"The Female of the Species" is a poem by Rudyard Kipling originally published in 1911.
Kipling begins the poem by illustrating the greater deadliness of female bears and cobras compared to their male counterparts, and by stating that early Jesuit missionaries to North America were more frightened of Native women than male warriors.
An example is contained in these lines: "She who faces Death by torture for each life beneath her breast may not deal in doubt or pity, must not swerve for fact or jest.
Kipling's description of the stubborn nature of women that makes them good mothers and wives implies that they are unsuitable to hold leadership positions in the broader community.
Kipling writes that "man, the coward" has a "timid heart," and so may choose to include women in leadership positions out of foolishness ("fear, or foolishness, impels him").