The History of Woman Suffrage Volume IV Part 143

[494] In 1886 Queensland granted Munic.i.p.al Suffrage to Women.

[495] Tasmania granted Munic.i.p.al Suffrage to women in 1884.

[496] This portion of the report is condensed by the editors of the History from a chapter written by Mrs. Henrietta Muir Edwards for "The Women of Canada, Their Life and Work," a handbook prepared by the National Council of Women, at the request of the Canadian Government, for the Paris Exposition of 1900.

[497] In the city of Vancouver any single woman, widow or spinster, may vote for munic.i.p.al officers, and all women possessing the other necessary qualifications of male voters may vote for all munic.i.p.al officers and upon all munic.i.p.al questions. Married women may vote in the election of School Trustees. It has recently been decided that a man possessing no property of his own, and not being a householder in his own right, may be allowed to vote in munic.i.p.al matters if his wife be a property owner or a householder. [Eds.

CHAPTER LXXIV.

WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

In most of the countries of the world women possess some form of suffrage, but for many reasons it is almost impossible to define exactly in what it consists. Like suffrage for men it is largely based on property, and in most cases can be used only through a proxy.

Generally the woman loses the franchise by marriage and the husband may vote by right of the wife's property. In Belgium, Luxemburg, Italy and Roumania the husband votes at local elections by right of the taxes paid by the wife, and in case of a widow this right belongs to the eldest son, grandson or great grandson, or if there is none, then to the son-in-law. The Italian electoral law of 1870 gave a widow the right to vote by proxy in Parliamentary elections. All the Italian universities are open to women.

The const.i.tution of Germany says "every German" above twenty-five years of age shall have the Parliamentary Franchise, but no woman ever has been permitted to vote under it. There are, besides, twenty-five const.i.tutions for the different States which form the Empire. By the wording of some of them, women landed proprietors undoubtedly are ent.i.tled to take part in elections. The Prussian code declares that the rights of the two s.e.xes are equal, if no special laws fix an exception, and it gives the Parliamentary Franchise to _every one_ who possesses the county or burgess suffrage. The by-laws which prescribe the qualifications for the latter in some instances exclude women and in others declare that women land holders may act as electors, but only "through a proctor" (proxy). Teachers undoubtedly, as State officials, are ent.i.tled to take part in local government. Some of the provinces allow women taxpayers to vote by proxy in the rural districts. Neither the Government nor public sentiment, however, looks with favor upon women electors. It is only in recent years that a few of the most advanced have begun to agitate the question in this country, which holds a most conservative att.i.tude towards women. They have recently been admitted to a few of the universities.

In most of the Prussian towns the property qualifications of the wife are accounted to the husband in order that he may take part in munic.i.p.al elections. In Saxony women proprietors of landed estates, whether married or single, are ent.i.tled to a munic.i.p.al vote but this can be exercised only by proxy, and for this purpose one of their male relatives must be invested with their property. In Saxony, Baden, Wurtemburg, Hesse, the Thuringian States and perhaps a few more, women are permitted to attend public political meetings and be members of political societies, but in all other German States they are excluded from both. They are thus prohibited from forming organizations to secure the franchise. In Westphalia since 1856, and Schleswig-Holstein since 1867, all qualified women have some form of suffrage by male proxy.

In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, since 1862, women with property have a proxy vote in munic.i.p.al and provincial elections and for members of the Lower House of the Parliament, but there are many restrictions to this law. In Bohemia, since 1873, women who are large landed proprietors have a proxy vote for members of the Imperial Parliament and the local Diet.

In Russia among the peasant cla.s.s the representative of the household votes. The wife, if owner of the necessary amount of property, may select her husband as proxy, but he may also delegate his vote to the wife, and it is a common thing to see her take his place at elections and at village and country meetings of all kinds. In the cities and territorial a.s.semblies, women, married or unmarried, possessing sufficient property, may vote by male proxy for members of the munic.i.p.al and county a.s.semblies. Property-owning women of the n.o.bility may vote by proxy in the a.s.semblies of the n.o.bility. Part of the universities are open to them. There are 650 women physicians in Russia.

So far as can be learned women are not eligible to office in the above-mentioned countries with a very few exceptions.

In Finland, since 1865, widows and spinsters may vote at rural elections; since 1873 those who are rate-payers may vote at munic.i.p.al elections. Since 1889 women are eligible as Guardians of the Poor. In 1900 they were made eligible to all munic.i.p.al offices. An influential Finnish Woman's a.s.sociation with twenty branches is agitating for suffrage on the same terms as men.

In Holland there is no form of woman suffrage and the const.i.tution of 1887 expressly prohibits it.

Women in Denmark have no franchise, but Premier Duentzer has announced that the first reform movement of the new Cabinet (1901) will be the extension of Munic.i.p.al Suffrage to women.

In 1893, through the efforts of the Socialists, universal suffrage was granted to men in Belgium. While this gives to every man a vote, it permits to the married man, if he pays a small tax, two votes as the head of a family; if he pays tax on what would be about $2,000, or has a university degree, he is allowed three votes. The vast majority of those owning property or possessing university degrees belong to the established (Catholic) Church, and the Socialists soon found themselves out-voted by a minority. They then inst.i.tuted a new movement demanding "one man, one vote," and the Government, which is Catholic, said: "If you compel this we will enfranchise women,"

believing that this would strengthen its power. At this writing the contest is going on and becoming more violent.

Switzerland, whose pride is its absolutely republican form of government, allows no woman a vote on any question or for the election of any officer. They are admitted to the universities.

In France, in 1898, unmarried women engaged in commerce (including market women, etc.) were given a vote for Judges of the Tribunals of Commerce. A Woman Suffrage Society has just been formed in Paris which is attracting considerable attention. Women are admitted to the highest inst.i.tutions of learning.

The laws in all the countries thus far mentioned are most unjust to women and especially to wives.

Women in Sweden have voted in church matters since 1736. It was provided in 1862 that women who are rate-payers may vote directly or by proxy, as they choose, for all officers except for members of the Parliament. Indirectly they have a voice in the election of the First Chamber or House of Lords, as they vote for the County Council which elects this body. They have School and Munic.i.p.al Suffrage and that for Provincial representatives. The laws are very liberal to women. All of the educational inst.i.tutions, the professions, occupations and many of the offices are open to them. They are members of the Boards of Education, Munic.i.p.al Relief Committees and Parochial Boards. About six hundred have received university degrees.

In Norway, since 1889, in towns women with children may vote for school inspectors and be eligible to the school boards. In rural communes they are eligible as inspectors, and women who pay a school tax may vote on all school questions and officers, while those who pay no tax but have children may vote on all questions not involving expenditures. In 1884 a Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation was formed under the leadership of Miss Gina Krog for the purpose of securing the Munic.i.p.al Franchise. In 1890 a bill for this purpose received 44 out of 114 votes in the Parliament. It was then made an issue by the Liberal party. In 1895 a vote on Local Option was granted to women. In 1898 the Radical party secured universal suffrage for men without property restrictions. They then came to the a.s.sistance of women and were joined by a large number of Conservatives. In 1901 Munic.i.p.al Suffrage was granted to all women who pay taxes on an income of 300 crowns ($71) in country districts and 400 in cities. If husband and wife together pay taxes on this amount both may vote. About 200,000 women thus became electors. Women are found in many offices, in most occupations and professions, and are admitted to all educational inst.i.tutions.

Iceland, since 1882, grants Munic.i.p.al Suffrage to tax-paying widows and spinsters; since 1886 all women have had a parish suffrage, which enables them to vote in the selection of the clergy, who have a prominent part in public affairs.

At the Cape of Good Hope women have a limited vote. In the tiny Island of Pitcairn, in the Southern Pacific, they have the same suffrage as men. This is doubtless true of many isolated localities whose records are little known. Among primitive peoples the government is generally in the hands of the most competent without regard to s.e.x, and some of these are still under the reign of the Matriarchate, or the rule of mothers, to whom belong the property and the children. The early Spanish inhabitants of the North American continent placed much authority in the hands of women, and the same is true of the Indian tribes.

CHAPTER LXXV.

NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS OF WOMEN.

The most conspicuous and significant movement which challenges attention at the beginning of the new century is that toward organization, and the three great combinations which stand out most prominently in interest and importance are the organization of capital, the organization of labor and the organization of women. We scarcely can go back so far in history as not to find men banded together to protect their mutual interests, but a.s.sociations of women are of very modern date. The oldest on record was formed in Philadelphia, in the closing days of the eighteenth century--Female Society for the Relief and Employment of the Poor--which in 1798 established a house of industry in Arch St., known as the Home for Spinners. The society is still in active existence and gives employment to a large number of women. Church Missionary Societies of Women had their origin early in the century, but as mere annexes to those officered and managed by men. The first a.s.sociation to approach national prominence was the Female Anti-Slavery Society, founded in Boston in 1833, which almost cost the reputation of every one who joined it, so strong was the prejudice against any public action on the part of women. The American Female Guardian Society and Home for the Friendless was established in New York in 1834, and still exists, having cared for 50,000 children. Later in this decade Female Bible Societies came into being to supply Bibles to penal and charitable inst.i.tutions and to put them in various public places.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MRS. IDA HUSTED HARPER.

Author of Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, and Joint Editor with her of The History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. IV.]

From 1840 to 1850 the old Washingtonian Societies, composed entirely of men, were gradually replaced by the Sons of Temperance, and as they also were decidedly averse to receiving women into their organization, and as the latter were deeply interested in the subject, a few of them timidly formed the Daughters of Temperance, in the face of extreme opposition on the part of both s.e.xes. In the decade following commenced the agitation of the question of Woman Suffrage, and soon conventions in its interest began to be of frequent occurrence, to the joy of the newspapers, most of which treated them with ridicule and denunciation.

The decade ushered in by 1860 brought the long Civil War, during which, in the Sanitary Commission, the Woman's Loyal League, the Freedmen's Bureau and other a.s.sociations, women displayed an unsuspected power of organization, and at its close their status in many ways was completely changed and greatly advanced.

In 1868 the country was electrified by the advent of Sorosis in New York City and the New England Woman's Club in Boston. These were the first societies formed by women purely for their own recreation and improvement--all others had been for the purpose of reforming the weak and sinful or a.s.sisting the needy and unfortunate--and they met with a storm of derision and protest from all parts of the country, which their founders courageously ignored. The last quarter of a century has witnessed so many organizations of women that it would be practically impossible to record even their names. Every village which is big enough for a church contains also a woman's club, and they exist in many country neighborhoods. In the larger cities single societies have from 500 to 1,000 members, and in a number handsome club houses have been built and furnished, some of them costing from $50,000 to $80,000.

From 1850 the annual conventions in the interest of Woman's Rights were called under the auspices of a Central Committee, but in 1869 the National and American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociations were formed. Five years later the Woman's Christian Temperance Union sprang into existence. There are now more than one hundred a.s.sociations of women in the United States which are national in their form and aims, and a number have become international through their alliance with those of other countries. In 1888, in Washington City, the National Council of Women, a heroic undertaking, was founded to gather these vast and diverse organizations into one great body. By 1900 sixteen had become thus affiliated, representing a membership of about 1,125,000 women.

An International Council also was organized in 1888 to be composed of similar National Councils in various countries and to meet in a Congress every five years. At the close of the century fourteen National Councils had affiliated with the International, representing a membership of 6,000,000. This is not only immeasurably larger than any other a.s.sociation of women but is exceeded in size by very few organizations of men, and its two great Congresses--during the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, and at London in 1899--were occasions of world-wide interest and value.

Each of the more than one hundred national a.s.sociations of women in the United States holds its annual, biennial or triennial convention in some one of the large cities, which is attended by delegates from all parts of the country. The sessions are presided over by a woman, discussions are carried on with due attention to parliamentary usage, a large amount of business is transacted with system and accuracy, and in every respect these meetings compare favorably with those conducted by men after centuries of experience. They are treated with the greatest respect by the newspapers which vie with each other in publishing pictures of the delegates, their addresses and extended and complimentary reports of the proceedings. The character of these national organizations, the scope of their objects and the extent of their achievements can in no way be so strikingly ill.u.s.trated as by giving a list of the most important.[498]

THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN was organized March 31, 1888, in Washington, D. C., "to unite the women of all the countries in the world for the promotion of co-operative internationalism through the abatement of that prejudice which springs from ignorance and which can be corrected only by that knowledge which results from personal acquaintance.

"In the first place its influence has united different organizations of the same country hitherto indifferent or inimical to each other; and in the second it has commenced the work of uniting the women of different nations and abating race prejudice. It has promoted the movement of peace and arbitration, and through its international committees it is forming a central bureau of information in regard to women's contribution to the work of the world."

It is composed at present of fourteen National Councils of as many different countries representing an individual membership of about 6,000,000 women. Its president is Mrs. May Wright Sewall, who was one of its founders.

THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN was organized in Washington, D. C., March 31, 1888. Its const.i.tution is introduced by the following preamble:

"We, women of the United States, sincerely believing that the best good of our homes and nation will be advanced by our own greater unity of thought, sympathy and purpose, and that an organized movement of women will best conserve the highest good of the family and the State, do hereby band ourselves together in a confederation of workers committed to the overthrow of all forms of ignorance and injustice, and to the application of the Golden Rule to society, custom and law.

This Council is organized in the interest of no one propaganda, and has no power over its auxiliaries beyond that of suggestion and sympathy; therefore, no society voting to become auxiliary shall thereby render itself liable to be interfered with in respect to its complete organic unity, independence or methods of work, or be committed to any principle or method of any other society or to any utterance or act of the Council itself, beyond compliance with the terms of this const.i.tution."

The scope of the Council's work is indicated by the heads of its departments: Home Life, Educational Interests, Church and Missionary Work, Temperance, Art, Moral Reform, Political Conditions, Philanthropy, Social Economics, Foreign Relations, Press, Organization; and by its standing committees: Citizenship, Domestic Science, Equal Pay for Equal Work, Dress Reform, Social Purity, Domestic Relations under the Law, Press, Care of Dependent and Delinquent Children, Peace and Universal Arbitration.

Each of these departments and committees works along its special lines and at the annual executive meetings and the triennial Councils the reports of their work are discussed, their recommendations considered and every possible a.s.sistance rendered. The general public is invited to the evening sessions and valuable addresses are made by specialists on the above and other important subjects.

The Council is composed of sixteen national organizations, one State Council, six local councils--representing a membership of about 1,125,000 women.

THE NATIONAL WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION was organized in Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 18-20, 1874, to carry the precepts of the following pledge into the practice of everyday life: "I hereby solemnly promise, G.o.d helping me, to abstain from all distilled, fermented and malt liquors, including wine, beer and cider, and to employ all proper means to discourage the use of and traffic in the same."