THE SIXTH CHAPTER continued...
English translation copyrighted 2nd April 2023.
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Part G.
THE YOUNG LADY. Now, Madame, let us return, as you promised me, to political law.
THE AUTHOR. A nation is an association of free and equal individuals, contributing, by their work and their contributions, to the maintenance of the common work; they have the indisputable right to do whatever is necessary to ensure that their persons, their rights, and their property are not harmed. Man has political rights because he is free, the equal of his associates; according to others because he is a producer and a taxpayer; now the woman, being, by the identity of species, free and the equal of the man; being, in fact, a producer and a taxpayer, having the same general interests as the man, it is obvious that she has the same political rights as him.
Here are the principles, let's move on to the application.
We have said elsewhere that it is not enough that a thing be true in an absolute way, that it is necessary, under the pain of changing the good into bad, that one takes into account the environment in which one claims to introduce it. : this is what men forget far too much. The practical truth in our question is that it is good to recognize political right only insofar as it is claimed, because those who do not claim it are intellectually incapable of using it and, if they exercise it, it is, in most cases, against their own interests: Prudence would require that one be assured that the possessor of the right is really emancipated, that he will not be the blind instrument of a man or a party.
Now, in the current state, not only do women not claim their political rights, but they laugh when they are told about them: they do themselves the honor of believing themselves to be inept when it comes to general interests: they recognize themselves therefore unable.
On the other hand, they are minors civilly, slaves of prejudices, devoid of general education, subject for the most part to the influence of the husband, the lover, or the confessor, as far as politics is concerned; mostly committed to the paths of the past. If, then, they entered political life unprepared, either they would overtake men, or they would set humanity back.
You understand now, Madam, why many women more capable than an infinity of men of contributing to great political acts, prefer to renounce them than to compromise the cause of Progress by extending the Right to all women.
THE YOUNG LADY. Personally, I agree with you; but you have to anticipate and resolve the objections that may be made to you by very intelligent women: these women will tell you: think about it, the denial of the Law is an iniquity because it is the denial of equality and of human nature. It is as false as it is dangerous to posit in principle the recognition of the Right only insofar as it is claimed; because it is well known that it is not, in general, the slaves who think of claiming their Rights: your affirmation, therefore, condemns the emancipation of slaves, serfs, and universal suffrage.
What you object against the Law, on the occasion of the incapacity of women, and the ugly role that they would play, can just as well be objected against men who are hardly more emancipated than they are; who are often the understudy of their wife or their confessor, or have no other opinion than that of their electoral committee.
In the Law, as in all things, there must be an apprenticeship: women will use it badly at first, then better, then well; for it is much more by playing an instrument that one learns to use it than by learning its theory.
The exercise of the Law gives elevation, and dignity increases the individual in his own esteem, and makes him study the questions which he would have neglected if he had not had to interfere in order to contribute to them. solve. So do you want women to take the general interests to heart? Give them Political Rights.
This, Madame, is what you may be objected to.
THE AUTHOR. This was objected to me in 1848 by several eminent women and several men devoted to the triumph of the new principles.
I answered them then, and I will answer them again today: We would very quickly be in agreement if our modern society were not the theater of the struggle between two diametrically opposed principles.
The question is not to decide whether political right belongs to woman, whether it would develop her, increase her, etc.; but know if it would use it to make triumph the principle which says to humanity: forward! Or else to make the one who says to him triumph!
What is the purpose of political law? Obviously, it is to accomplish a great Duty in the sense of Progress. Well! is it not dangerous to grant it to those who would use it against the goal?
What! You fight for the Right, in order to obtain the triumph of a holy cause, and you would experience no hesitation in granting it to those who would certainly use the Right to kill the Right!
You reproach me for doing like the Jesuits who take justice much less into account than the utility. Hey! Gentlemen, if you had had half their skill, you would have succeeded long ago. You, like true savages, would think yourselves dishonored if you had prudence, a practical mind; if you presented yourself for combat other than with your naked body: that may be very beautiful, very courageous, but sensible, that is something else.
I do not commit the iniquity of denying Right, since I do not deny it; only I do not want anyone to claim him because he would commit suicide. I do not lay down the principle that any kind of law should only be recognized insofar as it is claimed, since I am only talking to you about political law: there are rights that arise by themselves: such as those of to live, to develop, to enjoy the fruit of its labor, and it is shameful for a society not to recognize them in all their extent. But one does not awaken until later to the feeling of civil law, and still later to that of political law: therefore take into account the logical course of humanity, and do not remain in the absolute.
I know that what I object to in the place of the incapacity of women is just as true of that of men; but is that a reason, because you recognized the Right of the ignorant masses who did not claim it, for one to show oneself so unwise with regard to women who are in the same situation? I will correct myself, gentlemen, for what you call my aristocratic intelligence, if I see your emancipated politicians understand the tendencies of civilization, and use their law to make freedom and equality triumph, in such a way as to drive the perpetrators to despair. the past. Until then, let me keep my opinion.
And I kept my opinion, Madam; which is this: the exercise of the political right is only a means of reform and progress if those who enjoy it believe in progress, and are concerned about reforms: in contrary dispositions, the vote can only be the expression prejudices, errors, passions; instead of learning, as they say, to exercise it by using it, we will simply use it to mutilate our fingers.
THE YOUNG LADY. Could it be objected to you that, according to your theory of law, all being equal, no one can arrogate to himself the function of distributing rights?
THE AUTHOR. The theory is the ideal toward which practice should tend; if one did not have this ideal, one would not know by virtue of what principles one should direct oneself; but in social reality, there are adults, and minors destined to become adults.
If I said that adults have the right to grant or refuse the right to minors, I would essentially be failing in my principles: it is the law, the expression of the most advanced consciences while waiting for it to be so of the conscience. of all, which pronounces the political majority and fixes the conditions. The right is virtual in each of us: therefore no one has the right to give it, to take it away, to contest it: it is recognized when one is in a position to exercise it and when one claims it; and one proves that one is in a condition to exercising it, when one satisfies the conditions fixed by law.
THE YOUNG LADY. What would be, according to you, these conditions for the enjoyment of political rights?
THE AUTHOR. Twenty-five years of age and a certificate attesting that one can read, write, and calculate; that one has an elementary knowledge of the history and geography of his country; moreover, a good theory of Right and Duty and the destiny of mankind on this earth. The assimilation of a small volume would suffice, as you see, for any man and any woman of twenty-five years of age and of sound mind, to be able to enjoy their political rights, after having undergone an initiation through the enjoyment of civil rights. But I ask you, what can those do with political law who confuse liberty with license, who hardly know what a Right and a Duty are and are even incapable of writing their bulletins? Men have their rights, let them keep them: a recognized right cannot be taken away; that they make themselves fit to exercise them. As for women, let them first emancipate themselves civilly and educate themselves: their turn will come.
THE YOUNG LADY. It is very important, Madam, that men understand that you are not denying, but only postponing the political rights of our sex.
THE AUTHOR. Keep calm; they will not be mistaken; they will not take advice dictated by prudence for an admission of inferiority and a resignation.
Part H.
THE YOUNG LADY. Would you now formulate the legal reforms which we must successively demand?
THE AUTHOR. With regard to civilian life, we must ask:
That the foreigner can be naturalized French other than by marriage.
That the woman does not lose her nationality by the same civil sacrament.
That the woman be allowed to sign, as a witness, the acts of civil status and all those which have been prohibited to her up to now.
You know that already, in derogation of the law, midwives sign the birth certificates of unrecognized illegitimate children and that in certain acts of notoriety drawn up by the justice of the peace, the testimony of women is admitted.
We will ask that the industrialists and the traders be part of the councils of Prud'hommes, and later of the commercial courts; that in any criminal trial, women have a place on the jury; that women be entrusted with the administration and supervision of hospitals, women's prisons, and charity offices.
In each commune, a mayor is appointed to supervise girls' schools, crèches, and nurses.
You know, Madam, that already, always in derogation of the law, women fill public jobs, since the teaching and inspection of girls' schools and nurseries and asylums, founded by the communes, are entrusted to them and that 'other women have post offices, stamped paper, etc.
THE YOUNG LADY. So much for civil law in general; what reforms shall we demand with regard to married women?
THE AUTHOR. We will ask that the marital home be the one where the spouses live together, no longer the man alone.
We suppress the articles which prescribe to the wife to obey her husband and to follow him wherever he sees fit to reside.
That the prohibition to sell, mortgage, receive, give, plead, etc., without the consent of the husband or of justice, be extended to the man in relation to the woman.
Marriage under the regime of separation of property becomes the public law of France.
THE YOUNG WOMAN. What reforms will you ask for regarding the family council and guardianship?
THE AUTHOR. We will ask that the family council be made up of twenty people: ten men and ten women, relatives, allies, and friends, chosen by the spouses.
That the attributions of this council, chaired by the justice of the peace, be determined in such a way that it decides in the first instance on disputes arising between the spouses as to children, property, guardianship, etc.
We will ask that any woman be able to be appointed guardian and subrogated guardian.
That the guardianship of the forbidden spouse always be referred by the family council.
That the woman can appoint, like the man, a definitive guardian and a council of guardianship to her surviving husband.
That the spouses may appoint, during their lifetime, in case of predecease, the father a substitute guardian of his family, and the mother a substitute guardian of hers, so that the children are always under the influence of both sexes.
That the subrogated guardianship, in the absence of a manifest will, belongs by right to a member of the family of the deceased, of the same sex as him.
In the event of a second marriage, if the child is wronged or unhappy, the subrogated tutor or the subrogated tutor can have it awarded by the family council unless the tutor has recourse to justice.
That in the event of the death of the father and the mother, the guardianship belongs by right to the nearest ascendant and the subrogated guardianship to the nearest ascendant of the other line.
If there is competition between the two lines, let the family council choose the tutor in one and the subrogated tutor in the other and in the different sex.
That the duties of guardianship and subrogated guardianship include, not only the material interests but also the moral and intellectual interests of the wards.
That the guardian father loses by right the guardianship of the children if he remarries without first having it continued by the family council.
Finally, let the state organize a Guardianship Society for neglected children so that boys are under the patronage of men and girls under that of women: this society would be a great family council.
THE YOUNG LADY. I like your conception better than that of the law, not only because the woman there is the equal of the man, but because the pupils will be better protected: I have known men who have had their wives banned, exalted by their mistreatment, in order to remain masters of their property; on the other hand, you know that many children are unhappy and wronged by their father's second marriage! A stepmother has all the power to make the poor little ones suffer.
But you did not speak, Madame, of the authority of parents over their children.
THE AUTHOR. same: the expression paternal authority is incomplete; the real one would be a parental authority. In this chapter, we will ask that, if there is a disagreement between the father and the mother about the children, the family council decides in the first instance.
That the father and the mother cannot have the child locked up unless they both agree.
That the father tutor and the mother tutor may only have recourse to this measure with the assistance of the subrogated tutor or of the subrogated tutor, or, in the event of dissent, with the approval of the family council; except always the recourse to justice.
That the age of majority for marriage be fixed at twenty-five years for both sexes and that respectful acts be suppressed.
THE YOUNG LADY. goods and that of the body which entails the other, are suppressed?
THE YOUNG LADY. These measures are severe: if it is easy to divorce, it will not be easy to marry afterward.
THE AUTHOR. prevent divorce by the difficulty of getting married afterward, then by placing restrictions on it: in the first case, the impediment comes from the obstacles that one has created for oneself: one has made one's fate; in the second, individual freedom is affected by social authority: which is an abuse of power.
THE YOUNG LADY. Let us approach the legal reforms concerning mores.
THE AUTHOR. if it is not fulfilled, be punished with a fine and damages.
That any man, whom a single mother can prove by witnesses or by letters, to have to be the father of her child, be subject to the charges of paternity.
That the search for paternity is authorized like that of motherhood.
Let the seduction of a girl under twenty-five be severely punished.
That a girl cannot be registered at the Office of Morals until after twenty-five years of age, and that she be put in correction before this age if she engages in prostitution.
Let every woman of bad morals be punished with prison and a fine if she has received a man under twenty-five, and let the penalty be terrible if she is not healthy.
THE YOUNG LADY. It will be said that paternity cannot be proven, Madame.
THE AUTHOR. attributed to the natural child is not the real father: but what must be established by proofs is that he has put himself in the position of being deemed such; it is the probability of paternity within marriage, extended to paternity outside marriage. So much the worse for the men who let themselves be taken in by it: it is a shame to attach impunity to the most disorderly, to the most subversive of selfish inclinations: women must no longer bear the burden of illegitimate and are no longer tempted to abandon them.
THE YOUNG LADY. But if it is established that a married man has put himself in the position of being a father outside the household?
THE AUTHOR. punishment for him and his accomplice. As for the child, the man must bear it in concert with the mother.
THE YOUNG LADY. These are very draconian laws!
THE AUTHOR. surrounds us soul and body; that if we do not react energetically against it by the severity of the laws, by the reform of education, and the awakening of the ideal, our society will soon be no more than an immense brothel?
THE YOUNG LADY. Alas! It is only too true.
THE AUTHOR. rational reform of national education, but also that high schools be doubled for girls.
That all institutions of higher education depending on the State, be open to them as to boys.
Let them be admitted to receive the same university degrees and the same diplomas of ability as men.
May all careers open before them as before men;
In order that their activity may no longer be remunerated in a derisory manner, raised in public opinion by equality; that they can live from their work and that misery, discouragement, and suicide no longer end their lives, when they do not choose the sad role of elements of demoralization.
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English translation copyrighted 2nd April 2023.
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The Book of Women’s Rights. 1860.