CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE WOMAN MOVEMENT
Most remarkable Feature of Twentieth Century—Widespread Character of Movement—Its earnest Nature—Communal Life of Primitive Times—Nomadic Existence—Home of the earliest Indo-Europeans—Position of their Women—Woman equal to Man—Rise of the Horde, the Tribe, the Nation—No lasting Union between Man and Woman—Marriage a later Institution—Woman the domestic Toiler—Man the outside Labourer—Woman as Planter and Harvester—Fixed Habitations replace Tents—Heroic Age for Woman in most Lands—Her Position in the Ramayana and Mahabharata—Sita and Draupadi—Hebrew Heroic Age of Women—Miriam—Deborah's Song of Victory—Moslem Women of Arabia—Equal Rights with Men—Prophet's Views on Woman's Sphere—His Wives Khadija and Ayesha—His Daughter Fatima—His Granddaughter Zainab—Woman's Position when Moslem Rule was at its Height—Under Mansur, Rashid-el-Mamun, Harun-al-Rashid—Her Decline—Woman in ancient Egypt—In Greece—Italy—Germany—Britain—Her Progress checked—The Age of Chivalry in Europe—Intellectual Distinction of mediæval Women—Lady Professors—German Women's Equality in Trade—Corporations of Women Workers in France—French Women as Governors of their Estates—Renaissance and Woman—Licentiousness of French Court of Marguérite de Valois—Intellectual Culture of French Women of Seventeenth Century—Madame de Main- |
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