Page:Lily Gair Wilkinson - Revolutionary Socialism and the Woman's Movement.djvu/8

 Rh women, and not for it. As Bebel says: "the laws of nature hold good in human life. If a gardener or planter sought to maintain with regard to a given plant that it could not grow, although he made no trial, perhaps even hindered its growth by wrong treatment, such a man would be pronounced a fool by his intelligent neighbours." Now, if a similar statement originated with a woman there would not be wanting men to generalise upon the instance as a proof of the incapacity of the female mind for logical methods of thought; yet the supposed logical mind of man has not generally perceived that the alleged inferiority of women is in reality an argument in favour of instituting equality of the sexes in social benefits. Before we can judge whether women are naturally deficient as compared with men they must have an equal chance with men of development. This they certainly have not at present; opportunities of larger knowledge and experience in social life, which are given to men, are denied to women. In nearly all civilised countries women are still refused the right to take part in the making of the laws which they must obey. Ali sorts of difficulties, legal and conventional, are put in the way of women who desire to take upon themselves their own responsibilities. Women, in fact, are not given equal social opportunities with men.

The question of natural inferiority or otherwise seems therefore of minor importance, It matters little to any practical woman whether her sex as a whole is less capable than the male sex as a whole. She may very well leave that matter to those who love to wrangle about non-essentials. She may very well turn her attention to the vastly more important question—that of the unequal social opportunities of the sexes, of the undoubted social inferiority of women.

So far, then, the Socialist and feminist movements are in full agreement. Socialism is in sympathy with the exposure of the superficial and illogical arguments of the anti-feminists. Socialism also recognises all the world over that women must have equal freedom with men if ever social freedom is established at all. And, furthermore, in regard to the present. Suffragist movement, the S.L.P. does not share the bourgeois horror of the mildly "militant tactics" of the "Neo-Suffragists." The S.L.P. gives credit to the Suffragists for their organised efforts to gain publicity for their cause. Certainly the methods used are frequently of a vulgar nature. But what of that? As a certain nineteenth century wit has said, "the one touch of nature that makes the whole world kin