The Truth About Woman

by C. Gasquoine Hartley

It is very difficult to write a preface to a work which is expressly intended as a revelation of the faith of the writer. The successive stages of thought and emotion that have been passed through are still too near, and one feels too deeply. I have made several futile attempts to concentrate into a short note the Truths about Woman that I have tried to convey in my book. I find it impossible to do this. The explanation of one's own book would really require the writing of another book, as Mr. Bernard Shaw has proved to us in his delightful prefaces. But to do this one must be freed altogether from the limits of length and time. The fragments of what I wish to say would be of no service to any one. I then tried to place myself, as it were, outside the book, and to look at it as a stranger might. But the difficulties here were even greater. I grew so interested in criticising my own opinions that my notes soon outran the possibilities of a preface. In this spirit of genuine discrimination, I became aware how easy it would be for any one who does not share my faith to find apparent contradictions of statement and errors in thought—much that is feeble here, extravagant there; to notice some salient fault and to take it as decisive of the writer's incompetence. I am tempted to point these out myself to guide and protect the reader. Now that my book is done I feel that I have touched only the veriest fringe of a vast subject. But one thing I may say, I have tried to express the truth as I have come to see it. The conception I have of Woman is not new; it is very old. And for that reason it will be rejected by many women to-day. At present the inspiration towards freedom in the Woman's Movement has involved a tendency to follow individual paths, without waiting to consider to what end they lead. There has arisen a sort of glamour about freedom. No one of us can be free, for no one of us stands alone; we are all members one of another. And woman's destiny is rooted in the race. This, rightly considered, is the most vital of all vital facts. I appeal to women to realise more clearly their true place and gifts, as representing that original racial motherhood, out of which the masculine and feminine characters have arisen. Five years ago I took up definitely the task of writing the book. At that time the plan of the work was made and the first Introductory chapter written. Circumstances into which I need not enter caused the work again to be put aside. I am glad: I have learnt much in these last years

198 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 11, 2010

About the author

AKA:
Mrs. Walter M. Gallichan
Mrs. Arthur D. Lewis.

Catherine Gasquoine Hartley (c.1867-1928) was an author, journalist, and headmistress.

Hartley (also known as Catherine Gasquoine Hartley or Mrs Walter Gallican) was a writer and art historian with a particular expertise on Spanish art. Latterly she wrote about polygamy, motherhood and sex education.

Hartley was born in 1866 or 1867 in Antananarivo in Madagascar to Reverend Richard Griffiths and Catherine (née Gasquoine) who were from Manchester. Her parents had served as missionaries in Mauritius before they went to Madagascar. Her father left them with a poor financial position when he died in 1870 after the family had returned to Hampshire. Hartley inherited her father's need to teach and she was brought up in Southport where she first worked as a teacher. She rose to be the headteacher at a school in Eltham in Kent in 1894. She left this post to write sometime around 1903. She published Life: the Modeller which was a novel set against her knowledge of art, although its history attracted only minor interest. A second novel, The Weaver's Shuttle, appeared in 1905

Hartley became the second wife of the journalist and writer Walter Matthew Gallichan on 9 May 1901. He had written under the name 'Geoffrey Mortimer'. After their marriage her husband wrote under his own name and Hartley assigned her work to "C. Gasquoine Hartley (Mrs Walter Gallichan)". After their marriage the two wrote about their leisurely lifestyle. They had a house in Youlgreave in Derbyshire where they put together The Story of Seville which was published as part of The Medieval Towns series of guides. The illustrations for the book were made by Hartley's sister, Elizabeth.

She was hit by a van in 1928 and as a result died on 9 June in hospital in Guildford. Hartley was buried in the Willesden Jewish cemetery beside her second husband.[2]

Reviews

[Mohammed omran · Rating 4 out of 5]

“book is a statement of my faith in Woman as the predominant and responsible partner in the relations of the sexes. To such a belief my opinion was driven, as it were, not deliberately set from the beginning. The time when the resolve to write a book upon Woman first took a place in my thoughts goes back for many years. The child of a Puritan father, who died for the faith in which he believed, the desire to teach was born in my blood. Our character is forged in the past, we cannot escape our inheritance. I began my work as the head-mistress of a school for girls. I was young in experience and very ignorant of life. In my enthusiasm I was quite unconscious of my own limitations, I believed that I was able to train up a new type of free woman. Of course I failed. Looking back now I wonder if I ever taught my pupils one-hundredth part of what they taught me. Perhaps if any of them, separated from me by time and circumstances, chance to read my book, they may be glad to know that it was largely due to them[…]”

[Perry Whitford · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The female not only typifies the race, she is the race.'

Despite that quote above, this is generally evenhanded and thoroughly absorbing examination into the biological, historical, and modern (as in the early 20th century) nature of the truth and purpose of women.

In her preface and introduction, Hartley is quick to clarify the point at which her agreement with contemporary Suffragettes diverges. For her, equality of opportunity is merely 'a starting-point only for woman's freedom, and can never be its end.'

Far from advocating equality as a means to liberate themselves from the necessity of male companionship, she sees the future of the sexes together, with women holding the biological trump card so to speak:

'Women have to realise more clearly their true place and gifts, as representing that original racial motherhood, out of which the masculine and feminine characters have arisen.'

Biological Section:
Drawing heavily on the work of Darwin and Havelock Ellis, Hartley goes all the way back to the dawn of life on earth to illustrate how all single-celled organisms are essentially female, how from the earliest, smallest life 'the male developed after and, as it were, from the female.'

I don't know if modern biologists agree with that, but it's a strong platform from which to attack the notion that the male came first and thus has a natural place of precedence, such as you find in the story of Adam and Eve.

She also looks at some species where the females are dominant, such as spiders. Maybe it was just me but for all her insistences that the sexes must live in equality there was a decidedly unscholarly relish in her description of the arachnid sexual process!

I enjoyed this section, including an interesting chapter on courtship and marriage from the bird kingdom, though again I'm not sure that all the contradictory examples proved anything in support of her overall biological theory.

She accepts that men may be physically stronger than women in the modern world, but hints that this was not the case in prehistoric times, further more that the opposite may have been the case.

Historical Section:
The study of history is very much my bag so I found this section fascinating. Hartley began with the generally accepted evidence of the matriarchal nature of early civilisation taken from the work of 19th century ethnologists.

As before, she starts off as if keen to impress on women that they should feel the equal of men, then before long is making a comprehensive case to suggest that by rights they are actually superior, with barely a single activity of developing society - farming, business, religion - which was not originally within the female domain.

Her examples from primitive societies were sometimes convincing and sometimes conjectural. I particularly liked an anecdote she told where an Iroquois lecturer was asked if the men ever rebelled against the rule of the women, to which he answered, "Of course the men follow the wishes of the women; they are our mothers."

She rightly goes on to show how in both the Egyptian and Roman societies women were in many crucial ways better off than in Edwardian era, shocking though that initially seems. The Egyptians in particular were positively enlightened compared to the Edwardians. Women had equal rights and often full ownership of property for the children's sake. I don't think she exaggerated when she answered that 'No other nation has yet developed a family relation so perfect in it's working as the Egyptians.'

Modern Section:
As stated before, Hartley doesn't agree with radical feminists who seek equality as a means to live without men, fearing that down that road 'woman is in grave danger today of becoming intoxicated with herself.'

When discussing womens' native abilities in comparison to their opportunities the former is subject to the latter, that women are very much the equal to men in artistry despite the historical evidence at that time. But again she can't resist taking it further, suggesting that through their greater intuition and sensitivity genius is more innate to women.

I wouldn't like to say one way or the other. I don't even know if any distinction is necessary. One thing was for certain, throughout history up until that time women had not been given the chance to express themselves, men had. Back to being evenhanded, Hartley has this to say in summary:

'Woman without man at her side, after obtaining her freedom, will advance even less far than man has advanced with his freedom, without her help.'

I'm all for a return to Matriarchy. Us blokes have made a right mess of things.