The Man‐Made World
Fix clearly in your mind the first head‐ship of man—the leader of the pack as it were—the Chief Hunter. Then the second head‐ship, the Chief Fighter. Then the third head‐ship, the Chief of the Family.
Then the long line of Chiefs and Captains, Warlords and Landlords,
Rulers and Kings.
The Hunter hunted for prey, and got it. The Fighter enriched himself with the spoils of the vanquished. The Patriarch lived on the labor of women and slaves. All down the ages, from frank piracy and robbery to the measured toll of tribute, ransom and indemnity, we see the same natural instinct of the hunter and fighter. In his hands the government is a thing to sap and wreck, to live on. It is his essential impulse to want something very much; to struggle and fight for it; to take all he can get.
Set against this the giving love that comes with motherhood; the endless service that comes of motherhood; the peaceful
administration in the interest of the family that comes of motherhood. We prate much of the family as the unit of the state. If it is—why not run the state on that basis? Government by women, so
far as it is influenced by their sex, would be influenced by motherhood; and that would mean care, nurture, provision,
education. We have to go far down the scale for any instance of organized motherhood, but we do find it in the hymenoptera; in the
overflowing industry, prosperity, peace and loving service of the ant‐hill and bee‐hive. These are the most highly socialized types of life, next to ours, and they are feminine types.
We as human beings have a far higher form of association, with further issues than mere wealth and propagation of the species. In this human process we should never forget that men are far more advanced than women, at present. Because of their humanness has come all the noble growth of civilization, in spite of their maleness.
As human beings both male and female stand alike useful and honorable, and should in our government be alike used and
honored; but as creatures of sex, the female is fitter than the male for administration of constructive social interests. The change in governmental processes which marks our times is a change in principle. Two great movements convulse the world to‐day, the woman‘s movement and the labor movement. Each regards the other
as of less moment than itself. Both are parts of the same world-process.