The change from female supremacy to male dominion is among the most important of the evolutionary processes. From the facts underlying the development of human society, and especially those underlying the two diverging lines of sex-demarcation, it is evident that evolution does not proceed in an undeviating line toward progress. It is perceived, that seeming retrogressions always involve a gain—a gain which could have been accomplished in no other way.
Among the benefits derived from this change in the positions of the sexes was the development of altruism in man. When fathers began to take an interest in their own offspring, to care for them and to become responsible for their welfare, an important step had been taken toward the establishment of the principle of brotherhood among mankind. The evolutionary processes indicate a constant tendency toward the solidarity of the race, they may be said to represent a resistless force ever drawing the human family together in a closer bond of union and sympathy. Under female supremacy, combination, or association of interests, was confined to the gens. The extension of these interests which resulted from the new order was necessary before humanity could proceed on its onward course. These changes could not have taken place under the early system based on the supremacy of women.
The facts brought out by scientists going to prove that the progressive principle is confided to the female are accentuated by those connected with the origin and subsequent development of marriage and the family. That within the female lie the elements of progress is clearly indicated, not only in the position which the female occupied among the orders of life lower in the scale of being, and during the earlier ages of human history, but also by her career as the slave of man. Simply by means of the characters developed within the female constitution, without material resources, and deprived of recognized influence, women have been able to a certain extent, to dignify the family and the home.
It is more than likely that in the not distant future, even the institution of marriage, through which women have been degraded, will become so purified and elevated that its results, instead of being a menace to higher conditions will constitute a continuous source of progress and a promise of still higher achievement. Before this may be accomplished, mothers must be absolutely free and wholly independent of the opposite sex for the means of support. Marriage must be a co partnership in which neither sex has the right to control the other.