204 TABOO AND GENETICS 



motherhood are subject to economic penalties. 

 Perhaps one of the best explanations of the 

 strength of the present struggle for economic 

 independence among women is the fact that a 

 commercial world interested in exchange values 

 had refused to properly evaluate their social 

 contribution. A new industrial system had 

 taken away one by one their " natural " occupa- 

 tions. In the modern man's absorption in the 

 life of a great industrial expansion, home life 

 has been less insistent in its claims. His 

 slackening of interest and attention, together 

 with the discovery of her usefulness in industry, 

 may have given the woman of initiative her 

 opportunity to slip away from her ancient sphere 

 into a world where her usefulness in other fields 

 than that of sex has made her a different creature 

 from the model woman of yesterday. These 

 trained and educated women have hesitatei 

 to face the renunciations involved in a return 

 to the home. The result has been one more 

 factor in the lessening of eugenic motherhood, 

 since it is necessarily the less strong who lose 

 footing and fall back on marriage for support. 

 These women wage-earners who live away from 

 the traditions of what a woman ought to be 

 will have a great deal of influence in the changed 

 relations of the sexes. The answer to the ques- 

 tion of their relation to the family and to a saner 

 parenthood is of vital importance to society. 



