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Were Women ‘Free’

Posted on October 22, 1911 by Emily Davison Posted in Letters

October 22, 1911, To the Editor of The Sunday Chronicle, “Were Women ‘Free’”

In this brief letter Davison engages the subject of “the new woman,” reluctant to enter

traditional marriage. The most sensational exposition of the reasons for such reluctance

appeared in the 1895 Grant Allen novel The Woman Who Did, whose heroine chooses a loving

partnership with rather than marriage to her husband. The second half of the novel lays

out in excruciating detail all the ways society—and finally her only child—work not only to

defeat, but to utterly crush her for her decision to love freely outside the bonds of marriage.

Davison does not advocate—or even address–this particular aspect of the topic, but she does

say quite plainly that in contemplating marriage women contemplate exchanging freedom for

slavery imposed not by the husband but by the laws of the state.

Sir,–There is undoubtedly a marked tendency among the intelligent middle-class women

not to enter matrimony readily. But “Hubert” has not got hold of the real reason.

These women, having had their eyes opened by independent work and education,

see very clearly the disadvantages of the marriage state as it is at present. It is not that

they care less for marriages, or that they do not think it is the natural state for a man or a

woman. But they look around and see the unsatisfactory status of the wife, and hesitate to

exchange freedom for possible slavery.

The only way to cope with this situation is to put right the marriage conditions, and

then the matter will readjust itself. It is clear that the way to do this is to bring the

woman’s point of view directly into the State. Thus I contend that if women were

emancipated, marriage would increase.

EMILY WILDING DAVISON

London, W.C.

The Sunday Chronicle
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