LYMAN ABBOTT
(Lyman J. Abbott)
Without realizing it Abbott conceded some of the reasons that some people opposed women serving in the military. His entire argument hangs on the slender thread that it is not the function of a woman which was a view held by some people with particular religious and philosophical views. When that group was clearly shown to be a minority of Americans, women entered military service and joined police forces across the country.
Abbot was apparently ignorant of the American women who did fight in the American Revolution, the War of 1812 or the Civil War where there were a few women who fought on both sides some of whom were decorated. Nor did he seem to acknowledge Joan of Arc and other female warriors in world history. But he would be truly shocked by the tens of thousands of “civilized” women who volunteered and served in the American military once they were allowed to do so and the “civilized” men who fought with them as compatriots.
that women do not want to vote At the turn of the century, it was considered perfectly reasonable for men to write and speak about what women wanted. Some women actually felt the way Abbot described as they had never been exposed to any other alternatives. However, the very fact that Abbott felt compelled to write this article in one of America’s leading publications tells us that there was a substantial number of women who wanted the vote and who were being very active in demanding same. And once women got the vote, they have tended to vote in higher proportion to the men. So Lyman was proved wrong by events. The notion that women valued their maternal and homemaker roles to the exclusion of voting, working and otherwise participating in society, happened to fit in well with a religious world view that a minority of American Christians believe even today is the mandate of God.
Lyman J. Abbott was an American Congregationalist theologian, editor, and author.
