Charles Darwin is the father of evolution by natural selection and was seen as a figurehead for logical and pure reasoning. Even today the image of Darwin is one of the most circulated and recognizable images. In the nineteenth-century Darwin had a cultish following from the public, but that did not mean that everyone accepted his work as fact. Those who did accept his work were quick to expand the ideas presented by Darwin and use them to justify their own cause. One of these was the use of Darwin’s work to say that women were inferior to men. In his private life Darwin saw women as having potential but in the public sphere, via his later publications, he said women were inferior to men, which could have been caused by the want to be published.
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Eliza Burt Gamble rewrote the theory of evolution in her work The Evolution of Woman. This book defended the idea of female superiority. Gamble used Darwin’s work and “[interprets] it in such a way as to challenge many of the androcentric assumptions based upon it” (Jann, pg 150). Gamble argued that woman’s genius will be shown “ as soon as she is free, and has for a few generations enjoyed the advantages of more natural methods of education” (Gamble, pg 67). Gamble goes on to argue that after time woman would become better than man and even argued the superiority of woman using Darwin’s own data. She argued that the specialization of women’s reproductive organs is more proof of this. Gamble also said that even though woman is higher than man that “females of the human species has greatly weakened” (Deutscher, pg 45) meaning that instead of being inferior, females are declining because of the state that women were kept in. While making this argument Gamble fell into the same trap as Darwin did and valued cooperation in women more than competition in men. This is a form of female bias along with the idea that all women are the same which is essentialism, a form of feminism from the Victorian era. Like Darwin, Gamble rewrote with bias of her own to conclude that women are superior to
Eliza Burt Gamble rewrote the theory of evolution in her work The Evolution of Woman. This book defended the idea of female superiority. Gamble used Darwin’s work and “[interprets] it in such a way as to challenge many of the androcentric assumptions based upon it” (Jann, pg 150). Gamble argued that woman’s genius will be shown “ as soon as she is free, and has for a few generations enjoyed the advantages of more natural methods of education” (Gamble, pg 67). Gamble goes on to argue that after time woman would become better than man and even argued the superiority of woman using Darwin’s own data. She argued that the specialization of women’s reproductive organs is more proof of this. Gamble also said that even though woman is higher than man that “females of the human species has greatly weakened” (Deutscher, pg 45) meaning that instead of being inferior, females are declining because of the state that women were kept in. While making this argument Gamble fell into the same trap as Darwin did and valued cooperation in women more than competition in men. This is a form of female bias along with the idea that all women are the same which is essentialism, a form of feminism from the Victorian era. Like Darwin, Gamble rewrote with bias of her own to conclude that women are superior to