According to Karen Offen, most nineteenth-century feministsargued that \"women, as the peace-loving sex, had specific qualitiesand talents from which the entire society could benefit . . . \"(333). In other words, feminists advocated for greater civil andcivic autonomy for women based on women's essential differencesfrom men rather than their essential sameness. In what ways doesthis limit the chances of their cause succeeding yet at the sametime aid feminists in pushing for greater control over their ownlives? Put another way, are claims based on traditional notions ofwomanhood ultimately self-defeating or pragmatic calculations giventhe cultural realities of the 19th century?
