The Harim and the Purdah: Studies of Oriental Women

This book, written by an English woman, is her perspective and experiences of women from Asia, spanning from the Indian to the Chinese. To quote her own words: «The Eastern woman is primarily a traditionalist. She is more closely bound by hereditary tendency than the woman of the West. One of her outstanding characteristics has lain for years in her dependency and passive reliance upon her husband for economic support and protection. Her very seclusion means to her, not that which the word would connote to the Westerner, slavery or imprisonment; to her, it is rather the mantle of protective care and interest thrown over her by her lord and master.»