the patriarchal system was already fir mly estab

lished with individual property and an unusually
, ,
strong subj ection of woman to her father first and

afterwards to her husband There are however .
, ,
numerous indications of a prehistoric phase of

communism I can mention only the right of the
.
g en s to the heritage and in

, certain cases the pos
session oi an ager p u bli cu s which certainly bears ,
witness in favour of an antique community of

property ?
Can we then accept that there was
, ,
once a period of the maternal family when descent ,
and inheritance were traced through the mother ?

3
Frazer has brought forwar d facts which point to
the view that the Roman kingship was transmitted
in the female line ; and if this can be accepted we , ,
may fairly conclude that at one time the maternal

customs were in force The plebeian ma rriage ce re
.
monies oi Rome should be noted The funeral in .
script ions in Etruria in the Latin language make

1
H Ellis Psy chology of Sex V ol V I p 39 3
.
, , .
, . .
1
Let ou rn eau E volu ti on of Marri age p 335
, , . .
1
Golden B ough Part I
, The M agi c A rt V o l I I pp 2 70
.
, .
, .
,
much gr eater insistence on the maternal than the
paternal descent ; giving usually the name of the
mother alone or indicatin g the father s name by a
,
’
simple initial whilst that of the mother is written in

,
full This is v ery significant Very little trus tworthy

1
. .
evidence however is forthcoming and of the position

, , ,
of women in Rome in the earliest pe riods we know

little or nothing And for this reason I sha ll refer
.
1
my readers to what I have written elsewhere on
this matter ; merely saying t hat there are indications
and t raditions pointing to the view that here as in ,
’
so many great civilisation s women s actions were ,
once unfettered and thi s as I be lieve can be ex

, , ,
p la ined onl y on the hypothesis of the existence of a

maternal stage befo re the establishment of the indi
,
vid u al male authority under the patriarchal s ys tem .
The evidence with regard t o prehistoric Greece

is much mo re complete The Greek yévog resembled .
the Roman gens Its members had a common .
sepulture common property the mutual obligation

, ,
of the vendetta and archon ?

In the prehi storic
clans maternal descent would seem to have been
established Plutarch relates t hat the Cretans
.
spoke of Crete as their motherland and not father ,
land In primitive Athens the women had the

.
,
right of voting and their children bore their name

—privileges that were taken from them says the
,
legend to appe ase the wrath of Poseidon after

, ,
1 Mull er an d B acho fen cit ed b y Girau d -Teul on o p

. ci t .
—
, ,
pp . 2 83 2 84 .
1
The Tr u th A bou t W oman 22 7 , pp .
-
2 42 .
1
Grot e Hi story of Gr eece V ol 1 1 1
, , . , p .
95 .
21 8 TH E PO S ITION OF WOMAN
We have seen this for instance among the Khasis , , ,
where also goddesses are placed before gods Mr . .
Hall furthe r states It i s certain that they [the

women in Crete "must have lived on a footing of
greater equality with men than in any other ancient
civilisation And again : We see in the frescoes
.
of Knoss os co nclusive indications of an open and

free association of men and women correspond ,
ing to our idea of Society at the M inoan court ,

’
unparalleled till our own day The women are .
unveiled and the costumes and setting are extra

,
ordinarily modern Mr Hall draws attention to . .
the curious fact that in appearance the women are

very simil ar to the men so that often the sexes can ,
be distinguished only by the conventions of the

artis t s representin g the women in white and the
, ,
men in red outline ; the same convention that was

used in Egypt I may recall to t he reader the .
likeness of the men to the women among the North

American In di ans and the same similarity between ,
?
the sexes occurs among the ancient Egyptians It
is perhaps impossible to se arch for an explanation .
I would however point out that in all these cases

, , ,
where the sexes appear to be more alike than is

co mmon we find women in a po sition of equality
,
with men This is really very remar kable ; I think

.
it is a fact that demands more attention than as

yet it has received .
At one time there would seem to have been in

1
See pp . 1 2 9 - 1 31 , als o The Tru th abou t W oman , pp .
1 99
-
20 1 .
prehistoric Greece a period of fully established

mother right Ancient Attic traditions are filled
-
.
with recollections of female supremacy Women .
in the Homeric legends hold a position and enj oy

a freedom wholly at variance with a patriarchal
subj ection Not infrequently the husband owes to
.
his wife his rank and his wealth ; always the wife
possesses a dignified place and much influence .
Even the formal elevation of women to positions

”
of authority is not uncommon There is nothing .
,
says Homer better and nobler than when husband

,
and wife being of one mind rule a household

, ,
.
Penelope and C lytemnestra were left in charge of

the realms of their husbands during their absence
in Troy ; the beautiful Chlo ris ruled as queen in
Pylos Arete the beloved wife of Alcinous played
.
,
an important part as peacemaker in the kingdom

” 1
of her husband .
If we turn to the evidence of the ancient mythology

and art it is also clear that the number of female
,
deities must be connected with the early predomi

nance of women in Greece We have to remember .
that the gods are shaped by human beings in

their own image and the status of women on earth,
is reflected in the status of a goddess Five out o f .
the eight divinities of immemorial Greek worship

were female Hera Demeter Persephone Athene
, , , ,
and Aphrodi te In addition the re were nume rous

.
lesser goddesses One must consider also that it .
1
Glad st o n e Hom eri c S tu di es V ol II p 5 0 7 D on ald s on ,
8 —1 9
. . .
, , ,
W om an ,
pp . 1 .
220 T HE PO S IT ION OF WO MAN
was not uncommon for cities to be named after
women ; and the Greek sto ries seem to point to
tribes with totem names How can these things .
be explained unless we accept a maternal stage ?

,
The re are numerous other facts all indicating this

same conclusion We find relationships on the
.
’
mother s side regarded as much mo re close than
those on the father s side In Athens and S parta
’
.
a man mi ght marry his fathe r s sister but not his ’
’
mother s siste r Lycaon in pleading with Achilles
.
, ,
says in order to appe as e him that he is not the ,
uterine brother of Hector It is also not eworthy .
to find that the Thebans when pressed in war seek , ,
assistance from the Z Eginet ans as their nearest kin ,
recollecti ng that Thebe a nd E gi ni a had been si sters .
A similar cas e is that of the L ycaones in Crete who ,
claimed aflinit y with Athens and with S parta which ,
afli ni t y was traced through the mother

?
There is much e vidence I am compelled to pass

over It must however be noted that the re seems
.
, ,
clear proof of the maternal fo rm of marriage having

at one time been practised Plutarch mentions .
that the relations between husband and wife in

S parta were at first secret 1
The story told by
Pausanias about Ulysses marriage certainly points ’
to the custom of the bridegroom going to live with

the wife s family
’
?
In this connection the action
of Int aphem es is signi ficant who when granted , ,
1
M c L e nn an “
in shi K p
in An c ient G reec e Ess ay in
1 95 —
,
S tud i es i n A n ci ent H i s tor , y pp

2 46 . .
1
Plu t arch A pophthe ms of the L acedmm on i ans L
,
g ,
XV .
1 P
aus an ias , I II , 2 0 ( F ra er
’
s t r ans l at z
i on ) .
222 THE PO S IT IO N OF WOMAN
occupying a much less favourable position their ,
rights and freedom more and more restricted In .
S parta alone where the old customs for long were

,
preserved did the women retain anything of their

,
old dignity and influence The Athenian wives .

,
under the authority of their husbands sank almost ,
to the level of s laves ?
The patriarchal system is connected closely in our

thought with the Hebrew fa mily where the father , ,
who is chief holds gr ouped under his des potic sway

,
his wives their child ren and s laves Yet thi s

, ,
.
Semitic patriarch has not e xisted from the begin

ning ; numerous survivals of mother right customs -
a fford proof that the Hebrew race must have passed

through a maternal stage Thes e survivals have a .
special interest as we are all familiar with them in

,
Bible history but we have not understood their

,
si gnificance It is possible to gi ve a few ill ustrations

.
only In the hi story of Jacob s service for hi s wives

.
’
we have clear proof of the maternal custom of beenah

marriage As a suitor Jacob had to buy his position
.
as h usband and to se rve Laban for seven years

before he was permitted to marry Leah and seven ,
years for Rachel while six further years of service

,
were claimed befo re he was allowed the possession

1
of his cattle Afterwa r ds when he wished to
.
,
depart with hi s wives and his children Laban made ,
the obj ection th ese daughters are my daughters

, ,
” 1
and these children are my children Now accor .
,
The Tr u th abou t W om an 2 1 0— pp
1
—
22 7 ,
. .
1
Gen xxx 1 8 30 ; xx xi 1 4 4 1
.
,
1
,Gen ,
. . xx x i , 43 .
I N PRI M IT I VE S O C IETY 223
’
di ng to the patriar chal custom Laban s daughters ,
should have been cut off from their father by

marriage and become of the kindred of their
,
husbands S uch a claim on the part of the father

.
proves the subordinate position held by the husband

in the wife s family who retained control over her
’
and the children of the marriage and even over the ,
personal property of the man as was usual under ,
the later mat riar chal custom Even when the .
marriage is not in the maternal form and the wife ,
goes to the husband s home we fin d compensation

’
has to be paid to her kindred Thus when Abraham .
sought a wife for Isaac presents were taken by the ,
messenger to induce the bride to leave her home

and these presents were given not to the father of
the bride but to her mother and brother
,
?
This is
the early fo rm of purchase marriage such bridal ,
gifts being the forerunners of the payment of a

fixed bride price We still find purchase marriage
-
.
practised side by side with beenah marriage in the

countries where the transitional stage has been
reached and mother right contends with father -
right But there is stronge r evidence even than

.
these two cases The inj unction in Gen ii 2 4 :

. .
,
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his

mother and shall cleave unto his wife
, refers ,
without any doubt to the e arly form of marriage

under mother right when the husband left his own
-
,
kindred and went to live with his wife and among

her people We find S amson visiting his Philistine
.
1
Gen x xi v 5 5 3 .
. , .
224 T HE PO S IT IO N OF WOMAN
wife who remained with her own people Even ?
the obligation to blood vengeance rested apparently

on the maternal kinsmen ( Judges viii The ,
Hebrew fathe r did not inherit from the son nor ,
the grandfather from the grandson which points ,
back to a time when the chi ldren di d not belong to

the clan of the fathe r ?
Among the Hebrews
individual property was instituted at a very early
period but various customs show clea rly the ea rly
,
1
existence of communal clans Thus the inheritance .

,
especially the paternal inheritance must remain in ,
the clan then shall their inheritance be added

un to the inheritance of the tribe M arriage in the .
tribe is obligatory for daughters Let them marry .
to whom they think best ; only to the family of the

tri be of their fathe r shall they marry So shall no .
inheritance of the chi ldren of Israel remove from tribe

” 4
to tribe . We have here an indication of the close
relation between fathe r right and property -
.
Under mother right there is naturally no prohi bi -
tion against marriage with a half sister upon the -
father s side This explains the marriage of Abraham

’
.
with Sarah his half sister by the same father When

,
-
.
reproached for having passed his wife off as hi s
sister to the King of Egyp t the patriarch replies : ,
For in deed she is my sister ; she is the daughter

of my father but not the daughter of my mo ther
, ,
1
J u d ges x v 1 , .
1
N u m b xxxii 8 11 See Let ou rn eau E volu ti on of
,
-
.
,
Marri age , p .
“
3 6
2 .
1
Gen . xx n i , 1 3 .
1
Nu m b . xxx vi 4 8
,
-
.
226 T HE PO S IT IO N OF WOMAN
lo se the autho rity she had held under the free ,
social organisation of the undivided clan .
Traces of a simil ar evolution of the family may ,
I am convinced be found by all who will undertake

,
an inquiry for thems elves The subj ect is one of .
great interes t So far as my own study goes I

.
,
believe that these survivals of the maternal group -
customs may be discovered in the early hist orv

of every people where the necessary material for
,
such kn owledge is available I wish it were possible .
for me even to summarise all the evidence direct ,
and inferential that I have collected for my own

,
satisfaction I must reluctantly pass over many

.
countries I would like to include ; some of these

China Japan Burma and Madagascar—have been
, ,
noticed briefly in The Truth abou t W oman 1

There .
is surp rising si milarity between the facts ; and the ,
more o f such survivals that can be found the more ,
the evidence seems to grow in favour of the accep

tance of a universal maternal stage in the evolution
of society .
I must now before closing this chapter (whose

,
accumulation of facts may I fear have wearied , ,
my readers ) refer briefly to the races of ba rbarous

,
Europe The point of interest is of course how

.
— ,
far mother right may be accepted as at one period

-
, ,
having existed The earliest direct evidence is the

.
account given by S t rabo of the Iberians of ancient

S pain And first it is important to note that the
.
Iberians belonged to the Berber race now widely ,
1
See pp . 15 6- 1 61 .
IN PRIMIT IVE SO C I ETY 227
regarded as the parent of the chief and largest

element in the population of Europe There is .
another fact th at must be noted The general .
characteristic of the Be rber family seems to have

been the privileged position they accorded to their
women privileges so great that we meet with strong
,
tendencies t owards the mat riarchate This last is .
still in force among the Touaregs of the S ahara ;

and there are as well numerous traces of its former
existence among the neighbouring Kabyles though
,
there the most rigorous patriarchate has replaced

1
the maternal family We have seen too that in
.
, ,
ancient Egypt where the Berbe rs were largel y

,
represented women enj oyed a position of extra

,
'
ordinary freedom and authority .
Bearing this in mind we may accept the statement

,
of S trabo Among the C antabrians usage requires

that the husband shall bring a dower to his wife ;
and the daughte rs inhe rit being charged with the
,
marriage of their brothers which constitutes a kind

,
of gynaecocracy . There is possibly some ex aggera

tion in the term gyn aecocracy ; yet if there is no proof
“ ”
of rule by women there can be no doubt that
, ,
th rough the system of female inheritance property ,
was held by them and this must certainly have

,
given them the power always involved by the

possession of wealth .
The freedom of the women of ancient S pain is

sufficiently indicated by the fact that they took
part in t he a ct ivit ies usually considered as belonging
1
Let ou rneau , p
o . ci t .
32 8 .
228 THE PO S IT I ON OF WOM AN
to men It was these women who played their part
.
in drivin g back the Roman legions from the moun

t ai nous districts of northern S pain we read of them
fighting side by side with men where they used ,
their weapons with courage and determination .
They recei ved their wounds with silent fortitude ,
and no cry of pain ever escaped their lips even ,
when the wounds whi ch laid them low were mortal .
To women as well as men liberty was a possession

more valued than life and when taken prisoners , , ,
they fell upon their own swords and dashed their ,
little ones to death rather than su ffer them to live

to be slaves Nor were the activities of women
confined to warfare Justin speaks of women as .
not only having the care of all domestic matters ,
but also cultivating the fields And Strabo writing .

,
of these Amazons te lls us that they would often

,
step aside out of the furrows to be brought to

”
bed and then having borne a ch ild would return
, , ,
”
to their work j ust as if they had only laid an egg .
He notes t oo as being practised among them the

, ,
cou vade whereby the husband

,
in assertion of hi s ,
legal fatherhood retired to bed when a child was

,
born 1
.
S pai n is a land that I know well and for this ,
reason I have chosen to write of it in fuller detail .
Persistent relics of the early maternal period even

yet may be traced in the c u stoms of this strongly
conservative people Women are held in honou r . .
1
See i n t his connect ion my boo k , Spai n Revi si ted
pp . 29 1 - 0
3 4 .
habits of other European countries It may be .
compared with the condi tions in the j oint family -
communities of the American Indians l

.
M uch more might be said on the position of the

S pan ish women I have however written else
.
, ,
where of these women of their intelligence and

2
, ,
strength and beauty and of the active part they

, ,
t ake still in the ind us t ri al life of the country There .
can be no question that some features of the maternal
c ustoms have left their imprint on the domestic life

o f S pain and thi s as I believe explains how women
, , ,
here have in cert ai n directions preserved a freedom ,
o f ac tion and privileges which even in England have ,
never been es tablished and only of late claimed , .
As we may expect there is less direct e vidence ,
of mother right in the other European countries

-
t han is the case in conservative S pain Dargun .

,
3
who has written much on this subj ect believes ,
that maternal descent was formerly practised among

the Germans He holds further that the ancient
.
Aryans at the time of their dispersion regarded

kinship through the mother as the sole or chief , ,
basis of blood kinship and all their family rights

-
,
were governed by this principle The re is much .
conflict of opinion on this matte r and it would , ,
perhaps be rash to make any definite statement

,
.
We may recall what Tacitus says of the Germans

1
See pp . 1 0 7- 1 0 9 .
2 Spai n R evi s i ted Thi ngs Seen i n Spai n Moori sh Ci ti es .
3 M
utter r eeht i m d R au behe u nd i hre R es te i m Ger man i schen
Reeht a nd L eben V ol X V I q u ot ed b y St arc ke The
,
.
, ,
Pr i mi ti ve F ami ly pp 1 0 3 et seq
,
. .
IN PRIMIT IVE S O C IETY 231
The son of a sister is as clear to his uncle as to

his father ; some even think that the fir st of these
ties is t he most sacred and close ; and in taking
hostages they prefer nephews as inspiring a stronger ,
attachment and interesting the family on more

,
si des. The same authority tells us that the

Ge rmans of his day met together to take a c lan
meal to settle clan business i e for the clan
, , . .
council—and to arrange marriages This is st rong .
1
c onfirmation of what I am t rying to establish .
Further evidence may be gathered from the ancient

religion There are many Teutonic goddesses who
.
,
may well be connected with the primitive tribal

mothers 2
Religion here as so ofte n elsewhere
.
, ,
would seem to have been symbolised as feminine '

.
Not only the seers but the sacrifi cers among the
’
3
early Teutons were women To this evidence may .
be added that in Germany up to a late period the i -
mother could be the guardian of her children ; that '
a wife had to be bought by the husband both she

.
,
and her children remaining under the guardianship

of her father All this points to mother right and
.
-
the existence of the maternal clan 4

Let us note .
also that in the S lav communities women had the

right to vote and might be elected to the government
,
of the community .
1
D e moribu s Germanoru m , XX . See al so K P . ears on ,
The Chances of D eath V o l II 1 32 , .
, p . .
2
Gri m m , M tholo i e V ol Iy g2 48 , .
,
p . .
3
K Pearson The C han ces of Death V ol II
.
, 102 , .
,
p . .
1
‘
k
St arc e, op ci t 1 0 5 , ci t i n
. . p
D ar u n and Grimm
. g g .
See al so Let ou rneau , op ci t 339 340 . . pp .

-
.
It will interest my readers to know that mother -
descent must once have pre vailed in Brit ain .
Among the Picts of S cotland kingship was trans

mi t t ed through women 1
Bede tells us that down
.
—
to his own time the early part of the eighth
century—whenever a doubt arose as to the suc
c ession the Pi cts chose their king from the fe mal e
,
2
rather than from the mal e line There is an ancient .
legend which repre sents the Irish as giving three

hun dred wives to the Picts on the condition that ,
the succession to the crown should al ways be

through their fem ale s
"
T here were oat hes im o sed on t hem, p
By t he st ars by t he eart h
. ,
That fr o m t he nobili ty o f t he m ot her

Shou ld al ways be t he ri ht t o t he so verei nt y g g .
Si mil ar traces are found in England Canute the ,
D ane when acknowledged King of England m arried

, ,
Emma the widow of his predecessor Ethelred

, , .
Et helbald King of Kent married his stepmothe r

, , ,
after the death of hi s father Ethelbert ; and as late ,
as the ninth century Et helbald Ki ng of the West

, ,
Saxons wedded Judith the widow of his father

, , .
S uch marriages are intelligible only if we suppose

that the queen had the power of conferring the king
dom upon her consort which could only happen ,
where maternal descent was or had been practised , , .
These marriages with the widow of a king were at

one time very common The familiar example of .
1
Girau d -Teul on p ci t —42
figu nn 41
, o . . .
1
B ed e, II 1 - 7
. .
3
an , S tudies , p .
46 .
28 4 WOMAN IN PRIM IT I VE S O C I ETY
—
to in a ninth century glossary as op eram atque
-
arti ficiorum i ni tia She was the tribal mother of

.
-
the B ringant es S imilarly vote was tribal mother of

.
-
the B urgundians and the goddess Bil of the B illings ,
and there are n umerous other cases In a recen t .
book on Ulster F olk lore I have been fort unate

1 -
,
enough to find a most inte resting pass age referring

to the Irish goddess B rigit I quote it with pleas ure .
1
as a fitting ending to this chapter .
Now S t Bridget had a pagan prede cessor Brigit

, .
, ,
a poetess of the Tuat ha de Da nanu and whom we ,
m rhaps regard as a female A o o Cormac in

a isary tells us she was a daugher of the Dagda
o
his
and a goddess whom all poets adored and whose ,
s isters were Brigit the physician and Brigit the

smith Probably the t hree sisters represent the
.
same divine or semi divine person whom we may

,
-
,
identify with the British goddess B rigantia and the

Gaulish Erigindo .
1
B y E And rew s
. 18 , p . .
1
I wo u ld refer t he read er t o a m os t int erest in art icle g
on g
Old E n lis h Clans ( C ornhi ll Se t t his I had
, p .
n ot read w he n I wrot e t hi s cha t er p

The au t hor hold s .
t hat t he clan s y s t em was o n ce c o mm o n t o t he whole

Ar y an race . In t he Teu t o nic s t oc k
i ts m em ory d ied o u t
g
in an early st a e o f d ev elo ment o w in pt o t he s t ro n
,
g g
i nd i vi d u al it y of t he Teu t o nic mi n d Y et it has left beh in d
.
it m an y t race s N u m erou s e xam les are i v en p Perha s g . p

g
t he m os t in t eres t in is t he e vi d en ce showin t hat t ot em is m g
s eems t o hav e exis t ed ; t he clan n am es bein t a en from g k
an i mals or plants .
C HA PTER X I
THE RVI VALS O F M O THER R I GHT IN FO LK LO R E
SU - -
,
I N H ER O I C LEGEN D S AN D I N FAI R Y ST O R I ES
,
IN the preceding chapter we have found the former

existence of the maternal family or some indication ,
of it in the early records of many races p roving

, ,
this by numerous survivals of customs entirely at

variance with the patriarchal conditions S hould it .
be thought that this claim has not been supported

by sufficient evidence I must plead the di fficulties
,
of such an inquiry M y survey has been very incom

.
p let e. I am certain however

,
that these survivals ,
will be recognised by any one who will undertake for

themselves the collection and interpretation of the
facts from the reco rds of the past .
There is a point to consider here The absence or .

,
rather the rarity of mother right survivals in some

,
-
civili sations cannot be counted as proof that the

maternal system never existed As I have shown .
in the earlier chapters of this book the mother age ,

-
was a transitional stage between the very early

,
.
brute conditions of the family and the second firmly

-
established patriarchate Now it is clear that the

.
,
customs of a transitional stage are very likely to

disappear ; they are also very likely to be mistaken .
2 35
B earing this in mind the number o f survivals t hat
,
do occur are I hold extraordinary and indeed

, , , , ,
impossible to account for if the maternal family

was not a universal stage in the development of
society M oreover I am certain from my own study
.
,
that thes e survivals are of much wider occurrence

than is believed but as yet the facts are insu ffi
,
cient ly established .
It now remains to co nsider a new field of inquiry

and that is the abundant evidence of mother right -
to be found in folk lore in heroic legends and in

-
, ,
the fairy stories of our children There is a special

-
.
value in these old world stories that date back to

-
,
a time long before written his tory They belong to .
all countries in slightly di fferent forms We have .
regarded them as fables but there was never a ,
—
fable that did not arise out of truth not of course , ,
the outside truth of facts but from that inward ,
tru th of the life and thought of a people which is ,
what really matters I cannot then do better

.
, ,
than conclude the e vidence for the mother age -
by referring to some few of these myths and

legends .
In order to group the great mass of material I

will take first the creation myths One only out .
of many examples can be given The Z u fi i Indians .

,
who it will be remembered are a maternal people

, , ,
give this account of the beginnin g of the world .
We read how the S un god withdrawing strength -

,
from hi s flesh impregnated the great waters until

, ,
there arose upon them waxing wide and weighty , ,

238 THE PO S I T ION OF WOMAN
thereof and the rib which the Lord God had taken
from the man made he a woman and brought her ,
unto the man And the man said This is now

.
,
bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall

-
be called Woman be cause she was taken out of

,
M an 1
.
"
I would agai n assert my strong belief that in the

reli gious conception of a people we fin d the true
thoughts and the customs of the period in which
they origin ated A patriarchal people could not
.
have given expression to a creation myth in which

the fe male idea preva iled and the mother and not , ,
the father was do minant

,
For men have ever .
fashioned the gods in their own human image ,
endowing them with their thoughts and actions .
The sha rp change in the V 1ew of woman s part in

’
the relationship of the sexes is clea rly symbolised

in these creation myt hs Yes it ma rks the degra .
,
dation of woman ; she has fa llen from the maternal

conception of the feminine principle guiding direct , ,
ing and using the male to that of the woman made

, ,
for the m an in the patria rchal Bible story .
Another group of legends that I would noti ce

refer to the conflict between the right of the mother
and that of t he father in relation to the children .
.
These sto ries belong to a period of transition In .
ancient Greece as we have s een the paternal family

, ,
succeeded the maternal clan In his Oresti a .

,
E s chylu s puts in opposition before Pallas Athene

the right of the mother and the right of the father .
1 8
Gen . 11 , 1 , 2 1 - 23 .
I N PRIMIT IVE S O C IETY 239
The chorus of the Eumenides representing the ,
people defends the positi on of the mother ; Apollo

,
pleads for the father and ends by declaring in a , ,
fit of patriarchal delirium that the child i s not of ,
the blood of the mother It is not the mother who

.
begets what is called her child ; she is only the

nurse of the germ poured into her womb ; he who
begets is the father The woman receives the germ
.
merely as guardian and when it pleases the gods

, ,
she preserves it Plato also brings forward this

.
view and states that the mother cont ributes nothing

,
to the child s being

’
The mother is to the child
.
what the soil is to the plant it owes its nourishment

to her but the essence and structure of its nature
,
are derived from the father Again the Orestes .
of Euripides takes up the same theory when he .
says to Tyn daru s : My father has begotten me ,
and thy daughter has given birth to me as the ,
”
earth receives the seed that another confides to it .
Here we trace a different wo rld of thoughts and

conceptions ; the mother was so little esteemed as
to be degraded into the mere nourisher of the child .
These patriarchal theo ries naturally consecrated the

slavery of woman 1
.
Another point st rikingly illustrated by many of

these ancient legends is the struggle for power
—
between the two sexes a struggle that would
se em to have been present at all stages of civilisation ,
1
M c L ennan , S tu di es , K in shi p in Anc ient G reec e
Let ou rneau E volu ti on of Marri age
, , pp . 6
33 337,
-
and
St arcke The Pri mi ti ve F ami ly pp 1 1 5
, , .
-
1 1 6 .
240 T HE PO S I T ION OF WOM AN
but always most active in periods of transition .
One out of many e x amples is all that I can give .
In Hawaii worship is gvien to the goddess Pele

, ,
the personification of the volcano Kilauea and the ,
g od Ta m ap u a the pe rsonification of the

, sea or ,
rather of the storm which lashes the sea and hurls

,
wave after wave upon the land The myth tells .
that Tamapua wooed Pele who rej ected his suit , ,
whereupon he flooded the crater with water but Pele ,
drank up the water and drove him back into the sea 1
.
Here a brief digression into the early mythologies

may be made although this question of the con
,
nect ion between mother right and religious ideas -
is one on whi ch I have already enlarged The most .
primitive theogony is that of Mothe r Earth and her -
son Goddesses are at first of greater importance

.
than gods The Earth mother springs from cha os

.
-
,
’
and in the beginning her children have no father .
Traces of such a goddess are to be found in many

ancient religions Afterwards as a modification or .
,
rather a development of the Earth mother we have ,

-
,
the goddesses of fertility This idea arose with the .
development of agriculture and was closely con ,
nect ed in the primitive mind with the sex functions .
Demeter is of this type ; and there are many of

these mother deities who once were -
worshipped Virgin goddesses are a much later

.
1
St arck e ,
pp . 2 49 - 2 5 0 , cit in g B achofen
’
s A nti qu ari sche
B riefe ,
V ol 40
. I p ,
. 1 .
1
K P
earson , C hances of D eath, V ol
.
, ssay s on t he . II E
M ot her-age Ci vili s at i on et c Many of t he acts i ven in ,
. f g
p k
t his c ha t er are t a en rom t hese il lu minat iv e essays
f .
242 THE PO S IT ION OF WOMA N
the goddes s herself She sat enthroned on a mound
.
whi ch for the time was the sanctuary of the deity ,
with the altar with oil and incense before her To .
her came the god lover represented by a slave

-
,
who made homage and wors hipped From her he .
received the symbols of kingly power and she raised ,
him to the throne by her side As her accept ed .
lover and lord of the festival he remained for five ,
days during which the law of the goddess prevailed

,
.
Afterwards on t he fifth day the god lover was -
sacrificed on the pyre The male element had .
performed its function .
I cannot leave this subj ect without emphasising

the importance of these erotic religious festivals -
,
once of universal occurrence They a fford the .
strongest evidence of the early privileged posi tion

of women in the relationships between the two
se x es It is I think impossible to avoid giving
.
, ,
to this a matri archal interpretation For it is by .
con trasting the re ligious sex standpoints of the -
maternal and the paternal ideals that the inferior

position of women under the later system can be
demonstrated M oreover in much later periods
.
, ,
and even to our own day we may yet find broken ,
survivals of the old customs Illustrations are not .
far to seek in the common festivals of the people

in Germany and elsewhere and as I have myself ,
witnessed them in S pain a land which has preserved ,
its old customs much more unchanged than is

1
usual One example may be noted in England
.
,
1
See Spai n R evi s i ted , and Thi ngs Seen in Spai n .
I N PR I M I T I VE S O C I ETY 243
3
which would seem to have a very ancient origin ;

1
it is given by Prof K Pearson The Roman
. . .
L u p ercali a held on February 1 5 was essentially a

worship of fertility and the privileges supposed to
,
be attached to women in our own country during

this month—especially on February 1 4 and 2 9
are probably fossils of the same sex freedom -
.
Passing again to the old legends we find not a ,
few that attempt to account for both the ri se and

the decline of the custom of maternal descent I .
will give an example of each Newbold relates that .
in M enangkabowe where the female line is observed

, ,
it is accounted for by this legend
P erpat i S abatang built a magnificent vessel ,
which he loaded with gold and precious stones so

heavily that it got aground on the sands at the
foot of the fiery mountains and resisted the e ffort s
of all the men to get it off The sages were con
,
su lt ed and declared that all attempts would be in

,
vain until the vessel had passed over the body of

'
’
a pregnant woman It happened that the Raj ah s
.
own daughter was in the condition desired ; she was

called upon to immolate herself for the sake of her
country but refused At this j uncture the preg
, .
nant s i ster of the Raj ah boldly stepped forward ,
and cast herself beneath the prow of the vessel ,
which instantly put itself in motion and again ,
floated on the waves without 1nj u ry to the princess .
ereu p on the Raj ah disinherited the o ffspring of

his disobedient daughter in favour of the child of
his sister and caused this to be enrolled in the
,
1
Ibi d .
, p . 1 5 8 .
records of the empire as the law of succession in
” 1
ti me to come .
The second illustration is taken from the quarrel

between Pallas Athene and Poseidon to which
already I have referred The myt h tells us .
A double wonder sprang out of the earth at the

same time—at one place the olive tree and at
another water The people in terror sent to Delphi
.
to ask what should be done The god answered .
that the olive t ree sign ified the power of Athene ,
and the wate r that of Poseidon ; and that it t e

mained with the b urges se s to choose after which of
the two they would name their town An assembly .
was call ed of the bu rgesses bo th men and women , ,
for it was then the custom to let the women take part
in the public councils The men voted for Po seidon
.
,
the women for Athene ; and as there were more

women than men by one Athene conquered There ,
.
upon Poseidon was en raged and immediately the ,
sea flowed over all the lands of Athens To appea se .
the sea god the burges ses found it necessary to im

-
,
po se a threefold punishment on their wives They .
were t o lose their votes ; the chil dren were to receive

‘
no more the mother s name and they them selves ’
,
”
1
were no longer to be called after the goddess .
The origin of these myths is perfectly clear There .
is no reason to force their interpretation by regarding

them as historical evidence of a struggle taking place
between the maternal and the pate rnal custom of
1
Newbol d , A ccou nt f
o the B ri ti sh S ettlements in the
S trai ts of Malacca V ol I I p 2 2 1
,
.
, . .
1
M cL ennan S tu di es
,
“
K inship , in Anc ient G reec e ,
p 2 35
mind by facts that must have had a real existence .
Bearing t his in mind special significance attaches

,
to a discovery recently made by Prof d Allosso .

’
.
In the ancient necropolis of Belmonte dating from ,
the iron age are two very rich tombs of women

,
warriors with war chariots over their remains .
Prof d Allosso states that several details given by

.
’
Virgi l of the Ama z on Cami lla fought and died on

the field of battle coincide with the details on these
,
tombs The impo rtance of this discove ry is thus

.
very great as it cert ainly seems to indicate what I

—
,
am claiming that the existence of the Ama z on

heroines leaders of armies and s ung by the ancient
,
1
poets is not a poetic fancy but an historic reality
, , .
I must turn now to the last group of e vidence

that I am able to bring forward ; to find thi s we
—
must enter that realm of fancy the world of fairy
land We shall see that this land has its own cus
.
to ms and its own laws entirely at variance with all

, ,
those to which we are accustomed How is this to be .
expla ined ? These stories are founded really on the

life of the common people and they have come down ,
from generation to generation handed on by the ,
storyte llers from a time long before the day when

,
they were ever collected and written in books It .
is the popular and social character of these stories

that is so important ; they are records of customs
and habits long forgotten but once common in the ,
daily life of the people In them the past is potent

.
with life and for this reason they claim the most
,
1
See The Tru th abou t W oman , p . 228 .
careful and patient study I speak of the most .
familiar stories that we have regarded as foolish

fables Nowhere else can we gain so clear and
.
vivid a picture of the childhood of civilisation when ,
women were the transmitters of inheritance and the

guardians of property .
Let me try to prove this I have before me a .
collection of these folk stories gathered from many -

,
countries Now the most popular story (whose

.
,
theme occurs again and again the details v a ried ,
in the di fferent renderings ) is concerned with the

gaining of a princess as a bride by a wooer usually ,
of humble birth This lover to obtain his wife

.
achieves some mighty deed of valour or pe rforms ,
tasks set for him by the parents of the bride ; he

thus inherits the kingdom through the daughter
of the king Hans fa ring forth to seek his luck ; the
.
,
’
Dummling in the Golden Goose story ; the mille r s
son who gained his bride by the wit of his cat
, ,
and Aladdin with his magic lamp are well known -
examples of this story The S cottish and Irish .
legends are particularly rich in examples of these

hero lovers Assipatt le the dirty ash lad who W ins
.
,
-
,
the fair Gemdelovely and then reigns with her

as queen and king is one of the most inte resting
, .
S imilar stories may be found in the folk lo re of eve ry -
count ry Ash lad figures in many of the Norwegian

.
-
tales There is a charming version in the Lapp

.
sto ry of the S ilk Weave r and her husband ,
where we read Once upon a time a poor lad

,
wooed a princess and the girl wante d to marr y him ,

but the Empero r was against the match Never .
t heless she took him at last and they were wed

” 1
together .
This fairy theory of marriage is really the

maternal or beenah fo rm : such a marriage as was
made by Jacob and is still common among all
maternal peoples The inheritance pass es through
.
the daughters ; the s u itors gain their position by

some deed of valour or by servi ce done for the
bride s family ; sometimes it is the mother who sets
’
the task more often it is the father while in some

, , ,
cases the girl her self impo ses the condi tions of
,
marriage It is possible to t race a development

.
in the se stories We can see the growt h of purchase

.
marriage in the service demanded by the parents

of the bride this taking the place of the e arlier
,
custom of the bridegroom proving hi s fitness by

some test of strength Again those stories in which
.
,
the arrangement of the ma rriage remains with the

mother or with the girl and not with the father
, ,
must be regarded as the older ve rsions This change .
appears al so in the conditions of inheritance ; in

some cases the kingdom passes at once with the
bride in others the half of the kingdom is the
,
marriage portion while in the later stories the full

,
authority to rule comes only after the death of the

king But always sooner or lat er the daughte r of
.
t he king conveys the ki ngdom to her husband .
The sons of the king do not inherit ; they are of

much less importance than the daughters ; they
1 K P
earson T he Tru th abou t W oman p 70 n ote
.
, , . .
he frees the land or rescues the king s daughter and ’
is covered with honour He marries the princess .
and inherits the kingdom Assipat t le always begins .
in the deepest degradation and ends on the highest ,
summit of glory There is a special interest in this

.
story The reader will not have failed to notice

.
the si milarity of As sipat t le with C inderella In both .
stories the circ u mstances are the same only the ,
Ash lad has been replaced by the C inder girl The re

- -
.
is no doubt which version is the older 1

the one is
the maternal form the other the patriarchal , .
The setting of these stories should be noticed We .
see the simplicity of the habits and l ife so vividly

represented All folk legends deal with country
.
-
people living near to nature So similar indeed .

, ,
are the customs depicted throughout that these

folk records might well be taken as a picture of the
-
social o rganisation among many barbarous tribes .
I should like to wait to point out these resemblances ,
such for instance as the tendency to personify

, ,
natural obj ects the identification of human bein gs

,
with animals and trees found so often in the stories , ,
—
as well as many other things the belief in magic
and the power of wise women And what I want .
to make cle ar is the very ear ly beginning of these

folk tales they take us back to the social institutions
-
of the mother age Thus there is nothi ng surprising

-
.
to find that kingdoms and riches are won by hero

lovers and that daughters carry the inheritance
,
.
1
In t his co nnec t i on , s ee K Pearson in t he ess ay
. alread y
q u o t e d 8
, 5 p
et se
.
q .
This is really what used to happen It is our indi .
vidual ideas and patriarchal customs that make

these things seem so strange .
I wash I had space in which to follow further

these still speaking relics of a past whose interest
-
,
o ffers such rich reward In his essay Ashiepat t le

.
,
or Hans seeks his Luck ( The Cha nces of D eath ,
Vol I I pp 5 1
.
, . Prof Karl Pearson has fully
.
and beautifully shown the evidence for mother

right to be found in these stories To this essay .
the reader who still is in doubt is referred All that

, , .
has been possible to me is to suggest an inquiry

that any one can pursue for himself It is the .
di ffi culty of treating so wide and fascinating a sub

j ec t in briefest outline that so many things that
should be noticed have to be passed over .
The witness a fforded by these folk stories for -
mother right cannot be neglected For what inter

-
.
p r et at i on are we to place on the curious facts they

record ? Are we to regard this maternal marriage
with descent through the daughter and not the son , ,
as idle i nventions of the story tellers ? Do these

-
princesses and their peasant wooers belong to the

topsy turvy land of fairies ? No in these stories
-
,
drawn from so many various countries we have ,
echoes of a very distant past It is by placing t he

.
customs here represented by the side of similar

social conditions still to be found among primitive
maternal peoples that we find their signific ance
, .
We then understand that these old old stories of ,
the folk really take us back to the age in which

25 2 WOMAN IN PRI M IT IVE S O C IETY
they firs t took form W e have read these fairy
.
stories to our children nknowing what they

— u ,
i
s ign fi ed a prophetic success i on of witnesses point ,
ing us back to the ripening of that phase of the

comm unal family before the establishment of the
,
individual patriarchal rule when the law was ,
mother right and all i nheritance was through

-
,
women .
I wo u ld add to this chapter a notice I have j ust

recently lighted on of the ancient warrior Queen
1
,
M eave of Ireland S he is represented as tall and

.
beaut iful terrible in her battle chariot when she

, ,
drove full speed into the press of fighting men Her .
vi rtues were those of a warlike barbarian k ing and ,
she claimed the like large li berty in morals Her .
hus band was Ailill the C onnaught king ; the ir

,
marriage was literally a partnership wherein M eave ,
making her own terms demanded from her hus

,
band exact equality of treatment The three .
essential qualities on which she insisted were that

he should be brave and generous and completely
, ,
devoid of j ealousy .
Ancient I rish Sagas , Centu ry J an

, . 1 90 7 .
in folk lore will find an ever increasing store of
-
,
evidence and that then the discredited mother age

,
-
,
with its mother right customs will become for them

-
,
what it is for me a necessary and accepted stage

,
in the evolution of human societies .
M any of the concl usions to which I have come

are so completely opposed to those which generally
have been accepted as correct that now I am at , ,
the end of my inquiry it will be we ll to sum up

briefly its result .
The facts I have so rapidly enumerated have a

very wide bearing ; they serve to destroy the
accepted foundations on which the claim for mother
right has hi therto been based The first st age of .
the fa mily was pat riarchal All the evidence we .
possess tends to show that tracing descent through

the mother was not the primitive custom Through .
out my aim has been to bring into uniformity the

opposing theories of the primeval patriarchate and
the maternal fa mily The current view so often
.
,
a sserted and manifestly inspired by a Puritanical

,
ideal insists that mother descent arose through

,
-
uncertain fathe rhood and was connected wi th an

,
early period of promiscuous relationships between

the two sexes This view has been proved to be
.
entirely wrong The system of maternal descent

.
was a system framed for order and had in its origin , ,
at least no connection with sexual disorder Further

, .
than this it is certain that marriage in some form

,
has always e xisted and that the sexual relationshi ps

,
have never been unregulated We must renounce .

IN PR I M I T I VE S O C IETY 25 5
any theory of primitive promiscuity And there .
is more than this to be said S uch freedom in love

.
and in marriage as we do find in barbarous societies

is so strong a proof of friendly feeling and security
that it is certain it could not have existed in the first
stage of the j ealous pat riarchate rather it must
have developed at a subsequent period with the
growth of the social tribal spirit and the liberty of
-
,
women from the thrall of sexual ownership In .
these particulars my opinion differs from all other

writers who have sought to establish a theory of
matriarchy I venture to claim that the position
.
of the mother age has been strengthened and as

-
, ,
I hope built up on surer foundations

,
.
Let us cast a brief glance backward over the way

that we have travelled .
Our most primitive ancestors half men half ,

-
,
brutes lived in small solitary and hostile family

, ,
groups held together by a common subj ection to the

,
st rongest male who was the father and the o wner

,
of all the women and their children There was

, .
no promiscuity for there could be no possible union

,
in peace Here was the most primitive form of

.
j ealous owne rship by the male as he killed or drove

,
-
off his rivals ; his fights were the brutal precursors

of all sexual rest rictions for women These customs .
of brute ownership are still in great measure pre

se rved among the least developed races This .
explains how there are many rude peoples that

exhibit no traces at all of the system of mother
descent In the lowest nomad bands of savages
.
of the deserts and forests we fin d still the se rough
paternal groups who know no soc ial bonds but are
, ,
ruled alone by brute strength and j ealous ownership .
With them development has been very slow ; they

have not yet advanced to the social organisation
of the maternal clan .
From these first so litary families grouped sub ,
missively around one tyrant ruler we reach a -

,
se cond stage out of whi ch order and organ i sation

spran g In thi s second stage the family expanded
.
into the larger group of the communal clan The .
upward direction of this transformation is evident ;

the change was from the mo st selfish individualism
—
to a communism more or less complete from the
primordial patriar chate to a free social organisation ,
all the members of which are bound together by a

strict so lidarity of interests The progress was.
necessa rily slow from the beginning to this fir st

phase of social life Yet the change came With
. .
the fierce stru ggle for existence associati on was the

,
only possible way not only to further progres s but

, ,
to prevent extermination .
It has been shown that the earliest movements

towards peace came thr ough the influence of the
women for it was in t heir interest to consolidate
,
the family and by means of union to establish

, , ,
their own po we r Co llective motives were more

.
cons id ered by women

,
not at all because of any
,
higher standard of feminine moral virtue but because ,
of the pe culiar advantages arising to themselves

and to their children —advant ages of freedom whi ch
'
could not exist in a society inspired by individual

25 8 THE PO S IT ION OF WO M AN
of the husband and father were restricted on every
side Not only does he not stand out as a principal
.
pe rson from the background of the familial clan ;

he has not even any recogni sed social e xistence in
the fami ly group Thi s restriction of the husband
.
and father was clearly dependent on the form of

marriage We have seen that the in di vidual
.
re lationships between the sexes began with the

reception of temporary lovers by the woman in
her own home But a relationship thus formed wo ul d
.
tend under favourable circumstances to be con

tinned and in some cases pe rpetuated The
, , , .
lover be came the husband ; he left the home of

his mother to reside with his wife among her kin ; he
was still without prope rty or any recognised rights
—
in her clan with no o r ve ry little c ontrol over
,
-
the woman and none over her children occupying , ,
indeed the position of a more or less permanent

,
gu est in her hut or tent The wife s position and

,
’
that of her chi ldren was assured and in the case of a ,
separation it was the man who departed leaving ,
her in possession .
Under such an organisation the family and social

—
customs were in most cases and al ways I believe , ,
in their complete maternal form— favourable to

women Kinshi p was reckoned thr ough the mother
.
,
since in thi s way al one could the undivided family

be maintained The continuity of the clan th us
.
depending on the women they we re placed in a very

,
special position of importance the mother was at ,
le ast the nomin al head of the household shaping ,
the destiny of the clan through the aid of her clan

I N PRI M ITIVE S O C IETY 25 9
kindred Her closest male relation was not her

.
husband but her brother and her son ; she was

,
the conduit by which property passed to and from

them Often women established their own claims and
.
all prope rty was held by them ; which under favour

able circumstances developed into what may literally
’
be called a matria rchate In all cases the child s
.
position was dependent entirely on the mother and

not on the father S uch a system of inheritance
.
may be b riefly summarised as mother right -

.
There is another matter to notice Every possible .
e xperiment in sexual association has been tried ,
and is still practised among various barbarous

races with very little reference to those moral ideas
,
to which we are accustomed It is however very .

, ,
necessary to remember that monogamy is frequent

and i ndeed usual under the maternal system We .
have seen many e x amples where with complete ,
freedom of separation held by the wife lasting and ,
most happy marriages are the rule When the .
husband lives with his wife in a dependent position to

her family he can do so only in the case of one woman .
For this reason polygamy is much less deeply rooted

under the conditions in which the communal life
is developed than in patriarchal communities In .
the complete maternal family it is never common ,
and is even prohibited 1

.
As we might expect the case is quite opposite

,
1
g p
It is s i nifi cant t hat in Su m at ra oly am y occu rs wit h g
g
t he dj u du r m arr ia es , where t he wi fe is b ou ht and l iv es g
k
wi t h her husban d whil e it i s u n n own in t he m at ern al
,
m arria esg It is frequ ent i n A f rica an d elsewhere, when

.
g
t he m arr ia e is not t he m at ernal f orm .
with polyandry This form of marriage has evident
.
advantages for women when compared with poly

gamy ; it is also a fo rm that requires a certain
degree of social civili sation It clearly involves .
the limitation of the in dividual marital rights of the

husband Polyandry in the j oint famil y group was
.
not due to a licentious view of marriage ; far other

wise it was an expression of the communism which
,
is c haracteristic of this organisation This fact .
has been forgotten by many writers who have ,
regarded t his form of the sexual relationships as

a very primitive development conn ected with group
,
marriage and promiscuo us ownership of women .
It is very necessary to be clear on this point Under .
the maternal conditio ns nothing is more certain

,
than the equality of women with men in all questions

of se xual morality In proof of thi s it is necessary
.
only to recall the facts we have noted We find .
little or no importance attached to virgini ty which ,
in itself indicates the absence of any conception of the

woman as property Thus no bride price is claimed
.
-
from the husband who renders service in proof

,
of his fitness as a lover not to gain possession of the

,
bride The gi rl is frequently the wooer and in

.
, ,
certain cases she or her mother imposes the con

,
di ti ons of the marriage After ma rr iage the free

.
provision for divorce (often more favourable to the

wife than to the hus band ) is pe rhaps of even greater
Si gm fi can ce The re can I t hi nk be no doubt that
.
, ,
’
this freedom in love was dependent on the wife s
position of security under the maternal form of
marriage .
262 THE PO S ITION OF WOMA N
Within the large and un divided family of the clan
the restricted family be came grad u ally re established
-
by a reassertion of individual interests In propor

.
tion as the family g ained in im portance ( whi ch would

arise as the st ruggle for existence lessened and the
need of a ssociation was less imperative ) the inte rest
of the individual members would be come separated
from the group to which they belonged Each one .
wo uld endeavour to get himself as large a share

as possible of what was forme rly held in common .
As society advanced property wo u ld increase in

value and the social and po litical significance of
,
its possession wo u ld also increase Afterwards

.
,
when personal property was acquired each man ,
woul d aim at gaining a more exclusive right over

his wife and child ren ; he would not willingly
submit to the bondage of the maternal f orm of
In the earlier days the clan spirit was too strong ,
now men had shaken o ff to a degree sufficient for

,
their purpose the female yoke which bo u nd the

, ,
c lan together We have seen the husband and

.
father moving towards the position of a full y acknow

ledged legal parent by a system of buying off hi s
wife and her children from their clan gr oup The -

.
movement arose in the first instance through a

property value being connected with women them
'
selves As soon as the women s kindred found in
.
their women the possibili ty of gaining worldly

goods for themselves they began to clai m service
,
and presents from their lovers It was in this way

.
for economic reasons and for no moral considerations

,
that the maternal marriage fell into disfavour .
The payment of a bride price was claimed and an -

,
act of purchase was accoun ted essential As we .
have seen it was regarded as a condition not so

, ,
much of the marriage itself but of the transference ,
of the wife to the home o f the husband and of the

children to his kindred The change was of course
.
, ,
e ffected slowly ; and often we find the two forms

of marriage —the maternal and the purchase
marriage —occurring side by side What however .
, ,
is certain is that the purchase marriage in the -
struggle was the one that prevailed .
This reversal in the fo rm of the marriage brought

about a corresponding reve rsal in the status of
women This is so plain The women of the
. .
family do not now inherit property but are them ,
selves property passing from the hands of their

,
father to that of a husband As purchased wives .
they are compelled to reside in the husband s house ’
and among his kin who have no rights or dutie s

,
in regard to them and where they are strangers

, .
In a word the wife occupies the same position of

,
disadvantage as the man had done in the maternal

‘
marriage And her children kept her bound to

.
this alien home in a much closer way than the

husband could ever have been bound to her home .
The protection of her own kindred was the source

’
of the woman s power and strength This was now .
lost The change was not brought about without a

.
stru ggle and for long the old customs contended

,
with the new But as the patriarchate developed
.
,
and men began to gain in dividual possession of

their children by the purchase of their mothers ,
the father became the dominant power in t he

family Little by little individual inte rests pre
.
vailed M o ral limits were set up Women s free

. .
’
dom was threatened on every side as the j ealous

ownership which always a rises wherever women
,
are regarded as property as serted itself M other

, .
right passed away remaining only as a tradition or

, ,
preserved in isolated cases among primitive peoples .
The pat riarchal age which still endures succeeded

, ,
.
Yet in this connection it is very necessary to

r emember that the reassertion of the patriarchate
was as necessary a stage in human development

as the mate rnal stage Whatever may have been .
the advantages arisin g to women from the clan

organisation (and that the advantages were great
I c laim to have proved ) such conditio ns co u ld not
remain fixed for ever For society is not stable ;
.
it cannot be as the need for adj ustment is al ways

,
arising and at certain stages of development different

,
tendencies are active No one cause can be isolated

.
,
and therefo re it is necessary in estimating any

, ,
change to take a synthetic view of many facts that

are contemporaneous and interacting Yet it .
,
wo u ld seem that the social and domestic habits

of a people are decided largely by the degree of
dominance held either by women or men and almost
eve ryt hi ng else depends on the accurate adj ustment
of the rights of the two sexes .
26 6 THE PO S IT IO N OF WOMA N
and her children to the patriarchal system The .
‘
’
father s right in his children (which unlike the right ,
of the mother was not founded upon kinship but

, ,
rested on the quite different and insecure basis

of property ) had to be re established Without -
.
thi s being done the family in its complete develop

,
ment was impossible The s u rvival value of the

.
patria rchal age consists in the additional gain to

the children of the father s to the mother s care ’ ’
.
I do not think thi s gain will ever be lost We women .
need to remember this lest bitterness stains our

sense of j ustice It may be that progress could not
.
have been accomplished otherwise ; that the cost

’
of love s development has been t he enslavement of
women If so then women wi ll not in the long
.
, ,
acco unt of Nature have lost in the payment of

,
the price They may be (when they come again

.
to un derstand their power ) better fitted for their

refound freedom .
S uch is the hi story of the past what is the promise ,
of the future ?
We have t raced thr ee stages in the p as t evolution
of the family—two individual and pat riarchal ,
one communal and maternal Is the patriarchal .
stage then the final stage ? Has the upward

, ,
growth ever yet continuous been arrested here ?

, ,
The social ideal of the mother age was a transition -
and a dream— but as a moment of peace in the

records of struggle following the bloody opening
,
drama in man s history and then passing into a

’
forgetfulness so complete that its existence by many

IN PRI M ITIVE S O C IETY 26 7
has been denied Yet the feet of the race we re

.
in the way though men and women let it pass

, ,
blindly unknowing .
Our age is working for scarcely yet formulated

changes in the ownership of property and in the
status of women The patriarchal view of woman s
’
.
subj ection to man is being questioned in every

direction What do these movements indicate ?
.
If as seems probable the individual evolution

, , ,
already for so long continued is peris hing what is

, ,
to take its place ? What fo r m will the family take

in the future ? These are questions to which it is
not possible for me here even to attempt to fin d the
answer .
1
Let us look for a moment in this new direction ,
the direction of the future because it is there that

,
the past becomes so important In our contem .
p or a ry society there is a deep lying dissatisfaction

-
with existing conditions a yearning and restless

,
need for change We stand in the first rush of a

.
great movement It is the day of experiments

.
,
when again the old customs are in struggle with the

new We are questioning where before we have
.
accepted and are seeking out new ways in which

,
mankind will go—will go because it must .
Social institutions alter very slowly as a rule ;

for long a change may pass unnoticed until one day ,
it is discovered that a step forward has been taken .
Those changes that appear so new and are bringing

fear to many to d ay are but the last consequences
,
1
I hop e t o d o so in a fut u re bo ok o n Motherhood .
of causes that for long have been operating slowly .
The ext rao rdinary enthusiasm now sweeping thro u gh

womanhood reveals behi nd its immediate feveri sh
express ion a great power of emotional and spiritual
initiative Wide and radically sweeping are the
.
c hanges in women s outlook So much stronger

’
.
is the pro mise of a vital force when they have refound

their e mancipati on To this end women must gain
.
eco nomic security and the freedom for the full

,
exp ression of their womanhood The ultimate.
goal I conceive—at least I hope — is the right to be

women not the right to become like men There
, .
can be no gain for women except this To be mothers

.
were women c reated an d to be fathe rs men This .
rightly considered is the deepest of all truths .
What is needed at present is that women should

be allowed to rediscover for the mselves what is their
’
woman s work rather than that they should continue
,
to accept perforce the r ole which men ( rightly or

wrongly) have at various times allowed to them
throughout the patriarchal ages Thi s necessity is
.
as much a necessity for me n as it is for women .
I do not think that women will fail ( even if for

a time they stumble a little ) in fin ding the way .
The vital germinal spot of each forward step in

women s position must be sought wi th the women
’
who are the conscious mothers of the race The .
great women reformers are not those who would

have women act j ust like men in all ext em als ,
but those who are conscious that all men are born
of women In this lies women s strengt h in the
.
’
IND EX
A B
A BS O RP TIO N t he male of by Ba byl n p i ti
o os o n of wo m en in
d
,
fem al e i eas , 75 an i n t c e
4 21 -
21 5
d y B a hanalian f l
,
A v an ce o f t h e famil t o t he est i v a 38 , 2 4 1 ,
—
cc s,
clan an d t ri e, 36 , 6 7 9 1 , b 2 43
1
70 25 6 et se
q . B acho fen , 2 6 et s eq , 40 , 9 7, 1 5 4, .
Afn ca, 1 74 -
20 5
Agri cu tu r e l wo m en , 60 et
an d B ac ho fen
’
s eo r y of m atri
1 5 8 , 1 9 4- 2 0 8 arc hy 26 —
f
eq ’ 44
hl
.
Al it as o P i i
,
in es , 1 5 2 B an cro ft , 1 2 4, 1 25
pF
,
Al ladins 0 1 6 0 ( Coast 1 8 5 1 84
ll
A iso n , M rs , 1 9 8 B an d lie er , 2 0 7
y ai t b
.
z
Ama o ns , 34 , 36 , 38 , 2 2 8 , 2 45 B an ri e, 1 83
46
2
Amaz o ns , r ev ol t o f, 31 , 32 , 36 ,
38 B at u tri be, 1 75
A mbel anak m arriage,
-
1 4 7, 1 8 2 l
B avi i tn be, 1 8 5
'
Am eri can a o rigin es , b 2 7, 9 5 B een a m arriage,
An daman ese, wo m en
’
s work B en efi t s of m arriage law for
am o ng, I 9 7 wo m en , 32
An d om b i e wom en work B eni Am er o f Afr i ca,
’
s s -
21 1
amo ng, 2 0 1
,
b
B er ers , 2 2 2 2 2 7 —
p
A es , anthr o o i , 72 , 80 , 8 1 p d B o nwic , 1 9 5 k
b
Ara ia, 1 78 , 2 0 6 B r ew ers , wom en as , 2 0 3
b
Ar a s, 1 79 1 8 0 , 1 8 9 -
d p
B ri e- ri ce, 1 5 9 , 1 8 4, 1 9 0 , 2 60 ,
h
Arc i t ect s , wom en as rimi p 2 63
ti v e, 1 1 7, 2 0 3 B ru t e force o f mal e, 44
-
See .
Arruwim i tr i e, 2 0 1 b F h
at er as t ran t y .
y
Ar ans , m o t er esc en t among, h d -
k y
B u c l e , 1 9 7, 1 9 8
23 0 et seq
At h n
.
6, 2 20
C
e s, 2 1
At kinso n , M n , 4 7, 5 1 , 5 2 . 2 4,
5 6 , 69 , 71 , 72 , 73, 76 , 77, 8° Cal iforni an e s ins, 1 2 4 R dk

8 1 , 8 2 , 8 4, 8 5 , 86 Cam pb ll
e , 1 83
l
Au stra ia, 1 0 2 , 1 6 7- 1 70 , 1 78 Ca t u re of w i v es , 5 1 , 6 4, 74,
l
Au st ra ia, wor of wom en in, k p
o , 8 3. I 69 , 1 8 1
l
C e ts , 2 33, 2 34
270
INDEXl 271
Ce yl n 73 8 o ,
1 ,
1 2 Di v init i es , wo m en as, 1 36 et
Cha l i
r ero x , 1 1 seq 1 5 4, 21 4, 21 7 2 1 9 , 2 29 ,
4 .
, ,
C ha ann v 6 6 e, 1 0, 1 1
C hi al y v 6 r 1 2 Di v o r ce, 1 1 3, 1 21 ,
1 41 -
1 4 3,
Ch i n l igh t
,
o ce i th o v e, e r of t he 5 7, 1 79 , 2 0 6 , 2 60
1
f m al
e 64 3 5e, 1 1 1 1 - 1 5 3, D j u du r m arriage, 1 8 2 , 2 5 9
I77 6 Z O
, ,
D o ct ors , wo m en as, 2 0 3
Cl an p im it i
,
8 r3 v e, 1 10 66 ,
1 D o m es t i cat io n o f anima s , l 20 3
1 6 7,
,
1 76 , 1 9 0,
,
20 9 ,
,
2 5 7 et D y
u v e ri er, 1 6 0 , 1 6 1 , 1 6 2
seq
l li
.
C omm u na v in g, 75 ,
8 8, 103
E
cl seq 1 1 6, 7 et seq , 1 4 8
1 1
hy
. .
,
et seq . 1 5 4, 1 6 6 , 1 74 , 2 31 , Econom ic mat riarc ,

1 59 et
,
25 6 et s e s eq
Co n trast bt w e een th e work Egyri t , p o s i t ion o f wom en in

of wom en an d m en , 1 95 et i
an c ent , 1 62 , 21 1 -
2 1 4, 2 2 7
seq Ell is H av elo ck

, ,
1 5 3, 1 9 2, 1 99 ,
l y
.
C onv en t iona m oral it , 36

hp
Cou rt s i , 4 5 , 1 2 0 et seq , 1 5 1 Eu ri pd e es , 2 39
15 3 See C o ice in o v e h l
.
.
Exogam y ,
—
76 77, 8 7, 1 1 9 , 1 2 3,
d
.
Co u v a e, 2 0 6 , 2 2 8
Cr awl er, 4 7, 77, 20 9 Exp ansmn o f t he fami ly mto
k d
C r ee I n i ans , 1 1 8 - 1 1 9 t h e clan, 6 7 et s eq , 79 . et seq .
,
C ret e, m at riarc in ancient , hy 8 6 8 7, 9 7, 2 5 6 et seq

- .
C rit icis m of m th o er- rig ht ,

1 9,
95 Fairy t heir ev i ence

st ori es, d
Cu rr , 1 2 8 h
for m ot er-rig t , 2 46 — 25 2 h
h
Cu s ing, 1 1 7, 2 37 p
r im it iv e, 4 1 , 4 8 et
seq , 5 4 —
.
5 5 , 6 8 cl seq , 1 6 8 .
1 69 , 2 5 6 et seq
D F an t i o f o G ld
Co ast , 1 75
.
D All osso,
’
Prof . 2 46 F h at er as t rant , 34, 4 4, 4 8 , y
D al t n 33 5
,
o 1 1 2 5 0 , 5 4. 5 7, 6 3, 6 8 , 70 , 72 . 74,
D an
, ,
ces , 1 0 0 8 1 , 8 3, 1 6 8 , 2 5 5
Da g n 3 2 3
r u 2 0, 1 F h at er t he tru e arent , 38 , 39 , p
D a win 45
,
r 2 39
Fat h er ht d p nd
,
D g ma iag 1 8 2
ee a rr e, -
rig e e ent on p u r
D M aill a 5
e 1 0 ch as e, 1 82 et s eq . 1 85 -
1 8 6,
D nik
, ,
e 98 er , 1 1 88, 1 9 ,
0 2 6 2 -
263
D nn t t 8 5
e e 1 Fem al e dom inance 35 , 1 1 1
D p nd n
, ,
e ef th e ce o e hu m an 1 33, 1 5 6, 1 5 9 . See G y naeco

hfl d 5 8
c crac y .
D nt t h ugh th h
,
esce ro e m ot er , F errass , M ax enry , 8 0 H

1 7, 2 6, 33, 8 8 , 1 19, 1 60 , Fison , 1 9 3, 2 0 0 , 2 0 6
1 62 et s eq , 1 6 3- . 1 65 ,
21 3 F kl
ol - or e as ev i ence of mot her d
4, 2 2 0 et seq , 2 2 4,
21 . 2 2 7, h
ri g t , 2 33, 2 34, 2 36 et s eq , .
2 30 , 2 32 - 2 33, 2 49 et s eq .
,
2 49 , 2 5 1
2 5 7, 2 5 8 et seq . Foo d
an d women, 5 9 et seq .
D iod oru s, 2 1 1 , 2 1 2 See I n u str an d women d y .

272 I NDE X
Forbes 1 8 3 H u s band vis iti n g t he wife by
ht
,
Fo rmosans 1 5 0 - 1 5 1 n ig 8 1 , 8 3, 1 40 -
1 41 , 2 20 ,
Fraz er 1 33 1 79
, ,
, , ,
1 8 7, 21 5 ,
2 20 , 25 8
2 33
Fu egians ,
20 3 I
I b erians , m ot h er - rig ht am o ng,
G 2 2 6- 2 2 7
G aro s , 1
5 1 -
1 5 2 Ibn B atu a, 1 78
Germans m ot h d er- escent Ill e tim acy , 1 2 2 , 1 8 4, 1 8 5 , 1 89
g ih
amo n
,
2 30 —
2 31 Im l urn , 1 9 6 , 2 00
G irau d eu lo n , 2 8 , 1 76 , 216 p
I m ort an ce o f m ot er - escen t , h d
Greece an ci en t , t r ac es of I 7) 20 1 2 1 )
2 71 32
—33 1
h h
,
m o t er ri g t in , -
21 6- 2 2 2 99 , 1 0 0 , 1 1 9, 1 21 ,
1 33, 1 39 ,
Gri mm , 2 31 1 4 3, I 49 et s eQu 1 5 3, I SS.
Gro t e 2 1 6 ,
Gu in ea 1 8 1
Gu r d on P
,
R 1 32 , 1 35 1 37, p
I nc es t , at ern a , 79 , 1 76 1 78 l -
d
. .
, , ,
I n i a, 1 0 2 See K has is .
d
.
Gy naeco cracy I n i an s o f G u iana, 1 9 5 , 2 00

so . 34 , 38 . 9 7, 2 7,
d an d w om en , 60 —
y
,
1 1 2, 1 1 6 6 2 , 1 76 I n u s tr 6 2,
33, 5 , 5 9
1 - 1
1 0 2 , 1 1 6 , 1 1 7, I 34, I 3S, 1 5 0 , .
H 1 75 , 1 9 2 2 0 8 -
H addo n 5 3, 1 9 6 1
H ai d is , 1 8 7
,
J
H l H
a e, o rat io , 2 0 5 J eal o us y , 4 5 ct 5 4,
H l J
a l, R , 2 1 7, 2 1 8
. .
62, 6 5 1 6 71 6 8 1 731 8 61 9 0 1
b
Hamm ura i , Co d e o f, 21 4
H art lan d 1 1 4 1 2 3, 1 25 1 72 ,
J hn t n H H
o s o e, . 20 1
J int t n m nt h
.
, ,
, ,
I 77, 1 86 o e e e ou s es , 1 0 6,
Hassany ah Ara s , 1 79 - 1 8 0 b 7 48II 1
y T d ay
,
J
H ay d as , 1 9 8 o S ce . ee or .
H earn e, 1 78 u sti n, 2 2 8
H b
e r ew a tr iarchs , 1 3, p 2 22
et seq .
H e io t 1 1 1 1 3 1 2 0
r 0, K afli r s, 2 0 3
H ero d otu s 2 1 1 2 1 7 2 2 1 b
, ,
, , ,
K am il aro i an d K u rnai tri es ,
H errera 1 1 7 1 9 3, 2 0 1
H od gson 1 5 9 1 77
,
, ,
K am t s chat d als , 2 0 3
H offm an 2 0 8 Kh as is , 1 32 218
ly
,
H o m e wom an s co nnec tion ’

K i ngs e , M i ss , 1 75
h hp h h
,
wit t he 34 35
-
36 5 9 , 8 4, K ins i t rou g wom en See .
D h h h
.
et s eq , . 2 63 escent t rou g m ot er .
H om er 2 1 9 K ooc hs , 1 76- 1 77
K u bary , 1 5 5 —
,
H oo k er Si J I r 15 6
H op is 1 2 2 —1 2 3
.
d
,
K u r s , 20 4
H ospit al it y Am er ican
,
,
- I ndian,
H owit t 1 9 3 20 0 Lai ng 1 76
H u sb an d as
,
d
, ,
gu est , co nso rt L ang, An r ew, 2 4, 4 7, 5 1 , 5 6,

1 5 . See M at er nal marriage .
95
S
274 IN DE X
Pearson K , ,
. 2 31 ,
2 40 , 2 41 , R
2 4 3, 2 48 . 2 5
Pecuniary
0 25 1
hy Race p o ns i b ili t y to ,
8—
37,
.
r es
m at riarc , 5 9
1
26 2 69
P ed angs o f Su m atra,
Pel ew Is lan d
1 48 - 1 5 0
Rat z el 2 0 6
R el igio ns pos ition
,
ers , 1 5 2 1 5 9, 20 7
-
of wom en
20 8
p im ti
,
in 37, 2 38 ,
P et h erick 2 80 ,
S
r
Di
i v e, 29 ,
vini t i es , wom en
Pict s mo ther d escent
2 41 ee
amo ng,
.
-
,
as .
2 32
Pik e W 1 9 8 .
R eligi ou s fes ti v a s , l 2 41 ,
2 42
Plato 2 39
, ,
Pl u tarc h 2 1 6 2 2 0
,
Poly an dry 4 2 5 1
, ,
, , ,
1 1 2, 1 25 ,
R evol t of wom en , 31 , 34, 35 ,
136 , 1 73, 2 60
ly
Po gam ou s mal es , 49 , 5 0 , 5 2 R hy s an d B rynmor J on es
ly y
Po gam , 1 1 2 , 1 2 5 , 1 5 7, 2 5 9 2 33
-
Ri ed el 1 8 3
,
ly
Po n es ians , 2 0 3 R om
,
an ci ent traces of
Posit ion o f th e fat er, 1 3, 1 5 , h e,
m o t h er right in, ~
,
21 5
-
216
I 7, 2 1 , 5 8 et seq , 1 4 1 , 1 4 3, .
1 49 , 1 6 5 , 1 70 , I 73, 1 9 1 , 2 2 5 ,
2 38 . 2 4 2 . 2 5 7
8
Positi on o f th e mo ther , 1 3, 1 5 ,
'
b
Sa i t u e, 1 2 3- 1 2 4
1 7, 2 1 , 5 8 et seq , 1 1 1 , 1 6 5 , . h b
Sal is tri e, 1 2 7
1 76 , 1 9 1 , 2 2 5 , 2 38 , 2 5 7 Sam o a , 1 8 7
Po si tion o f wo m en , 1 8 , 2 0 , 2 1 , Santal 77 s, 1
2 5 , 2 6 , 1 0 6 , 1 3, 1 2 . 1 5 8
4 5 S h ll ng
c e o 20 1
S h l
, ,
c oo aft cr 1 1 0 , 1 1 2, 1 1 6
Powell S mp
,
,
1 1 4, 1 16 e 5 7er , 1
Power 20 2, 2 24 S n a
e ec S s . ee I ro qu ois
S i I n di an
.
hl p d
,
P re matr iar c a
-
erio , 35 , er s , 1 2 6- 1 2 8
1 69 , 2 5 5 Servi ce m arriage ,
1 47
-
1 5 0, 1 8 4,
Pres en t social and economi c 2 2 2- 2 2 3
d
co n i ti o n , 1 4 , 2 6 7 2 69 -
Sex antagoni sm , 36 , 5 5 ,
2 6 4 et
l
Prev a en ce o f m ot er- escent , h d
g
3o
1 7, 1 2 8 - 1 2 9 , 2 09 -2 1 0 , 2 33 Sex al o is m of ma l
61 , 67
e, .
Pri m al l aw, 2 4, 47, 5 2, 73, 74, See nso ci al con u ct dof

mal e .
P rom 1sc u 1 ty , 2 3, 25 ,
2 7, 31 ,
Sexu al frw d om for wo m en ,
32 , 4° 0‘ 4 3, 4 5 et seq , . 1 20 , 1 2 7, 1 7x, 1 73, 1 78 .
6
7 . 9 7, 9 9 , 1 6 8 , 2 0 9 -2 1 0 . 2 5 5 1 79 1 80 , 2 60
-
Prop ert y o wn ers hi p its x l

Se u a su j ect i on of emal e, b f
po
,
rt ance fo r wo m en , 4 3, 5 31 6 31 6 8 ) 1 89 1 1 9 1 1 2 6 5
45 at 77, 9 7, 9 9 ,
seq .
, 1 6 8, 2 66
2 09 - 2 1 0 , 2 5 5 Similari t y of se es, 1 2 9 - 1 31 , x
bl
Pu e os, 1 1 6 et s eq , 2 0 0 , 2 0 7 21s
h d
.
P urc ase marriage, 1 2 4, 1 77, Sim il k am een In ians , 1 9 8

1 8 2 , 2 33 l
S av s, t he c an am ong t h e, 2 31 l
p
Pu ritan s iri t , 36, 9 6 , 2 5 5 l
Soc ia co n u ct of wom en , 3 1 , d
34 , 5 5 at s eq , 5 9 6 5 , 6 8 . 70 . .
—
Q 72 , 75 . 8 1 , 9 0 , 1 0 7, 1 9 3, 2 5 6
Qu issama wom en, 2 0 3 et seq.
IN DE X 275
So cia l h abit p s, ri m it iv e, 2 3, 49 , U nso cial co ndu ct of m al e, 5 5

4, 6 8 , 71 , 72 , 75
-6
5 8 et s eq 6 7, 8 1 , 1 0 7 et s eq ,
. . et seq ,
6 1.
,
l
,
70
1 . See M at erna m ar 90 , I 9 3: 2 5 6
riage
l
So u im a wom en, 1 76 V
p
S ai n, p o siti o n of wom en in,
Vi iting wif e in secret , 1 —
—
7 3
22 2 0
s 40 1 41 ,
8
Sp t 471 2 2 0 , 2 2 2 - 2 2 3, 2 5
V lti 3
,
ar a , 2 2 0 , 2 2 2
Sp n
o 12
e H 8
c er , 1 0 ,
Sp i it l q al it y
.
,
r ua u in wom en,
31 . 5 6 . 6 8
St ages in t he d ev e o m ent o f lp d
W a e, 1 89
t h e fam il , 1 7, 2 3, 9 7, 1 6 8 , y z
W ait G er an , 1 8 1
-
l d
1 74 . 1 9 4 . 2 5 4 et 34 9 W am o im ia, 1 75
W ar an d women, 11 —
5 1 16 ,
971 9 8 , 2 46 - 1
T W at u bl
e a t ri e, 1 8 3 b
T aboo s p i m it i x
s e u al ,
y
W a ao tn b e, 1 8 3
'
— 8
,
r
1 0 7. I 6 8 . 1
ve 73, ll
W e s , M r H G , 2 4, 5 2 , 1 9 2 .
l
. .
77 7 7 .
0 25 7
Tacitu s
.
2 30
W ern er , A i ce, 1 75 , 2 0 4
,
Tarrahu m ari I n i ans, 1 5 d 2

W es t erm arck , 1 8 , 35 , 42 , 4 7,
T asm anian wom en, 1 9 5
T h eb ans 2 2 0 h l
W ee er , M , 15 2 J . .
T h ib et 1 73
,
l
W i k in , 1 8 8 , 1 8 9
Th om as
,
C . 1 29
W o m an as foo giv er , 60 , 2 0 2 et d -
T h o ma s I T 1 8 1 2 0 2
, ,
s eq .
W o m an m o v em ent ,
. .
T ho m as N W 9 5
, , ’
s 1 1 et seq
. .
T o r d ay an d J oice 1 8 4
, ,
2 6 7- 2 6 8
To rr es Str ait s wom en s

,
’
work W om en p i m it i r v e, not ill
t at d by m n
,
,
re e e 20 0 et s eq
in , 96
.
pi it al p y
1 ,
T ot em nam es ,
W m no e s r u su er i ori t
77, 8 7, 1 1 9 , 1 68, , ,
3 0
7
W i ght A h
25
To u ar egs of the Saraha 5 9
r R s er , ev . 1 1 1
W y an d t
1 , ,
I
,
S o s ee ro qu ois
62 , 2 2 7 . .
1
T ransit io n p
eri o , 1 2 , 2 3, 1 5 1 , d
1 6 9 , 1 8 4 et s eq , 1 8 7, 2 35 , 2 6 1 .
T ri a b l an ces tr ess es , 1 35 , 1 5 5 , Y ahgan of T i erra d el Fu ego ,

1 98
Tu rn er 1 8 8 1 9 7 Y aos o f Afri ca, 1 75
T yl or 2 5 9 8 1 0 4
, ,
, , , ,
11 7, 15 2 Y m er , 1 5 7
Y o ki a wom en of Cali fornia ,
20 2
Z
U n cert aint y of pat ernit y ,
2 7, Z u ni I n ians, d 1 1 7
-
1 1 8, 1 20
41 , 42 . 99, 1 4 1 .
25 4 1 22
R icha r d dr' Sons , L i m i ted, L ondon and B el uga) .

TH E TR U TH A B O U T W O M A N
By C . G A SQU O INE H A RT L EY
( M rs W al t er G allichan )
.
S OM E P RESS O P INIONS
boobs p fi ro t able f
o t he many r ecent
u pon the woman s movement

’
It is is tingu is e a i e h d lk
the sco of d by
i
.
l kl l
its earni ng, the s i fu way in w i c evi ence is m ars a ed , and , a ve h h d h ll
al l, by d d
the in epen en ce o f t o ug t an d t em per ro u h h b
g t to the i n ter h
p rotati o n of t he mod ern iss u es T he is c u ss io n o f se x idf
f.e rences d
and o f t he social p ro ems w ic bl h h
sp ri ng therefro m s o ws no t o n h
wi e ly d
and d
eep pe rso na acq uaintance wi t l h d
m o ern m en and wo men , bu t a
l d
s in u ar free o m fro m so me o f the s ueami s ness o f t o ug t and fee i n
g q h h g h l
whrch ham rs mos t iscuss io n d
a n ex ceedi ngly i mpor ta n t cont ri
”
but ion t o I most de all pr oblem qf ou r and every ot her ti me .
J .A . HO O
BS N in M anches t er Gua r dia n .
The book show s a f ear less i nt el lect u al honesty and a deep sy mpat hy
and toler an ce ; it i s t he wor k of a ser iou r stud ent a n d of a woma n who
k now: Ii e as h
well
a: l ibr ar ies lD The c apt er o n Sexua ifferences
b b ly b d l h
.
in M in is a so r i ng interest i" and ase o n the at est researc

ly ly fi b d d ly
.
She wri t es fi ne and t ru on l e a su r and in ecent cru e t of
p l
ena is i ng d h hd y
i vo rc e ; on the c eris e su pers t ition o f fem ini ne passi vit
l h y b
i n ove , and the o rigi n o f t he c as ti t h ta oo o n wo men wit its wast e of
l l
ife and o ve h
She ev en has a sane and u mane cha ter o n p rosti t u t ion,
l y y
.
reco ni si n th com i t f it a u a nd th k i n n s and n ro sit

g g e p ex o s c se s , e e s g e e
h h ll h
o f t ese scapegoat wo m en t o o n e ano t er, as we as t eir ero ti c i n
b y
se nsi ilit The book shou ld be r ead by all edu cat ed men a n d wom en
ll b bly d h d h
. .
It wi pro a be greet e wi t screams o f enunciatio n fro m t ose

p e rso n s wh h l y
ose h ll k
o sti it f lh
o rms a a m a r o f m enta o nesty and soc ial
-
l
va u e
”
The E ngl is h Revi ew
. .
“W y h tily mm d th i m k bl b k
e ver ear E y co en s re ar a e oo ver
h pt b d i h ll g t th gh t d w m t th k w m
.
c a er a o un s n c a en es o ou , an e us an a o an
wh h o d d d d t thi k nd d d t y Th P l l M ll
as are an care o n a are o sa .
”
e a a
h lb k b h h
One o f t he most t o ug tfu oo s a ou t women I ave yet rea d
b k d d ly h d
.
The oo is cert ai n o f an a vance femin ism , yet the au t or is fo un

ly d l y
mo st st ro ng on t he si e o f m ar riage, o f ove, of wo m en s femininit as
’
h h h h h h ll b
t eir strengt ; in fa ct , o f all t he t ings w ic s a o w o servers suppose
”—
the wo man m o vem ent is act iv e ly d yen i ng Tr u th . .
“S d d w ll
an e, sou n d, h h
an m e ap ity th n
reaso ne s e as ore c ac a
an y th o w m n
erw i t f th ok i ad w h yrt m
er o
”—
f e n e ave e co e across or re
g d
aring ll q ti n a f f m
ues h m n i
o s o
p t f i w
se x G l g w ro t e a
’
s o n o v e . as o
V
E EL EIG H NAS H. 3 6 King S t r eet , Cov ent Garden, L ondon, W C . .

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T H E P O SI TI O N O F W O M A N

VI I F U R T HER E XAMPL E S O F T HE MAT ER NAL F AM I LY 1 47

LO RE I N HER O I C LEGE ND S AND I N FA I R Y

T HE PRI MITI VE FAM I L Y

upon as the golden age the dawn some say of

feminine civilisation We cannot estimate as yet

and no man can tell what forces these new con

The modern change is that the will of woman is

factory life which is to be determined from within

themselves not from without by others The

result is a discontent that may well prove to be

women are ﬁnding themselves and men are dis ,

covering what women mean .

In the present time we are p assing through a

of change that have to be met the outcome of ,

which it is very difﬁcult to appreciate A trans .

formation in the thought and conduct of women ,

for which the term revolution is not too strong ,

is taking place around us ; doubtless m any experi

The expression a transition period is of

course only relative We often say : This or that

is a sign of the present era ; and nine tim es out o f ,

ten the thing we be lieve to be new is in reality as

old as the world itself In one sense the whole of .

history is a vast transition N o period stands .

alone ; the present is in every age merely the

ment sometimes takes the form of a cataract at ,

others of an even and almost imperceptible current .

This is really another way of saying that the usually

stages interrupted by a more or less prolonged

period of revolution The process of growth from .

being gradual and imperceptible becomes violent ,

There can be little doubt that what is called

inﬂuences on social opinion and practice is bringing ,

vas t and momentous changes in women s attitude ’

towards the universe and towards thems elves A .

great motive and an enlarging ideal a quickening ,

of the woman s spirit a stirring dream of a new

order—these are what we have gained We are

carried on though as yet we know not whither

and there is of necessity a little stumbli ng of our

feet as we seek for a way Hence the fear always .

tending to arise in periods of social r econstruction ,

which is felt by many to day as women pass out

far beyond the established boundaries prescribed

Whoever reﬂects soberly on the past history of

ing a position that is theirs by natural right —a

well for those who accept the authority and head

what seems to them to be a quite new assertion

B ut has the family at all stages of growth been

tions older and as I believe wiser than ours that

have accepted the predominant position of the

The vi ew that the family much as it e x isted ,

among the Hebrew patriarchs and as it exists ,

to day was primeval and universal is very deeply

rooted This is not surprising To reverse the

gaze of men from themselves is no easy task The .

predominance of the male over the female of ,

in a civilisation built up on the recognition of male

institutions habits prej udices and supe rstitions

of the patriarchal autho rity rest like an incubus

load upo n their backs and lite rally stagger beneath

the accumulating burden of the ages .