Will Man Yield His Authority to Woman?

...Woman says: man is a tyrannical oppressor, and his rule over the earth has produced nothing but tragedies and ruin...

And had rule been in woman's hands from the very first, humanity would have been spared many a devastating war...

And man says: woman cannot do productive work in politics, and her taking the helm of affairs would mean the ruin of humanity forever. Now the French writer 'Maurice Toesca' has brought out a book on the problem of women, in which he supports woman in her stand against man...

'Maurice Toesca' says that man has failed once and for all to bring the ship to a safe shore, and that these wars which men wage upon the earth are the greatest proof of their failure.

And the latest failure that has befallen man is his invention of this bomb, which is capable of wrecking the whole terrestrial globe...

Man's genius has guided him to nothing but destruction, from the day man first stood on the face of the earth...

As for the things in which man has succeeded completely, they are trivial things... Men have succeeded in designing women's fashions; they have succeeded in being excellent cooks; and they have created beautiful things out of nothing — a lovely belt from a piece of leather, an exquisite ribbon from a strip of cloth...

And woman does not complain of that; she only wishes man had never stepped beyond this circle of occupations...

Woman Is More Capable

Toesca says: man is incapable of setting humanity's affairs in order, because he is incapable of setting his own house in order; and in his view women are worthier of steering the ship's helm than men.

And he has his proofs for it...

He says: 'Women never turn toward destruction, but toward creation. They have never wished to bear arms... They prefer to bear children; and it is not in their nature to harbor the mad delusion that makes men die under the banner of glory... or on the field of honor!!'

'Woman's natural bent is toward life, and it is in their instinct to preserve everything.'

'Man is an adventurous creature; woman is an earnest, faithful creature — and for this reason it would be natural that the affairs of the world be entrusted to her.'

Man will never accept that, says 'Toesca'; he is forever objecting: woman is weak, nervous. But Toesca answers with mockery: 'It is true that women have less muscle than men — but the age of muscle and bodily strength is over.'

In Politics

As for the field of politics, experience has shown that when woman enters the battle, she always comes out victorious... Most of the queens who mounted thrones proved able to govern their peoples with skill and capacity.

Toesca points to 'Catherine II,' Tsarina of Russia; to 'Elizabeth' and 'Victoria,' queens of Britain... to 'Mrs. Roosevelt,' who was the right arm of her husband — he a visionary and a man of dreams, while she was a realist, acting as circumstances required... Then he points to Madame 'Kollontai,' who directs the Russian embassy in Sweden with a skill any diplomat might envy her...

And Madame 'Anna Pauker,' foreign minister of Romania... 'Madame Perón,' who rules Argentina...

'Madame Chiang Kai-shek,' who has proved herself stronger and braver in calamities than her husband the commander...

From all this Toesca concludes that woman is the fittest of all for politics, because nature has endowed her with firmness, love of order, and mastery.

Who Will Look After the Children?

...Well then... who will raise the children, if woman takes over the leadership of the world?

Toesca says: and why should man not undertake this task?

He points, in proof, to the fact that among birds the males are more patient than the females in tending the chicks... And our perpetual saying, 'woman is for the home,' is nothing but a false deception which men put about so as to keep the reins of rule for themselves. It is a familiar thing in America for the wife to leave her husband to see to the children's upbringing while she spends her evening at the club or in reading a book.

Man has long tyrannized over woman down the centuries, because woman lived in fear of letting her chance of marriage slip by... That fear is now dispelled, for woman can work, and she no longer lives at man's mercy.

This is a summary of Toesca's book, whose title is 'The Problem of Women,' in which he supports woman's taking the reins of affairs in the world...

Toesca observes, too, that man has begun to grasp and to realize what lies hidden behind this women's revolution; and so man is anxious even now over his fate, and has actually sensed the danger of being mastered. 'Sinclair Lewis,' America's greatest writer, has written in protest against men's absolute surrender to women in everything, saying: 'This capitulation on man's part has carried women to a dangerous point. A day will come when we shall see woman everywhere... and man in an abasement beyond all abasement...'

Will the prophecy come true? Who knows?