246 BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN PROBLEMS 



are less significant in function than those coming 

 from the male. 



It is not merely at the outset of life that this 

 equality of contribution to the new campaign is 

 recognizable. In every division of the cell the new 

 nuclei continue to hold equal quantities of male and 

 female substance. So that finally, in the adult being, 

 there is the same strict equality of representation as at 

 the beginning. If we believe in the mechanistic theory 

 of the nature of living organisms, are we not compelled 

 to admit this hint of essential equality in male and 

 female? How is it possible that one sex should be 

 superior to the other in any natural sense, when both 

 male and female are in equal degree, and with the 

 utmost mechanical precision, the bearers of the 

 heritage-laden substance from each parent ? When 

 we add these quite definite biological indications of 

 equality not sameness to the somewhat less 

 definite indications derived from the consideration 

 of the developed human male and female, we are at 

 a loss to find any valid reason for giving to the male 

 sex a position of superiority in political, legal, and 

 financial privileges. The disadvantages under which 

 women still labor are largely those which have been 

 forced on them by inconsiderate men as the result 

 of the superior brute force which they possess. As 

 ideas of justice and decency grow, mere force must 

 gradually count for less. It seems entirely clear that 

 in Anglo-Saxon countries women will not be satisfied 

 until they have reached a status of equality with 



