The Green Book: Part Three
Chapter Five
WOMAN
It is an undisputed fact that both
man and woman are human beings. It
follows as a self-evident fact that
woman and man are equal as human
beings. Discrimination between man
and woman is a flagrant act of oppres-
sion without any justification. For
woman eats and drinks as man eats
and drinks ... Woman loves and hates
as man loves and hates ... Woman
thinks, learns and understands as man
thinks, learns and understands ...
Woman, like man, needs shelter, clo-
thing and vehicles ... Woman feels
hunger and thirst as man feels hunger
and thirst ... Woman lives and dies as
man lives and dies.
But why are there man and woman?
Indeed, human society is composed
neither of man alone nor of woman
alone. It is made up naturally of man
and woman. Why were not only men
created? Why were not only women
created? After all, what is the differ-
ence between man and woman? Why
was it necessary to create man and
[26]
woman? There must be a natural
necessity for the existence of man and
woman, rather than man only or
woman only. It follows that neither of
them is exactly the other, and the fact
that a natural difference exists be-
tween man and woman is proved by
the created existence of man and
woman. This means, as a matter of
fact, that there is a role for each one of
them, matching the difference be-
tween them. Accordingly, there must
be different prevailing conditions for
each one to live and perform their
naturally different roles. To compre-
hend this role, we must understand the
differences in the nature of man and
woman, namely the natural differ-
ences between them:
Woman is a female and man is a
male. According to a gynaecologist,
woman menstruates or suffers feeble-
ness every month, while man, being a
male, does not menstruate and he is
not subject to the monthly period
which is a bleeding. A woman, being a
female, is naturally subject to monthly
bleeding. When a woman does not
menstruate, she is pregnant. If she is
[27]
pregnant she becomes, due to pregnan-
cy, feeble for about a year, which
means that all her natural activities
are seriously reduced until she deliv-
ers her baby. When she delivers her
baby or has had a miscarriage, she
suffers puerperium, a feebleness
attendant on delivery or miscarriage.
As the man does not get pregnant, he is
not liable to the feebleness which
woman, being a female, suffers. After-
wards woman breast-feeds the baby
she bore. Breast-feeding continues for
about two years. Breast-feeding means
that a woman is so inseparable from
her baby that her activity is seriously
reduced. She becomes directly respon-
sible for another person whom she
helps to carry out his biological func-
tions, without which it would die. The
man, on the other hand, neither con-
ceives nor breast-feeds.
All these innate characteristics form
differences because of which man and
woman cannot be equal. These, in
themselves, are the realities that
necessitate the distinction between
male and female, i.e. man and woman;
they assign to each of them a different
[28]
role or function in life. This means that
man cannot replace woman in car-
rying out these functions. It is worthy
of consideration that these biological
functions are a heavy burden, causing
woman great effort and suffering.
However, without these functions
which woman performs, human life
would come to an end. It follows that it
is a natural function which is neither
voluntary nor compulsory. It is an
essential function, whose sole alterna-
tive is that human life would come to a
complete standstill.
There is a deliberate intervention
against conception which is the alter-
native to human life. In addition to that
there is a partial deliberate interven-
tion against conception, as well as
against breast-feeding. All these are
links in a chain of actions against
natural life, culminating in murder,
i.e. for a woman to kill herself in order
not to conceive, deliver and breast-
feed, is within the realm of deliberate
interventions against the nature of life
embodied in conception, breast-
feeding, maternity and marriage,
though they differ only in degree.
[29]
To dispense with the natural role of
woman in maternity -- i.e. nurseries
replacing mothers -- is a start in
dispensing with the human society and
transforming it into a biological socie-
ty with an artificial way of life. To
separate children from their mothers
and to cram them into nurseries is a
process by which they are transformed
into something very close to chicks, for
nurseries are similar to poultry farms
in which chicks are crammed after
they are hatched. Nothing else would
be appropriate for man's nature, and
would suit his dignity, except natural
motherhood, (i.e. the child is raised by
his mother ...) + in a family where the
true principles of motherhood, father-
hood and brotherhood prevail, + rather
than in a centre similar to a poultry
breeding farm. Poultry, like the rest of
the members of the animal kingdom,
needs motherhood as a natural phase.
Therefore, breeding them on farms
similar to nurseries is against their
natural growth. Even their meat is
closer to synthetic meat than natural
meat. Meat from mechanized poultry
farms is not tasty and may not be
[30]
nourishing because the chicks are not
naturally bred, i.e. they are not raised
in the protective shade of natural
motherhood. The meat of wild birds is
more tasty and nourishing because
they grow naturally and are naturally
fed. As for children who have neither
family nor shelter, society is their
guardian, only for them should society
establish nurseries and the like. It is
better for those to be taken care of by
society rather than by individuals who
are not their parents.
If a test were carried out to discover
the natural propensity of the child
towards his mother and the nursery,
the child would opt for his mother and
not the nursery. Since the natural ten-
dency of a child is towards his mother,
she is the natural and proper person to
give the child the protection of nursing.
Sending a child to a nursery in place of
his mother is coercion and oppression
against its free natural propensity.
The natural growth for all living
things is free sound growth. To substi-
tute a nursery for a mother is coercive
action against free sound growth. Chil-
dren who are driven to a nursery are
[31]
driven compulsorily or by exploitation
and simple-mindedness. They are driv-
en to nurseries purely by material-
istic and not social considerations. If
coercion and childish simple-
mindedness were removed, they would
certainly reject the nursery and cling
to their mother. The only justification
for such an unnatural and inhuman
process is the fact that the woman is in
a position unsuitable to her nature, i.e.
she is compelled to perform duties
which are unsocial and anti-
motherhood.
The woman, whose nature has
assigned to her a natural role different
from that of man, must be in an
appropriate position to perform her
natural role.
Motherhood is the female's function,
not the male's. Consequently, it is
unnatural to separate children from
their mother. Any attempt to take
children away from their mother is
coercion, oppression and dictatorship.
The mother who abandons her mater-
nity contradicts her natural role in life.
She must be provided with her rights
and conditions which are appropriate,
[32]
non-coercive and unoppressive. Thus
she can carry out her natural role
under natural conditions. Anything
else is a self-contradictory situation. If
the woman is forced to abandon her
natural role as regards conception and
maternity, she falls victim to coercion
and dictatorship. A woman who needs
work that renders her unable to per-
form her natural function is not free
and is compelled to do that by need, * for
in need freedom is latent. *
Among suitable and even essential
conditions which enable the woman to
perform her natural role, which differs
from that of man, are those very condi-
tions which are proper to a human
being who is sick and burdened with
pregnancy, i.e. bearing another human
being in her womb, which renders her
physically incapacitated. It is unjust to
place such a woman in this stage of
maternity into circumstances of phy-
sical work incompatible with her con-
dition. Such work is a punishment of
woman for her betrayal of maternity
and of mankind. It is also a tax she
pays for entering the realm of men who
are not, of course, of her sex.
[33]
The belief, including the woman's
own belief, that the woman carries out
physical labour of her own accord, is
not, in fact, true. For she performs the
physical work only because the
harsh materialistic society has
placed her, without her being directly
aware, in coercive circumstances. She
has no alternative but to submit to the
conditions of that society while she
thinks that she works of her own
accord. However, the rule that 'there is
no difference between man and woman
in every thing' deprives her of her
freedom.
The phrase 'in every thing' is a
monstrous deception of woman. This
idea will destroy the appropriate and
necessary conditions which constitute
the privilege which woman ought to
enjoy apart from man in accordance
with her nature on which a natural role
in life is based.
To demand equality between man
and woman in carrying heavy weights
while the woman is pregnant is unjust
and cruel. To demand equality be-
tween them in fasting and hardship,
while she is breast-feeding, is unjust
[34]
and cruel. To demand equality be-
tween them in any dirty work, which
stains her beauty and detracts from
her femininity, is unjust and cruel.
Education that leads to work unsuit-
able for her nature is unjust and cruel
as well.
There is no difference between man
and woman in all that concerns hu-
manity. None of them can marry the
other against his or her will, or divorce
without a just trial. Neither the woman
nor the man can remarry without a
previous agreement on divorce. The
woman is the owner of the house be-
cause it is one of the suitable and
necessary conditions for a woman who
menstruates, conceives, and cares for
her children. The woman is the owner
of the maternity shelter, which is the
house. Even in the animal world,
which differs in many ways from that
of man, and where maternity is also a
duty according to nature, it is coercion
to deprive the young of their mother or
deprive the female of her shelter.
A woman is but a female. Being
female means that she has a biological
nature different from that of man. The
[35]
female's biological nature differing, as
it does, from that of the male, has
imparted to a woman characteristics
different from those of a man in form
and essence. A woman's anatomy is
different from that of a man just as the
female in plants and animals are diffe-
rent from the male. This is a natural
and incontrovertible fact. In the anim-
al and plant kingdoms the male is
naturally created strong and tough,
while the female is created beautiful
and gentle. These are natural and
eternal characteristics innate in these
living creatures, whether called hu-
man beings, animals or plants.
In view of his different nature and in
line with the laws of nature, the male
has played the role of the strong and
tough without compulsion but simply
because he is created in that way. The
female has played the role of the
beautiful and the gentle, not because
she wanted to, but because she is
created so. This natural rule is just,
partly because it is natural, and partly
because it is the basic rule for free-
dom. For all living creatures are cre-
ated free and any interference with
[36]
that freedom is coercion. Non-
commitment to these natural roles and
a lack of concern towards their roles
amount to an act of negligence and
destruction of the values of life itself.
Nature has thus been designed in har-
mony with the inevitability of life from
what is being to what will become. The
living creature is a being who inevit-
ably lives until he is dead. Existence
between the beginning and the end is
based on a natural law, without choice
or compulsion. It is natural. It is natu-
ral freedom.
In the animal, plant and human king-
doms there must be a male and a
female for life to occur from its begin-
ning to its end. They do not only exist
but they have to play, with absolute
efficiency, the natural role for which
they have been created. If their role is
not efficiently performed there must
be some defect in the course of life
caused by certain circumstances. This
is the case of societies nowadays
almost everywhere in the world as a
result of confusing the roles of man and
woman, i.e. as a result of endeavours
to transform a woman into a man. In
[37]
harmony with their nature and its
purpose they must be creative within
their respective roles. For the opposite
is retrogressive. It is a trend against
nature, which is as destructive to the
rule of freedom, as it is hostile to both
life and survival. Men and women
must perform, not abandon the role for
which they are created. Abandoning
the role or even a part of it only occurs
as a result of coercive conditions, i.e.
under abnormal conditions. The
woman who rejects pregnancy, mar-
riage, make up and femininity for
reasons of health, abandons her natu-
ral role in life under these coercive
conditions of health. The woman who
rejects marriage, pregnancy or
motherhood etc., because of work,
abandons her natural role under the
same coercive conditions. The woman
who rejects marriage, pregnancy or
maternity etc., without any concrete
cause, abandons her natural role as a
result of a coercive condition which is a
moral deviation from the norm. Thus.
abandoning the natural role of female
and male in life can only occur under
unnatural conditions which are con-
[38]
trary to nature and a threat to surviv-
al. Consequently, there must be a
world revolution which puts an end to
all materialistic conditions hindering
woman from performing her natural
role in life and driving her to carry out
man's duties in order to be equal in
rights. Such a revolution will inevit-
ably take place, particularly in the
industrial societies, as a response by
the instinct of survival, even without
any instigator of revolution such as the
Green Book.
* All societies nowadays look upon
woman as no more than an article of
merchandise. The East regards her as a
commodity for buying and selling, while
the West does not recognise her femi-
ninity. *
Driving woman to do man's work is
unjust aggression against the feminin-
ity with which she is naturally pro-
vided for a natural purpose essential to
life. For man's work disguises the
woman's beautiful features which are
created for female roles. They are
exactly like blossoms which are cre-
ated to attract pollen and to produce
seeds. If we did away with the blos-
[39]
soms, the role of plants in life would
come to an end. It is the natural
embellishment in butterflies and birds
as well as the rest of animal females
which is created for that natural vital
goal. If a woman carries out man's
work, she will be transformed into a
man abandoning her role and her beau-
ty. A woman has full rights to live
without being forced to change into a
man and to give up her femininity.
The physical structure, which is
naturally different between man and
woman, leads to differences in the
functions of their different organs
which lead in turn to differences in the
psyche, mood, nerves and physical
appearance. A woman is tender. A
woman is pretty. A woman weeps easi-
ly. A woman is easily frightened. In
general woman is gentle and man is
tough by virtue of their inbred nature.
To ignore natural differences be-
tween man and woman and mix their
roles is an absolutely uncivilized atti-
tude, hostile to the laws of nature,
destructive to human life, and a
genuine cause for the wretchedness of
human social life.
[40]
Modern industrial societies, which
have made woman adapt to the same
physical work as man at the expense of
her femininity and her natural role in
terms of beauty, maternity and peace
of mind -- those societies are uncivil-
ized. They are materialistic, uncivil-
ized societies. It is as stupid as it is
dangerous to civilization and humanity
to copy them.
* The question, then, is not whether the
woman works or does not work. For it is
a ridiculous materialistic presentation.
Work should be provided by the society
to all able members -- men and women
-- who need work, but on condition that
each individual should work in the field
that suits him, and not be forced to
carry out unsuitable work.
For the children to find themselves
under adult working conditions is in-
justice and dictatorship. Equally it is
injustice and dictatorship for woman to
find herself under the working condi-
tions of man. *
Freedom means that every human
being gets that education which qual-
ifies him for work which is appropriate
to him. Dictatorship means that a
[41]
human being learns what is not suit-
able for him. That leads him to work
which is not suitable for him. Work
which is appropriate to man is not
always appropriate to woman, and the
knowledge that is proper for the child
is not suitable for the adult.
There is no difference in human
rights between man and woman, the
child and the adult. But there is no
absolute equality between them as re-
gards their duties.
[42]
Chapter Six Table of Contents