Note 182 — Chapter XV · The Legal Status of Women.

That this danger exists the clergy themselves have soon recognized. Since the woman movement has grown and developed even in bourgeois circles, the leaders of the Catholic party recognized that they could no longer oppose it, and they accordingly completely reversed their attitude. With that subtlety which has always characterized the servants of the church, they favor at present what they opposed until quite recently. They not only favor higher education for women, they also declare themselves in favor of unrestricted right of assembly and organization for women. Some of the more far-sighted even support woman suffrage, hoping that the church may derive the greatest gain from the introduction of same. In the same way the industrial organization of women is supported by the Catholic clergy, even the organization of servant girls. But all these social endeavors are fostered, not from an innate sense of justice, but to prevent the women from flocking to the camp of religious and political opponents.