Woman Triumphant

by Rudolf Cronau

 

WOMAN TRIUMPHANT

The Story of Her Struggles for Freedom,
Education and Political Rights.

 

DEDICATED TO ALL NOBLE-MINDED WOMEN BY AN
APPRECIATIVE MEMBER OF THE OTHER SEX.

Published by R. CRONAU

340 East 198th Street, New York.

PREFACE.

Are you aware of the fact that you are living in the most important period of human history? Not for the reason that a World's War has been fought and a "League of Nations" formed, but because all civilized nations are beginning to acknowledge that women, who form the greater part of the human race, are entitled to the same rights and recognition as have heretofore been enjoyed by men only. The entry of woman into industry, the professions, literature, science and art in modern times, her participation in social and political life, mark the beginning of an era of a significance, equal, if not greater, than when by the discovery of America a New World was added to the old.

Although it is a fact that man owes innumerable benefits to woman's care, devotion, and mental initiative, it is also true that through egoism and self-conceit he has never appreciated woman's work and achievements at their full value. On the contrary: while she was giving all and asking little, while she shared with man all hardships and perils, she was for thousands of years without any rights, not even as regards her own person and property. From ancient times up to the present day she has been an object of rape and barter, and quite often, for sexual purposes, held in the most horrible slavery. During the Middle Ages innumerable women were persecuted for witchcraft, subjected to the most cruel tortures, dragged to the scaffold to be beheaded, or burnt alive at the stake.

Woman's status to-day is the result of her own energy, efforts and ability. She overcame the prejudice and stubborn opposition of bigoted priests, pedantic scholars and reactionary statesmen, who were unable to see that the advance and emancipation of woman is synonymous with the progress and liberation of the greater part of the entire human race. To short sighted people such as these Tennyson directed his lines:

"The Woman's Cause is Man's! They rise or sink
together, dwarf'd or godlike, bond or free; if she be
small, slight-natured, miserable, how shall men grow!"

The book submitted here gives an account of woman's evolution, of her enduring and trying struggles for liberty, education, and recognition. While this account will make every woman proud of the achievements of her sex, man, by reading it, will become aware that it is his solemn duty not only to protect woman from injustice, brutality and exploitation, but to give her all possible assistance in her endeavors to attain that position in which she will be man's ideal consort and friend.

RUDOLPH CRONAU.

 

CONTENTS.

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Women During the Remote Past.
Primeval Man, His Origin and Severe Struggle for Existence	7
The Division of Labor and Responsibilities	14
Women as Objects or Rape, Barter and Religious Sacrifice	22
Women During the Ages of Antiquity.
Women in Babylonia	29
Woman's Status Among the Hebrews	36
Woman's Status Among the Parsee and Hindoo	39
Woman in China and Japan	43
Woman Among the Egyptians	46
Woman Among the Greeks	50
Woman Among the Romans	56
Woman's Position Among the Germanic Nations	65
Woman Among the Early Christians	70
Woman Among the Mohammedans	74
Women During the Middle Ages.
Women During the Middle Ages	81
The Glorious Time of the Renaissance	93
The Darkest Chapter in Woman's History	98
Women in Modern Times.
Women in Slavery	113
The Dawning of Brighter Days	130
Pioneer Women in the New World	140
Women of the French Revolution	152
Woman's Entry Into Industry	159
Women as Ministers of the Gospel	184
Women in the Medical Profession	187
Woman in the Profession of the Law	192
Women as Inventors	195
Eminent Female Scientists	197
Noteworthy Women in World Literature	207
Women in Music and Drama	227
What Women Have Accomplished in Art	232
Great Monuments of Woman's Philanthropy	241
The Hundred Years' Battle for Woman Suffrage	247
Why Women Want and Need the Vote	258
Woman's Activity During the World War	271
Woman Triumphant	292
Woman's Mission in the Future	297