Quote: “A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view”
Given the near universal suffrage (with the exception of a few countries) and the right of nearly all women to run for positions in governing bodies, I believe that Ibsen’s words do not exist with the prevalence as before yet are still present.
For instance, the United States supreme court justices do hold women with their ranks, a phenomena unthinkable of in the 1800s. However, only 1/3 of them are women which means that the majority of decisions are still being made by men.
However, women are still typically not the major decision makers in politics. For every Elizabeth Warren there are many Paul Ryans which ensures that all laws are voted upon primarily by men.
In other nations, the situation of the United States appears to be like a utopia for many human rights activists. In places like Saudi Arabia, women rights activists are frequently arrested. Women are essentially considered to be possessions of men as they can only go out and in rare case do some form of work with the consent of their male partner. In these monarchies, women have no official role in the judicial system which prevents them from speaking their mind or playing a role in setting the laws.
In a way, Oscar Wilde’s words ring perfectly true for these sorts of societies.
