It's interesting to read some of Chesterton's more dated opinions in works like "What's Wrong With The World." Consider his take on feminism: one key fear was that a part of it was just a way to exploit more people in the workforce. He was, indeed, quite skeptical of "the workforce" generally, observing with wonder that never before had so many people been working for another man's business, dependent, instead of his own independent good. We see his remedy for many of these ills through his distributivist philosophy where he proposed "three acres and a cow" for every family. And in that, I do admire his passion, the strength of his convictions to support the good:
"I begin with a little girl’s hair. That I know is a good thing at any rate. Whatever else is evil, the pride of a good mother in the beauty of her daughter is good. It is one of those adamantine tendernesses which are the touchstones of every age and race. If other things are against it, other things must go down. If landlords and laws and sciences are against it, landlords and laws and sciences must go down. With the red hair of one she-urchin in the gutter I will set fire to all modern civilization. Because a girl should have long hair, she should have clean hair; because she should have clean hair, she should not have an unclean home: because she should not have an unclean home, she should have a free and leisured mother; because she should have a free mother, she should not have an usurious landlord; because there should not be an usurious landlord, there should be a redistribution of property; because there should be a redistribution of property, there shall be a revolution. That little urchin with the gold-red hair, whom I have just watched toddling past my house, she shall not be lopped and lamed and altered; her hair shall not be cut short like a convict’s; no, all the kingdoms of the earth shall be hacked about and mutilated to suit her. She is the human and sacred image; all around her the social fabric shall sway and split and fall; the pillars of society shall be shaken, and the roofs of ages come rushing down, and not one hair of her head shall be harmed."
How well placed have these fears proven? Of what merit is his revolution? Many decades later, it's quite clear that if if you gave everyone who became an adult three acres in the middle of nowhere, most would sell them and move to the city, and even those who stayed behind would surely sell the cow. Working for others is what's normal now; seriously working your own land for staple foods almost unthinkable. In no doubt this was aided much by gains in productivity.
And women's equality, of course, is rightly feted. Yet surely this shadow he foresaw was quite real, and still afflicts us, as we complain bitterly of inequality. The little girl may still, from time to time at least, find her hair shaved to combat lice — not quite so much because she has a dirty home, but because her mother is not free and leisured. Indeed, she works two jobs, without a father, and rent within our cities is far too dear — though homeowners must share much of the blame with landlords, this time.
If you received a cow and some land today you'd surely sell it, but if you received it when he wrote this.. I'm not so sure this choice would be obvious. Also, I guess the point he makes is not getting a cow for it's own sake, but receiving tools/support to become independent - from landlords, from some businesses, etc. Freedom, even in not so great conditions, is freedom, which is arguably better than golden handcuffs.
"I begin with a little girl’s hair. That I know is a good thing at any rate. Whatever else is evil, the pride of a good mother in the beauty of her daughter is good. It is one of those adamantine tendernesses which are the touchstones of every age and race. If other things are against it, other things must go down. If landlords and laws and sciences are against it, landlords and laws and sciences must go down. With the red hair of one she-urchin in the gutter I will set fire to all modern civilization. Because a girl should have long hair, she should have clean hair; because she should have clean hair, she should not have an unclean home: because she should not have an unclean home, she should have a free and leisured mother; because she should have a free mother, she should not have an usurious landlord; because there should not be an usurious landlord, there should be a redistribution of property; because there should be a redistribution of property, there shall be a revolution. That little urchin with the gold-red hair, whom I have just watched toddling past my house, she shall not be lopped and lamed and altered; her hair shall not be cut short like a convict’s; no, all the kingdoms of the earth shall be hacked about and mutilated to suit her. She is the human and sacred image; all around her the social fabric shall sway and split and fall; the pillars of society shall be shaken, and the roofs of ages come rushing down, and not one hair of her head shall be harmed."
How well placed have these fears proven? Of what merit is his revolution? Many decades later, it's quite clear that if if you gave everyone who became an adult three acres in the middle of nowhere, most would sell them and move to the city, and even those who stayed behind would surely sell the cow. Working for others is what's normal now; seriously working your own land for staple foods almost unthinkable. In no doubt this was aided much by gains in productivity.
And women's equality, of course, is rightly feted. Yet surely this shadow he foresaw was quite real, and still afflicts us, as we complain bitterly of inequality. The little girl may still, from time to time at least, find her hair shaved to combat lice — not quite so much because she has a dirty home, but because her mother is not free and leisured. Indeed, she works two jobs, without a father, and rent within our cities is far too dear — though homeowners must share much of the blame with landlords, this time.