e law can be eluded with
comparative ease, and she who eludes it may very well become a heroine,
merely because we are mostly anarchists and dislike the law. Every man
is in himself a minority, and is opposed to the law because the law is
the expression of the will of the majority, that is to say, the will of
the vulgar, of the norm. But convention is far more subtle: it is the
result of the _common_ agreement of wills. Therefore, as it is a product
of unanimity, the penalties which follow on the infractions of its
behests are terrible; she who infringes it becomes, not a heroine, but
an outcast. The law is, then, nothing by the side of etiquette.

Hence Feminist propaganda. While the Suffragists wish to alter the law,
the Feminists wish to alter also the conventions. It may not be too much
to say that they would almost be content with existing laws if they
could change the point of view of man, make him take for granted that
women may smoke, or ride astride, or fight; cease to be surprised
because Madame Dieulafoy chooses to wear trousers; briefly, renounce the
subjective fetich of sex. Still, as they realize that states become more
socialistic every day, they realize also that through the law only can
they hope to change manners. The mental revolution which they intend to
effect must therefore be prefaced by a legal revolution.

The first Feminist intention is economic,--proceeds on two lines:

1. They intend to open every occupation to women.

2. They intend to level the wages of women and men.

As regards the first point, they are not as a rule unreasonable. If they
demand that women should practice the law as they do in France, preach
the Gospel as they do in the United States of America, bear arms, as in
Dahomey, it is not because they attach any great value to these
occupations, but because they consider that any limitation put upon
woman's activities is intrinsically degrading; so keenly do they feel
this, that some serious Feminists took part some years ago in the
controversy on, "Are there female angels?"

The second point is more important. It is a well-established fact that
women are paid less than men for the same work: for instance, in
England, women begin at wages which are less than those of men as
teachers, post-office and other civil servants. The Feminists are not
prepared to agree that this condition is due to some inherent
inferiority of woman: in their view her _inferiority_ is trans