Page:The Feminist Movement - Snowden - 1912.djvu/209

 it does not lie in the mouths of any of us to say that taking part in the framing of the policy of the Empire is degrading to the sex. In any other department of human thought than politics such an argument would be described by no milder word than "cant." Cant it undoubtedly is.' Lord Salisbury, Sir Michael Hicks Beach, and Lord Beaconsfield were amongst the sincere friends of the women's cause.

The fear that possesses some timid people is the idea that women want to sit in Parliament. It is quite conceivable that some women may aspire to such a position, and equally certain that some would do good work there. This would come within the demands of the feminist. It is pure feminism. But this must be remembered by those who dislike the idea of the woman legislator, that women will never be able to go to Parliament because they want to go there. They will only be able to go through the same doors as men. They will have to persuade some constituency to elect them. They will have to submit to tests far more severe than any man would have to face, for women candidates would have to face not only the prejudice of the male elector but the hostile criticism of the average woman elector, who will certainly not be inclined to favour one of her own sex. The standards which women set