Crocodile on the Sandbank (Amelia Peabody, #1)

by Elizabeth Peters

The key to the regeneration of Egypt lies in the women. So long as they are forced into marriage and motherhood long before they are ready for such responsibilities—sold to the highest bidder like animals, untrained in even the rudiments of sanitation and housekeeping, untaught, unassisted, and degraded—so long will the country fail to realize its potential.

I hope I number patience among my virtues, but shilly-shallying, when nothing is to be gained by delay, is not a virtue.