lusive service of the
home. In England, they are repeating the cries of the men of 1776 and of
1789: "All men and women are born free and equal." "No taxation without
representation." "One person, one vote." In Finland, Australia, New
Zealand, Norway and Sweden, women have all the essential civic and
political rights of men.

But, as in all human progress, first the ideas of a few leaders change;
they shape legislation; and the new organization slowly makes over the
practices and then the deep-seated mental and moral habits, which
constitute popular prejudices. These old unreasoning feelings still
largely dominate us, blinding us to the facts of life and blocking each
new advance by which women might pass into the world of free choice and
adjustment of their lives as co-workers with men. In the next chapters
we must study these present-day conditions in detail.

III

Women in Education

In discussing woman's relation to formal education we are really
examining her ability to master and teach certain intellectual
exercises, for in our modern industrial democracies our efforts are
confined almost exclusively to training the mind and to stocking it with
information. Each year we talk more and more about physical, moral,
political, social and industrial education; but requirements for
entrance into schools, promotions in them, and graduation from their
courses, still rest almost entirely on information acquired; and in a
less degree, on intellectual ability displayed.

Even in selecting and certifying teachers, the emphasis is all laid on
intellectual equipment. On the physical, moral, or social sides we at
most demand that the candidates shall not be too bad; on the political
side we do not demand even this, since nearly 80 per cent. of our whole
teaching force is declared legally unfit to vote or hold office, and is
yet employed to train our future citizens. But on the intellectual side
we demand positive proof of fitness. Thus it is fair to say that our
modern education deals almost exclusively with knowledge.

Knowledge, in the past, has nearly always been considered much as we
consider dynamite to-day. It was a dangerous force, useful to a ruling
class, and hence preserved in the hands of a cult, generally a
priesthood; but it was thought capable of working endless mischief in
the hands of ignorant people. Through all the pages of history we find
individuals, and weaker groups, driven away from the accum