Page:The Moslem World Vol XI.djvu/143

Rh women must show themselves worthy of confidence, to which end they must have education of which Western women must show the value, and to the Oriental mind education and moral training are acknowledged as the fruit of Christianity.

One sign of the awakening of Persia, is that men are willing that girls as well as boys should be educated. Surely this points to an acknowledgment of the handicap put upon women which has kept the race back at its source. While there must be a changed and enlightened manhood willing that this handicap should be removed, there must be a corresponding desire on the part of the women, also the weakening or collapse of the system of which this handicap is a product. To an unexpected degree this willingness and desire coexist; how is the third obstacle to be overcome?

What is the present-day position of women in Persia? Owing to the lack of education, child marriage, polygamy, (temporal and eternal) temporary marriage, concubinage, easy divorce on the part of the husband, and a low estimate of her powers and trustworthiness, it is one of disaster. How can men become patriots and leaders whose mothers are subjected to such indignities? Mohammedan men appropriate every privilege to themselves, and do all in their power to debase and humiliate womanhood. Hence, the women are downtrodden but defiant and imperious, with little idea of self-control. The attempt to improve upon nature, and to banish woman from her rightful place in the world, has resulted in a mutilated, unbalanced social order, which militates against home life and national development. There is no word in the language for home, and on the very rare occasions when men and women are seen together in the streets, the woman always walks behind! There can be little progress in freedom, philanthropy, or morals, for there is no domestic soil in which the seeds can germinate. The Koran sanctions four contemporary wives, who may be cast adrift at any time without explanation or notice.