ffers from female, but both are vanity. The two sexes even
share that curious form of vanity which in man consists in his calling
himself a "plain man", bragging of having come to New York without shoes
and with a dime in his pocket; which, in woman, consists in neglecting
her appearance. Both sexes convey more or less: "I am what I am, a
humble person ... but quite good enough." The arrogance of humility is
simply repulsive.

Ideas such as the foregoing may proceed from a certain simplicity. Woman
is much less complex than the poets believe. For instance, many men hold
that woman's lack of self-consciousness, as exemplified by disturbances
in shops, has its roots in some intricate reasoning process. One must
not be carried away: the truth is that woman, having so long been
dependent upon man, has an exaggerated idea of the importance of small
sums. Man has earned money; woman has been taught only to save it. Thus
she has been poor, and poverty has caused her to shrink from
expenditure; often she has become mean and, paradoxically enough, she
has at the same time become extravagant. Poverty has taught her to
respect the penny, while it has taught her nothing about the pound. If
woman finds it quite easy to spend one tenth of the household income on
dress, and even more,[4] it is because her education makes it as
difficult for her to conceive a thousand dollars as it is for a man to
conceive a million. It is merely a question of familiarity with money.

[4] See "Uniforms for Women," and observe extreme figures and details of
feminine expenditure on clothes.

Besides, foolish economy and reckless expenditure are indications of an
elementary quality. In that sense woman is still something of a savage.
She is still less civilized than man, largely because she has not been
educated. This may be a very good thing, and it certainly is an
agreeable one from the masculine point of view. Whether we consider
woman's attitude to the law, to social service, or to war, it is the
same thing. In most cases she is lawless; she will obey the law because
she is afraid of it, but she will not respect it. For her it is always
_sic volo, sic jubeo_. I suspect that if she had had a share in making
the law she would not have been like this, for she would have become
aware of the relation between law and life. Roughly she tends to look
upon the law as tyrannous if she does not like it, as protective if she
does like it. Probably there is litt