Woman in the Far East

Woman in the Far East lives in a state of nature; she cares for hardly anything beyond raising her children and attending to the affairs of the home. As for education, only a small number of ladies have taken it up. Yet in recent years something like a change has begun to appear on the horizon: girls' schools have begun to spread, and the people have begun to welcome their increase. The most civilized of these lands is Java, where women doctors have come to the fore and many of its women have taken up teaching; but they have not turned aside to other work, such as the law or government posts, nor have they pressed for the sending of educational missions abroad — which compelled one young woman to travel to Switzerland at her own expense.

After all this, I cannot express any satisfaction with the Javanese woman, for she has advanced toward progress only by slow steps. She has claimed no rights for herself, demanded no duties, and taken part in no social work. There are in Java today no women's associations that look after woman's interests, nor bodies to protect her from man's tyranny; she has remained in his grip, moved as he pleases and ruled as he wills — either he closes his hand upon her and she is crushed under the force of his pressure, or he forgoes harshness and she is at ease, enjoying happiness and quiet.

And through these dark folds that life in the Far East discloses, I send my word to this magazine, hoping that in its struggle it may be the best encourager of the nations of the East to rise, and that they may find in it such earnestness and perseverance as will spur them to advance and press forward.