 When Kant discusses voting for representatives, he adheres to many prevailing prejudices of the time (8:295). The right to vote requires “being one’s own master” and hence having property or some skill that can support one independently. The reason given for this, that those who must acquire something from another to make a living alienate what belongs to them, is so vague that Kant himself admits in a footnote “It is, I admit, somewhat difficult to determine what is required in order to be able to claim the rank of a human being who is his own master.” Kant also leaves women out of the voting populations for what he calls “natural” reasons which are left unspecified. Individuals who are not given the right to vote are deemed “passive” citizens of the state who nonetheless enjoy all other rights identified with freedom and equality (6:315). Kant insists that in line with this freedom and equality, all passive citizens of the state could work their way up to the full status of “active” citizen.