First published in 1907 by Methun & co.
This edition first published in 2019 by Routledge
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1907 by Taylor & Francis
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A Library of Congress record exists under ISBN:
ISBN 13: 978-0-367-26005-7 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-429-29096-1 (ebk)
Woman in Transition
By the Same Author
A Ribbon of Iron
In Russian Turkestan
Russia: Travels and Studies
Woman in Transition
BY
ANNETTE M. B. MEAKIN
FELLOW OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
Non ego ventosae Plebis suffragia venor.
METHUEN & CO.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
First Published in 1907
The author, who is happy in having women friends in every part of the globe, takes this opportunity of acknowledging the many kind and interesting letters in which these friends have given her the benefit of their individual observations. Her thanks are due, among others, to Madame Murgoei, to Miss Frances Best, to Miss Dora Olfsen, to Miss Estrid Lagerborg, to Miss Helen Mackenzie, to Miss Ingeborg Solberg, to Madame Hanau, to Mrs L. Holden, and to Mrs John Gill.
Contents
ChangesThe woman problemGirlhood in FranceHome trainingA French motherMariage de convenanceGood business womenGirlhood in GermanyAnecdote of a German husbandA widening horizonGirlhood in FinlandTravelling aloneHome life in SwedenPersonality of Norwegian girlsMaids of honourVisiting done away withResults of Norways povertyEnglish and Norwegian girls comparedRoyalty in NorwayAmbition of Roumanian girlsGirlhood in ItalyMixed marriagesNice English girlsRussian class prejudiceRussian aristocracyGirlhood in SpainGirlhood in SwitzerlandCustoms in DenmarkThoughts on flirtationEnglish customs shock a German BaronHusband huntingThe turning-point in lifeComparison between English girlhood and Turkish girlhoodTatar womenWomen in Central AsiaA British penchantSt Paul and the twentieth century.
A wife he could commandThe word obeyWomans errorVoltaires advice to a brideNationality and womanMen reduced to petticoatsJohn Bull and the woman questionThe effects of boredomA natural transitionIn the days of our grandmothersA Homeric pictureIn the days of slaveryLife on a Virginian estateLongevity of American womenThe travelling maniaOverwork and examinationsEmpty livesFresh sensationsThree novels a dayHow to improve our literary taste.
Womans real destinyIbsens Dolls HouseWhere Ibsen is appreciatedMartin Luther and womanMotherhoodMoral hypocrisyAnimal motherhoodCriminal motherhoodA solace to manHeredity and instinctOur declining birth-rateOther European countriesMalthusAmerican familiesThe two-children systemThe only childThe ideal familyLate marriages in SwedenA national dangerDecline of the marriage-rateAn undeveloped manAn Austrian thinker and the women of todayMarriage in BelgiumThe lowest marriage-rate in EuropeSwedish girls and marriageLuxury and the marriage-rateThe necessities of lifeWhy men marry lateCustom and curiositySighing over their chainsOur lowest birth-rateHigher education and marriageChoosing partnersA young bachelors complaintDivorce in FranceProgressive polygamyDivorce in AmericaThe English pressBigamy in EnglandProfessor Durkheim on marriageObstacles to marriageMilitary service.
Morals in AustriaThe London streetsTerrible consequencesLeper windowsWomen burned aliveProstitution in AustriaHypocritical cantEnglands reputation The most hideous sight in LondonGerman courtesans in EnglandThe London policeMormon moralityA negro orator in Hyde ParkThe mothers dishonourMaternal anxietyConscience moneyA prostitutes soulWild oatsBigoted opposition.
A twentieth century sociologistThe monogamie marriageWomans natural educationOh, ye unmarried women!Old maids and Martin LutherThe stigma of idlenessThe pleasures of hospitalityLonely womenThe household drudgeThe world of realityAfter the ReformationFeminism worked by steamSurplus womenThe struggle for existenceThe happiness of othersA virtue of necessityThe worthiest goalThe Catholic Church and motherhoodSocialismOld maids in FranceConventsPhilanthropie frenzyA visitor from MarsPopular preachers and maiden ladiesCatholic sisterhoodsWasted energyA triumph of civilisationHomeless ladiesSingle blessednessPrudishnessSomeone elses familyGirls in the marriage market.
Married blissHis willLuthers advice to girls about to marryThe ivy and the oakCancerA plucky womanUn-businesslike ways of English womenThe average middle class wifeAn incident at a tennis clubA ruined reputationCapabilities of French womenA Scotsmans ideal womanA Russian sociologistTestimony of a French countessScandalised societyA Catholic bishopNot a freak of nature.
The professional womanBeauty and richesNecessity of sufficient recreationPersonal appearanceHousing of professional womenLife in a boarding-houseCo-operative homesConcentration of classesSegregation of the sexesThe middle-aged womanThe society of good women beneficial to young menClubs for professional women in AmericaAt homesA strange English customThe opposite sexReal conversationIndependent judgmentBefore the days of the lending libraryTopics of conversationI would not live in England againSpiritual commerceMonotony of married lifeWhat is jealousy?Escorting a lady to churchSubtle distinctionsMental equalityEnglishmen in IndiaThe gravest fault in Thackerays novels.
An Englishmans gloryRussian girls in ParisWomen and Trade UnionsEconomic independencePreferring servitude to isolationGoldsmiths ChinamanThe history of Womens ClubsUses of the Womans ClubSmoking-roomsWomen who smokeThe masculine temperamentThe Frenchwomans idealNo Womens Clubs in DenmarkThe Suffragist in DenmarkClubs in FinlandVarieties of the Swedish womanThe privacy of homePolitical associations for womenClubs for working girlsUnemployed spinstersHelpless widowsEffects of. charityPhilanthropic institutions.
Womans crowning gloryGerman SocialismSocial prejudiceWhere the shoe pinchesHumility, docility, and servilityMary Wollstonecraft and Harriet MartineauObsolete ideasThe second trumpet blastProtestantism and womanWomans separation from the Church in NorwayReligion fighting for its lifeThe life of the drawing-roomLuther againThe Catholic Church in SpainSpiritualismWoman among the ancient GaulsThe statues of woman in ancient EgyptWhat Moses owed to womanWomen on the stageCatholic FeministsWorking women in BelgiumDisappearance of the homeRefinement of crueltyWomans great mistakeM. LamyChristian SocialistsA warning to the middle classesFieldings conception of a crowdSlaves to current opinionEnglands lower middle classCollectivism and capitalPlato on tyranny.
