Woman, Church & State: The Original Exposé of Male Collaboration Against the Female Sex

Woman, Church & State: The Original Exposé of Male Collaboration Against the Female Sex

Woman, Church, & State (The Original Exposé of Male Against the Female Sex), by Native American women's suffragist, abolitionist, free thinker, and author Matilda Joslyn Gage, was originally published in 1893. The work is an anti-clerical tract, coming to the conclusion that Christianity was a singular roadblock to the progress of women, and civilization. Also that religious doctrine is used as a justification for the dehumanization of women, and the deprivation of their civil, human, economic and political rights. Gage presents a mountain of evidence to defend her case. She also also emphasizes the ancient matriarchy and witch trials as key episodes in female history, providing the foundation for later feminist anthropology, including the well-known study, The Witch-Cult in Western Europe by Margaret Alice Murray.