Joseph McCabe begins with a forceful challenge to the familiar claim that women's rights emerge only when civilizations are dying. He argues instead that the woman question is a deep historical and moral issue, rooted in cultural progress, not national collapse, and that modern demands for equality reflect a civilization-wide awakening that will not disappear with any single empire. Rejecting romantic theories of an ancient matriarchy, he traces human development from primitive family life through tribal society, showing how male authority grew as communities became more organized and public power shifted toward war, migration, and statecraft. Surveying peoples across Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Arctic, McCabe finds no single pattern of female status: women may be respected, burdened, or excluded, but their position is shaped by social and economic structure rather than nature. He then turns to history's great civilizations, contrasting exceptional ancient Egypt with Rome, where Stoic philosophy and legal reform raised women's standing. Yet Rome's decline was not caused by emancipation, and the medieval world that followed became a true dark age for women, losing many of the rights they had once gained. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.