On the Equality of the Sexes

“Is it upon mature consideration we adopt the idea, that nature is thus partial in her distributions? Is it indeed a fact, that she hath yielded to one half of the human species so unquestionable a mental superiority? I know that to both sexes elevated understandings, and the reverse, are common. But, suffer me to ask, in what the minds of females are so notoriously deficient, or unequal.”

Employing rhetorical questioning and verbal irony, Judith Sargent Murray begins her essay by rebutting the assumption that women are mentally inferior. Within these lines, she implies that nature (a female entity) is the one responsible for doling out these qualities, and questions if nature has truly been that partial in selecting man as the superior sex.

“Another instance of our creative powers, is our talent for slander; how ingenious are we at inventive scandal? what a formidable story can we in a moment fabricate merely from the force of a prolifick imagination? how many reputations, in the fertile brain of a female, have been utterly despoiled? how industrious are we at improving a hint? suspicion how easily do we convert into conviction, and conviction, embellished by the power of eloquence, stalks abroad to the surprise and confusion of unsuspecting innocence. Perhaps it will be asked if I furnish these facts as instances of excellency in our sex. Certainly not; but as proofs of a creative faculty, of a lively imagination.”

With a sarcastic tone, Murray finds a way to put a positive spin on some of the negative characteristics often associated with women. She points to women’s “talent for slander” as evidence of creativity and imagination.

“‘But our judgment is not so strong we do not distinguish so well.’ Yet it may be questioned, from what doth this superiority, in this determining faculty of the soul, proceed. May we not trace its source in the difference of education, and continued advantages? Will it be said that the judgment of a male of two years old, is more sage than that of a female’s of the same age? I believe the reverse is generally observed to be true. But from that period what partiality! how is the one exalted and the other depressed, by the contrary modes of education which are adopted! the one is taught to aspire, and the other is early confined and limited. As their years increase, the sister must be wholly domesticated, while the brother is led by the hand through all the flowery paths of science.”

With an exasperated tone, Murray addresses the themes of education and domestic duties, arguing that any deficits in female judgment are a result of the limitations placed on women. Specifically, limiting one’s education and pushing an individual toward domestic duties are both likely to result in insufficient judgment.