The natural superiority of women is a biological fact, and a

The words of Ashley Montagu — “The natural superiority of women is a biological fact, and a socially acknowledged reality.” — ring with the force of both science and reverence. Montagu, the anthropologist and humanist, sought to remind a world long blinded by prejudice that the gifts of women are not lesser, but in many ways greater, than those traditionally exalted in men. He did not speak in flattery, but in observation, declaring that nature itself had inscribed strength, endurance, and resilience in the bodies and spirits of women.

The meaning of his words reaches beyond surface praise. In calling superiority “biological,” Montagu recognized the unique capacities of women: their endurance of pain, their power to give life, their adaptability in struggle. Where men were often exalted for conquest, women embodied the quieter but greater triumph of survival, community, and continuity. And in naming it a “socially acknowledged reality,” he revealed that even cultures that denied equality could not help but rely upon the unseen labor and strength of women to sustain the fabric of life.

History itself bears witness. During the Second World War, when men marched to battle, it was women who filled the factories, tilled the fields, and held nations together. In Britain, America, and Russia, the endurance of women became the hidden army without which victory would have been impossible. Rosie the Riveter, hammer in hand, became more than an icon; she was proof that superiority did not lie in brute force alone, but in the resilience to carry worlds upon weary shoulders.

Montagu’s words also carry a prophetic tone. They unmask the injustice of a world that praises women in times of crisis but denies them equality in times of peace. If society already acknowledges their superiority in moments of greatest need, then justice demands that it also recognize their rightful place in leadership, in freedom, and in shaping the destiny of nations. His voice is a summons to see not only what is hidden, but what has always been before our eyes.

Let this truth be passed down: the superiority Montagu spoke of is not a boast, but a reminder that strength wears many forms. In patience, in endurance, in the power to heal, to nurture, to fight for survival, women embody gifts that the world must honor. And so, his words become both declaration and command: acknowledge the reality, for it is written in blood, in history, and in the eternal fabric of life.