As two streams rising from one fountain-head and running a parallel course
through long reaches may yet remain wholly distinct, one finding its way
satisfactorily to the sea, while the other loses itself in sand or becomes
a stagnant marsh, so our modern male and female movements, taking their
rise from the same material conditions in modern civilisation, and
presenting endless and close analogies with one another in their cause of
development, yet remain fundamentally distinct. By both movements the
future of the race must be profoundly modified for good or evil; both touch
the race in a manner absolutely vital; but both will have to be fought out
on their own ground, and independently: and it can be only by determined,
conscious, and persistent action on the part of woman that the solution of
her own labour problems will proceed co-extensively with that of the other.

How distinct, though similar, is the underlying motive of the two
movements, is manifested most clearly by this fact, that, while the male
labour movement takes its rise mainly among the poor and hand-labouring
classes, where the material pressure of the modern conditions of life fall
heaviest, and where the danger of physical suffering and even extinction
under that pressure is most felt; the Woman Labour Movement has taken its
rise almost as exclusively among the wealthy, cultured, and brain-labouring
classes, where alone, at the present day, the danger of enervation through
non-employment, and of degeneration through dependence on the sex function
exists. The female labour movement of our day is, in its ultimate essence,
an endeavour on the part of a section of the race to save itself from
inactivity and degeneration, and this, even at the immediate cost of most
heavy loss in material comfort and ease to the individuals composing it.
The male labour movement is, directly and in the first place, material;
and, or at least superficially, more or less self-seeking, though its
ultimate reaction on society by saving the poorer members from degradation
and dependency and want is undoubtedly wholly social and absolutely