Women of Bashkirtseff’s era could only advance socially through marriage.

Evidence

Marie Bashkirtseff gives a gripping example of an imaginary sentimental existence. The Duke of H., with whom she claims to be in love, is someone to whom she has never spoken. What she really desires is to exalt herself; but being a woman, and especially in the period and class she belongs to, she had no chance of achieving success through an independent existence. At eighteen years of age, she lucidly notes: “I write to C. that I would like to be a man. I know that I could be someone; but where can one go in skirts? Marriage is women’s only career; men have thirty-six chances, women have but one, zero, like in the bank.” — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 891

Categorization

• XREF: Directly prefigures the later chapter on The Married Woman and the economic dependence theme; also echoes the ‘one career’ constraint that runs through the whole book. — connects to: For women, marriage was the only route to social legitimacy — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1096; Traditional marriage confines woman to immanence and denies her transcendence — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1196
• CANDY: ‘Marriage is women’s only career; men have thirty-six chances, women have but one, zero, like in the bank’ is a crisp quotable line.

Broader Connections

• For women, marriage was the only route to social legitimacy #corroborates (0.95) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1096
• Traditional marriage confines woman to immanence and denies her transcendence #qualifies (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1196