Old-fashioned ways which no longer apply to changed conditions

When Jane Addams declared, “Old-fashioned ways which no longer apply to changed conditions are a snare in which the feet of women have always become readily entangled,” she spoke as both reformer and prophetess. Her words reveal the cruel paradox of tradition: what once may have served a purpose can, in time, become a chain. For old-fashioned ways, clung to beyond their usefulness, ensnare women most of all, binding them to roles, duties, and limitations long out of harmony with the world around them.

Addams knew this truth from life itself. As the world rushed into the machine age, with cities swelling and industries roaring, women were still told their highest duty was silence, domesticity, and dependence. Yet the conditions had changed: women were entering factories, schools, and public life. The traditions that once defined their place became not guidance but fetters, tripping them as snares trip the unwary traveler. Her words were a call to cut through those entangling cords and let women walk freely into the new age.

History offers clear examples of this struggle. Consider the suffragettes of the early twentieth century. For centuries, the “old-fashioned” belief was that women were too delicate or too emotional to vote. Yet society had changed: women were teachers, laborers, healers, organizers. The snare of outdated thinking threatened to hold them back, but through marches, hunger strikes, and ceaseless advocacy, they tore themselves free. Their victory proved Addams right—that when tradition ignores reality, it becomes a prison.

The ancients too warned of this danger. In China, foot-binding was long upheld as a mark of beauty and virtue, yet it crippled generations of women, entangling their very steps in literal bondage. So too does Addams remind us that when customs outlive their purpose, they ensnare the spirit just as cruelly, preventing women from keeping pace with the changed conditions of the world.

Thus, her words endure as wisdom for all ages: honor tradition only when it uplifts, but abandon it when it ensnares. Let women never be trapped by practices that belong to a dead past. For society evolves, and with it must evolve the freedom of its daughters. To cling to obsolete ways is to chain half of humanity; to release them is to let all of humanity walk forward together into the future.