CHAPTER VII 



THE PRESENT POSITION OF WOMEN 



IN our last chapter we passed in brief survey through 

 some of the principal causes biological and social 

 which affect the position of women in a civilized com- 

 munity. The extreme complication of the influences 

 at work is perhaps the most noteworthy feature, while, 

 from the historic point of view, the recrudescence of 

 the problems, the recurrence of the critical periods at 

 widely separated ages and under varying conditions, 

 form a subject well worthy of careful study and 

 investigation. 



It seems clear that a slight natural excess of women 

 will be a feature of almost any civilized community, 

 but that the present greater excess is largely due to 

 artificial causes, partly connected with the restriction of 

 the birth-rate, partly with the drain of men to foreign or 

 colonial lands. The importance of this fact deserves 

 attention. The practical question before us is how 

 this surplus female population can be best trained and 

 utilized without injury to the future prospects of the 

 race. The danger of the position seems always to lie 

 in the fact that it is the anomalies of life, the individuals 

 who are out of place, which attract attention rather than 



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