¶Caird, 1854-1932, was a novelist, essayist, and radical campaigner. She was a committed supporter of female emancipation, and took an active role in several of the groups promoting female suffrage. She also wrote extensively on the topic of eugenics, and was outspoken in her condemnation of racial and morally bankrupt social engineering. These collected essays first appeared in a number of different publications, including the Westminster Review and the North American Review, between 1888 and 1894. They are primarily concerned with the position of women in society, and in particular the tendency for women to be subjugated to men in matrimonial partnerships. In 'The End of the Patriarchal System' and 'The Lot of Woman under the Rule of Man', Caird argues that society can only be considered free if the convention of male dominance is exposed and destroyed.