The main cause is a pernicious falsehood propagated against her being, namely that she is inferior by her nature. Inferior in what? What has man ever done that woman, under the same advantages could not do?
Interpretation
This quote challenges the notion of female inferiority by questioning the basis of such beliefs.
Ernestine Rose emphasizes that the idea of women's inferiority is rooted in harmful lies, questioning the validity of this belief by pointing out that, given equal opportunities, women are equally capable as men. The quote serves as a powerful call to reject societal norms that deem women as lesser, urging society to recognize and foster their potential.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about women's rights to emphasize gender equality.
For here lies the corner stone of all the injustices done woman, the wrong idea from which all other wrongs proceed. She is not acknowledged as mistress of herself. For her cradle to her grave she is another's. We do indeed need and demand the other rights of which I have spoken, but let us first obtain OURSELVES.
Again, I shall be told that the law presumes the husband to be kind, affectionate, and ready to provide for and protect his wife. But what right, I ask, has the law to presume at all on the subject?
Books and opinions, no matter from whom they came, if they are in opposition to human rights, are nothing but dead letters.
It is high time to compel man by the might of right to give woman her political, legal and social rights. She will find her own sphere in accordance with her capacities, powers and tastes; and yet she will be woman still.
All that I can tell you is, that I used my humble powers to the uttermost, and raised my voice in behalf of Human Rights in general, and the elevation and Rights of Woman in particular, nearly all my life.
Slavery and freedom cannot exist together.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
The word is not just a sound or a written symbol. The word is a force; it is the power you have to express and communicate, to think, and thereby to create the events in your life. The word is the most powerful tool you have as a human; it is a tool of magic.
Our responsibility is much greater than we might have supposed, because it involves all mankind.
In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride.
Human nature is such that people are born with a love of profit If they follow these inclinations, they will struggle and snatch from each other, and inclinations to defer or yield will die.
Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off the hooks because our lives be threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings in America?
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