Munsey's Magazine, August 1918

About this issue

This August 1918 issue of Munsey's Magazine features a substantial essay by Richard Le Gallienne titled "Woman's Fight for Freedom," examining women's historical subjugation and the struggle for emancipation. Le Gallienne traces women's status from ancient Egypt—where religious principles granted them near-equality—through Greece and Rome, arguing their position declined under Christian asceticism. He critiques St. Paul's doctrine of female subjection, documented through biblical quotations, and cites 1880 religious rhetoric condemning divorce. Le Gallienne catalogs exceptional women rulers (Cleopatra, Elizabeth I, Catherine of Russia) before addressing the modern movement, beginning with Mary Wollstonecraft's 1792 "Vindication of the Rights of Women." He discusses earlier French feminist writers including Olympe de Gouges, whose "Declaration of the Rights of Women" (1789) challenged the Revolutionary government's exclusion of women from voting. The essay includes Congressional debate excerpts from 1913 regarding women's suffrage, contrasting opponents' mockery with supporters' counterarguments.