Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/752

 WOMAN

WOMAN

as the male, namely in endurance and patience, in quiet long-suffering, in short, in aU that concerns its real sphere, viz., the inner life" ("Lose Blatter", collected by von Gorgen; Freiburg, 1895, 50). On account of the moral equaUty of the sexes the moral law for man and woman must also be the same. To assume a lax morality for the man and a rigid one for the woman is an oppressive injustice even from the point of view of common sense. Woman's work is also in itself of equal value with that of a man, as the work performed by both is ennobled by the same human dignity.

The fact that there is no sexually neutral human being has, however, a second consequence. The sexual character can be separated from the human being as something secondary only in thought, not in actuality. The word "person" belongs neither to the soul nor to the body alone; it is rather, that the soul informing the body constitutes the fuU conception of the human personality only in its union with the body. It is in no way, therefore, permissible to limit differ- ences only to the primary and secondary pecuharities of the body. On the contrary, the indisputable results of anatomical, physiological and psychological research show a difference so far-reaching between man and woman that the following is established as a scientific result: the feminine personality assumes the complete human nature in a different manner from the masculine. According to the intention of the Creator, therefore, the manifestation of human nature in woman necessarily differs from its manifes- tation in man; the social spheres of interests and callings of the sexes are unlike. These distinctions can be diminished or increased by education and cus- tom but cannot be completely annulled. Just as it is not permissible to take one sex as the standard of the other, so from the social point of view it is not allowable to confuse the vocational activities of both. The most manly man and the most feminine woman are the most perfect types of tlieir sexes.

From this far-reaching sexual difference there follows, thirdly, the combination of the sexes for the purpose of an organic social union of the human race, which we call humanity, that is to say humanity cannot be represented by any number, however large, of individuals of like sex but is to be found solely in the social and organic union of man and woman. Thus each man and each woman is, indeed, by nature a complete human being with the high moral vocation already mentioned; on the other hand the entire male sex in itself represents only the half of humanity and the female sex the other half, while one man and one woman together suffice to represent humanity. Con- sequently each of the two sexes requires the other for its social complement; a complete social equality would nullify this purpose of the Creator. Evidently the intention at the basis of the differences men- tioned is to force the complemental union of the two sexes as a necessity of nature. Accordingly, notwithstanding the equal human dignity, the rights and duties of the woman differ from those of the man in the family and the forms of society which naturally develop from it.

If the two sexes are designed by nature for a homo- geneous organic co-operation, then the leading posi- tion or a social pre-eminence must necessarily fall to one of them. Man is called by the Creator to this position of leader, as is shown by his entire bodily and mtellectual make-up. On the other hand, as the result of this, a certain social subordination in respect to man which in no way injures her personal independ- ence is assigned to woman, as soon as she enters into union with him. Consequently nothing is to be urged on this point of equality of position or of equal- ity of rights and privileges. To deduce from this the inferiority of woman or her degredation to a "second- rate human being" contradicts logic just as much as

would the attempt to regard the citizen as an inferior being because he is subordinate to the officials of the state.

It should be emphasized here that man owes his authoritative pre-eminence in society not to personal achievements but to the appointment of the Creator, accordingto the word of the Apostle: "The man ... is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of the man" (I Cor., xi, 7). The Apostle in this reference to the creation of the first human pair presupposes the image of God in the woman. As this likeness manifests itself exteriorly in man's su- premacy over creation (Gen., i, 26), and as man as the born leader of the family first exercised this suprem- acy, he is called directly God's image in this capacity. Woman takes part in this supremacy only indirectly, imder the guidance of the man and as his help- meet. It is impossible to limit the Pauline statement to the single family; and the Apostle liimself inferred from this the social position of woman in the Chiu-ch community. Thus her natural position is assigned to woman in every form of society that springs neces- sarily from the family. This po.sition is described by St. Thomas Aquinas with classic clearness ("Summa theol.", I, Q. xcii, a. 1, ad 2'"°). This doctrine which has always been maintained by the Catholic Church was repeatedly emphasized by Leo XIII. The Encyclical "Arcanum", 10 February, 1880, declares: "The hu.sband is the ruler of the family and the head of the wife; the woman as flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone is to be subordinate and obedient to the husband not, however, as a hand-maid but as a com- panion of such a kind that the obedience given is as honourable as dignified. As, however, the hu.sband ruling represents the image of Christ and the wife obedient the image of the Church, Divine love should at all times set the standard of duty".

Thus the germ of himian society, which a sound sociology must take as its starting-point, is not the abstract human individual but the living union of man and woman primarily in the home. The differ- ent characteristics in the equipment of the sexes point to such a division of labour between the two that man and woman are to watch over the training of the grow- ing generation, not apart from each other, but jointly and in partnership.

Consequently the activities ot both in the social domain may perhaps be compared to two concentric circles of unlike circumference. The external, larger circle represents the vocational labours of the man, the inner circle that of the woman. What the Creator prepared by the difference of endowment is realized in the indissoluble marital union of one man and one woman. The man becomes a father with paternal rights and duties which include the support of the family and, when necessary, their protection. On the other hand, the woman receives with motherhood a scries of maternal duties. The social duties of the woman may, therefore, be designated as motherhood, just as it is the duty of man to be the representative of paternal authority. The completely developed femi- nine personality is thus to be found in the mother. Of course this development of motherhood in the woman is not limited to its physiological aspect. It is rather that this motherly sense and its activity can and should, as the highest development of noble womanhood, precede marriage and can exist without it. As a creature compounded of the spiritual and material, the human being has more than the destiny of continuing his race by generation and birth. It is still more incumbent on him to develop the spiritual and intellectual life by the training which is rightly called the second birth. This training, however, prospers as little without the specific inotlierly influ- ence, as the bringing of a child into the world without the mother. The community, the nation, the state, however, are, as the necessary natural development of