ee to find diversion
elsewhere; family responsibilities or broken health have confined her
at home. Her husband might even find sex satisfaction away from home,
but public opinion would be more lenient with him than with her if
she offended. The time has come when it is right that these
inequalities and injustices should cease. Society owes to woman not
only her right to her own person and property, but the right to bear,
also, her fair share of social responsibility in this modern world.

Yet in the process of coming to her own, there is danger that the wife
will forget that marriage is the most precious of human relations;
that the home has the first claim upon her; that motherhood is the
greatest privilege to which any woman, however socially gifted, can
aspire; and that social institutions of tried worth are not lightly to
be cast upon the rubbish heap. It is by no means certain that society
can afford or that women ought to demand individualistic rights that
will put in jeopardy the welfare of the remainder of the family. The
average woman has not the strength to carry properly the burden of
home cares plus large political and social responsibilities, nor has
she the money to employ in the home all the modern improvements of
labor-saving devices and skilled service that might in a measure take
her place. Nor is it at all certain that the granting of individual
rights to women would tend to purify sex relations, but it is quite
conceivable that the old moral and religious sanctions of marriage may
disappear and the State assume the task of caring for all children. It
is clear that the rights and duties of women constitute a very serious
part of the problem of family life.

77. =Individual Rights vs. Social Duties.=--The greatest weakness to
be found in twentieth-century society is the disposition on the part
of almost all individuals to place personal rights ahead of social
duties. The modern spirit of individualism has grown strong since the
Renaissance and the Reformation. It has forced political changes until
absolutism has been yielding everywhere to democracy. It has extended
social privileges until it has become possible for any one with push
and ability to make his way to the top rung of the ladder of social
prestige. It has permitted freedom to profess and practise any
religion, and to advocate the most bizarre ideas in ethics and
philosophy. It has brought human individuals to the place where they
feel th