CHAPTER XXVIII
WOMAN'S POSITION
IT is a trite saying that the civilisation of a people may be gauged by the treatment accorded to women. This is only partially true, for in the various races of mankind special conditions make special rulings necessary. For instance, in Thibet, where there seems to be a great preponderance of males, the practice of polyandry prevails; but however disgusting this may appear to the Western taste or the Western conscience, it does not place the Thibetan on a lower plane of civilisation than the Esquimaux who do not practise polyandry. Again, in China, and in all lands that have been permeated by Confucian principles, the prime necessity of securing male issue has largely influenced the position of woman and made her lot more tolerable than in Turkey or Persia; but we cannot argue from this that Chinese civilisation is at all in advance of that of Turkey or Persia. We must look to the causes underlying the better or worse treatment of women, in order to discover whether it is a true index of a people's civilisation.
When India was opened to the world, the West cried out in horror against the brutal custom of the self-immolation of widows. But even this was due to natural causes. It was a great preventive law which forced all wives, for the sake of their own happiness, to guard most sedulously the health of their husbands. The common use of poison in the tropics, added to the crafty and vindictive nature of the people, made this cruel law, if not necessary, at least intelligible.
In the same way the people of the West are moved with righteous indignation because the women of the Far East are kept so secluded and are not allowed that free intercourse with
