WOMEN PROFESSIONS AND SKILLED LABOR. 461 



ences, is the male skeleton so greatly different from the female as in 

 the irregularities and asperities of the bones for the attachment of 

 the muscles. While in man they form a marked feature of his bony 

 structure, in well-formed females they present but a comparatively 

 scanty development. It is true that both muscles and osseous irreg- 

 ularities, for their origin and insertion, may be developed by training, 

 yet woman, as at present related to the other sex, has not only to 

 acquire his strength, by a course of extra training, but she must equal 

 him in skill, if she is to prove a successful competitor for his place. 

 These comparisons between the physical strength of the sexes would 

 be altogether unfair, were it not for the fact that they are invited by 

 the position women have elected for themselves, and are essential in 

 giving an opinion of woman's chances of success. 



The fact that those employments are chosen by women which per- 

 mit a sitting position is significant in this relation. Woman is badly 

 constructed for the purpose of standing eight or ten hours upon her 

 feet. I do not intend to bring into evidence the peculiar position 

 and nature of the organs contained within the pelvis, but to call 

 attention to the peculiar structure of the knee, and the shallowness 

 of the pelvis, and the delicate nature of the foot as part of a sustaining 

 column. The knee-joint of woman is a* sexual characteristic. Viewed 

 in front and extended, the joint in but a slight degree interrupts the 

 gradual taper of the thigh into the leg. Viewed in a semi-flexed 

 position, the joint forms a smooth, ovate sphe roid. The reason of this 

 lies in the smallness of the patella in front, and the narrowness of the 

 articular surfaces of the tibia and femur, and which in man form the 

 lateral prominences, and thus is much more perfect as part of a sus- 

 taining column than that of woman. The muscles which keep the 

 body fixed upon the thighs in the erect position labor under the dis- 

 advantage of shortness of purchase, owing to the short distance com- 

 pared to that of man between the crest of the ilium and the great tro- 

 chanter of the femur, thus giving to man a much longer purchase in the 

 leverage existing between the trunk and extremities. Comparatively, 

 the foot is less able to sustain weight than that of man, owing to its 

 shortness and the more delicate structure of the tarsus and metatarsus. 

 I do not think there can be any doubt that women have instinctively 

 avoided some of the skilled labors on anatomical peculiarities. 



The question is in order, To what extent will these anatomical 

 disadvantages act as a bar to her future progress ? The present skill 

 of man is the sum of functional and organic evolutions attendant 

 upon countless generations. Women, during this period, have also 

 been passing through the same series of evolutions. But the sum 

 attained by women, although equaling that reached by men in sex- 

 ual value, differs totally in kind. Under the condition of the sexes 

 we are studying, these lines of evolution must maintain a perfect 

 parallelism in order to secure equality in the sexes. Physically and 



