November 3, 1911, To the Editor of The Morning Leader, “The ‘Masculine Woman’”
Another brief letter arguing the theme that it is impossible to know what women are by
nature, what they are capable of, and what they may attain, given the restrictions imposed
upon them by male culture. For a fuller exposition of this theme in reference to the strengths
of the women of the Suffrage Movement, see “To the Editor of The Throne and Country,’
October 25, 1911. Clearly this is a subject on Davison’s mind in the dark fall of 1911.
Sir,– In answer to ‘Z’s’ question, I should like to inform him what a genuinely ‘masculine
woman’ is. She is the result of man’s own work for centuries–the clinging, dependent,
irresponsible creature, with but one function which she was allowed to fulfill, and
handicapped in fulfilling that one, because of the rigid grooves into which she was bound
by men. What a ‘womanly’ woman really is, we do not yet know for she has not yet
emerged from the chrysalis state into the free air of nature.—Yours, etc.,
EMILY WILDING DAVISON
31, Coram-St., W.C., 1 Nov.