Chapter 18WOMAN
I. Man and Woman – A Comparative StudyFOR ages, men did not treat the women-folk with justice and
fairness. That woman was inferior to man in intelligence, was, for
long, regarded as a self-evident truth. All the dull and uninteresting
tasks were, therefore, assigned to her. In the civilisation man built
up, woman had to be content with an inferior role. It is only recently
that woman has begun to assert her rights and claim equality with
man. Though the intellectual climate of the present age is generally
favourable to woman's demand for equality, the question of its
validity has not quite emerged from the smoke of the controversy.
No doubt, there are differences between man and woman, but
they are in fact far fewer than those which used to be quoted. Even
these few are largely biological. A potent difference is that in
physical prowess. The male surpasses the female not so much in his
capacity for endurance as in the intensity of his muscular action. He
generally runs faster and punches harder. His red blood corpuscles
which carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles are ten percent
more abundant than those of the female. Then her feminine
(biological) peculiarities and maternal duties not only consume her
energies to no inconsiderable extent, but also confine her indoor for
long periods. All these factors supposedly keep her weaker of the
two. Hence the tasks demanding great physical strength or regular
outdoor activities, such as fighting and hunting, were naturally
assigned to the man, while the woman generally took over the
lighter and domestic tasks, such as cooking and washing. As physical
strength was an essential value for a primitive group constantly
threatened by other hostile groups, man soon secured for himself a
dominant position in the tribal set up. As this state of affairs
continued for long ages, men consolidated their position of
dominance and ruled over the women-folk with a high hand.
Gradually women were reduced to the position of serfs.