A sermon of the public function of womanby Theodore Parker

Preface

Psalm CXLIV: 12.— “That our daughters may be as corner-stones.”

Last Sunday, I spoke of the Domestic Function of Woman—what she may do for the higher development of the human race at home. To-day, I ask your attention to a sermon of the Ideal Public Function of Woman, and the Economy thereof, in the higher development of the Human Race.

The domestic function of woman, as a housekeeper, wife and mother, does not exhaust her powers. Woman's function, like charity, begins at home; then, like charity, goes every where. To make one half of the human race consume all their energies in the functions of housekeeper, wife and mother, is a monstrous waste of the most precious material that God ever made.

• Classes of Women
• Public Functions of Women
• The Nature of Women
• Rights of Women