vi Introduction Her receptive intelligence has enabled her woman's intuition to grasp the nature of the problem with which Feminism has to grapple. Here, at the spot where she stands, the nature and direction of the Woman's Movement of the future must be determined. That alone suffices to make the study of her work in- dispensable. No doubt, Ellen Key's attitude must be at first disconcerting, and not to one party only in this question but also to the other. There, on the one hand, has been the party which insistently declared: Woman is the Mother, and the Home is her sphere; by going outside her sphere, by competing with men, and by seeking to do everything that is done by man, she becomes unfit for the work that she alone can do; she degrades herself and injures the race. There, on the other hand, is the party which, with equal or greater insistence, declares: Woman is a Human Being; Justice demands that she shall possess the same rights and privileges as Man and be free to lead the same life as Man. And between those two parties here comes Ellen Key with her declaration: Yes, Woman is the Mother, the future of the race is in her hands, and woman is a Human