domestic duties and
occupations of woman, whether she be mother, wife, or daughter. An
educated woman realizes her responsibilities; she knows how to divide
her time and will give her domestic duties the preference over any
other duties outside of the home. A woman is not liable to engage
in political activity if she is very busy at home, and when confined
to her bed by the labors and cares of maternity, she will be unable
to engage in politics, even if she were willing. Therefore, when I
hear the argument that woman will be remiss in her household duties
on account of politics and that she will neglect to take care of her
husband and children if she is given the right to vote, I frankly
confess that I am, perhaps, too dull to see the truth of it.

You insist that by divine precept the place of woman is in the home
and that of man in society, and that this is the true and proper
division of labor between the two halves of the human species. If this
is really the plan of God, will you tell me then why all religions
and all schools of ethics coincide in prescribing duties towards the
neighbor and teach us to love our fellow-beings? Did the Lord speak to
man alone, and not also to woman when amidst fire and smoke, on the
quaking mountain, he gave to the world the tables of the Decalogue
and said: "Love thy neighbor as thyself?" And the universal precept
contained in every code of morals and in every religion, "Whatsoever
ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them,"--does
it refer to man alone, or does it include woman also? To me, these
precepts indicate that man and woman have duties towards others,
that they have duties towards their fellow-beings, and that they must
not confine their efforts towards happiness to the home, but extend
them beyond it, to society. Will you tell me whether there can be
happiness in the homes if society is not happy, seeing that society
is nothing but the extension and sum of all the homes, and that all
the suffering and evils that afflict society find their echo in the
home, just as the happiness of the home exercises an influence upon
the happiness of society?

You attempt to do something impossible: You try to divide the human
being into halves: one-half that is happy in the home and the other
that is happy in society, or vice versa. You can do it if you wish,
but then you will either have to consign all your codes which confer
upon man the government and administration of