Kathe Schirmacher

The Modern Woman's Rights Movement Kathe Schirmacher

The woman's rights movement is more strongly organized and has penetrated society more thoroughly in all the Germanic countries than in the Romance countries. There are many causes for this: woman's greater freedom of activity in the Germanic countries; the predominance of the Protestant religion, which does not oppose the demands of the woman's rights movement with the same united organization as does the Catholic Church; the more vigorous training in self-reliance and responsibility which is customarily given to women in Germanic-Protestant countries; the more significant superiority in numbers of women in Germanic countries, which has forced women to adopt business or professional callings other than domestic. The woman's rights movement in the Germanic-Protestant countries has been promoted by moral and economic factors.