ballot in their own hands; of having a voice in the laws under
which they live; of enjoying the liberty of self-government.
Those who have known the satisfaction of wielding political
influence would not willingly accept the degradation of
disfranchisement. Yet men can not understand why women should
feel aggrieved at being deprived of this same protection, dignity
and power. This is the Gibraltar of our difficulties to-day. We
can not make men see that women feel the humiliation of their
petty distinctions of sex precisely as the black man feels those
of color. It is no palliation of our wrongs to say that we are
not socially ostracized as he is, so long as we are politically
ostracized as he is not. That all orders of foreigners also rank
politically above the most intelligent, highly-educated
women--native-born Americans--is indeed the most bitter drop in
the cup of our grief which we are compelled to swallow....

Again, the degradation of woman in the world of work is another
result of her disfranchisement. Some deny that, and say the
laboring classes of men have the ballot yet they are still
helpless victims of capitalists. They have the power and hold the
weapon of defense but have not yet learned how to use it. The
bayonet, the sword, the gun, are of no value to the soldier until
he knows how to wield them. Yet without the weapons of defense
what could individuals and nations do in time of war for their
own protection? The first step in learning to use a gun or a
ballot is to possess one....

Man has the prestige of centuries in his favor, with the force to
maintain it, and he has possession of the throne, which is
nine-tenths of the law. He has statutes and Scriptures and the
universal usages of society all on his side. What have women? The
settled dissatisfaction of half the race, the unorganized
protests of the few, and the open resistance of still fewer. But
we have truth and justice on our side and the natural love of
freedom and, step by step, we shall undermine the present form of
civilization and inaugurate the mightiest revolution the world
has ever witnessed. But its far-reaching consequences themselves
increase the obstacles in the way of success, for the selfish
interests of all classes are against us. The rulers in the