6 - The “new woman”

Summary

Q. What is woman?

A. No one knows. Some say it is a being which comes from God and returns to him; others deny this.

Q. How does she spend her time?

A. Doing everything and nothing.

Q. What is her status?

A. She has none.

Q. Where does she fit in the natural order of things?

A. Problematical.

Q. Where does she fit in the social order?

A. Even more problematical.

Q. Is she part of humanity?

A. The laws of the land do not include her as a separate entity, nor as a reasonable being. The proposed new Constitution … denies her the right to vote.

Not wishing to emancipate woman as a human being, nor like a cat, dog, tiger, lion, snake … it has turned her into a thing which resembles a human being for those who love her, into an animal for those who want to make her servile, into a vegetable for those who believe she has no soul, into mineral for those who break her.

Saint-Simonians like Jeanne Deroin believed that they were “new women”. Women's issues were prominent in socialist writings and projects, although not all socialists were feminists. Lack of educational provision has already been discussed, as has the role of women in defining the spirituality of early socialism. In this chapter I focus on how early socialists defined the “new woman”, in her personal, sexual and family relationships.