The Modern Woman's Rights Movement Part 3

The official yearbook of the Australian Federation gives the following industrial statistics for 1901: state and munic.i.p.al office holders, 41,235 women (69,399 men); domestic servants, 150,201 women (50,335 men); commerce, 34,514 women (188,144 men); transportation, 3429 women (118,730 men); industry, 75,570 women (350,596 men); agriculture and forestry, fisheries, and mining, 38,944 women (494,163 men). In all fields, with the exception of domestic service, the men are in a numerical superiority; therefore the matrimonial opportunities of the Australian woman are favorable. For every 100 girls 105.99 boys were born in 1906; the statistics for 1906 showed a greater number of marriages than ever before (30,410). The difference in the ages of the married men and women is 4.5 years on the average; the number of children per family is about 4 (3.77).

Five Australian colonies (New Zealand, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales) have enacted the following laws for the protection of workingwomen:

1. Maximum working time--48 hours a week.

2. The prohibition of night work (except in Queensland).

3. Higher wages for overtime.

The eight-hour day is necessitated throughout Australia by the climate.

The other provisions are perhaps not stringently enforced. Children under thirteen years cannot be employed in the factories. Socialistic regulations, such as fixing the minimum wages in certain industries, and the establishment of obligatory courts of arbitration, have been inst.i.tuted in several colonies (Victoria, New South Wales, etc.).

In the beginning the English Common Law regulated the legal status of the Australian women. During the past fifty years this law has undergone many modifications. Each colony acted independently in the matter, and therefore there is no longer uniformity. In all cases separate ownership of property is legal. However, joint parental authority is legally established only in New Zealand. The divorce laws are prejudicial to women in almost all respects.

In the field of legislation the influence of woman's suffrage has already made itself definitely felt. Each colony has its state legislature which consists of a Lower House and a Senate. Every Australian who is twenty-one years old is a voter in both state and munic.i.p.al elections. (There is a property qualification only for those voting for the Senate.) In 1869 the woman's suffrage movement began in Australia (in Victoria). The right to vote in school and munic.i.p.al affairs was given to women as a matter of course.[30] The right to vote in state affairs was granted to women first in New Zealand in 1893, in South Australia in 1895, in West Australia in 1899, in New South Wales in 1903, in Queensland in 1905, and in Victoria in 1908.

When the six Australian colonies (excluding New Zealand) formed themselves into a federation in 1900, an Australian Federal Parliament was established. The women of _all of the six colonies_ voted for the parliamentary officers on an equality with men. Here was a curious thing--the women of the four conservative colonies voted for the members of the Federal Parliament but could not vote for the state legislature.

On the basis of the doc.u.ments dealing with Victoria I shall give a more detailed account of the history of woman's suffrage in this colony. The greatest statesman of Victoria, George Higinbotham, in 1873 introduced the first woman's suffrage bill before Parliament. This met with no success. A number of similar attempts were made until 1884. In this year there was founded the first "Woman's Suffrage Society" in Victoria. The movement then spread rapidly, and in 1891 thirty thousand women pet.i.tioned Parliament for the suffrage in state affairs. For the time being this attempt likewise met with failure. But the political organization of the women was strengthened through the formation of the "United Council for Woman's Suffrage." Every year after 1895 this Council gave advice to the Lower House concerning the framing of woman's suffrage bills, and thus enlarged its influence. Hitherto the pa.s.sing of the suffrage bill had been prevented by the opposition of the Upper House (which was not chosen by universal suffrage). On November 18, 1908, the bill was finally pa.s.sed by the _House of Obstruction_, and thus the women, who had worked for the suffrage, were finally emanc.i.p.ated. Since 1893, the year of the emanc.i.p.ation of women in New Zealand, the opponents of woman's suffrage put off the women with the request to wait and see how the plan worked in New Zealand; in 1896 the women were asked to wait and see how the plan worked in New South Wales; in 1902 they were asked to see how woman's suffrage worked in the federal elections. In 1908 it was possible to secure only 3500 signatures _against_ woman's suffrage.

In New Zealand the women have exercised active suffrage since 1893. There also, the gloomiest predictions were made when this "unprecedented"

measure was adopted. There were, of course, women opponents of woman's suffrage. Such, for example, was Mrs. Seddon, the wife of the Prime Minister of New Zealand. She said: "It seemed to me that the women ought to remain away from the tumult and riotous scenes of the polling booths.

But I gave up this view. With us, the women benefited the suffrage and the suffrage benefited the women. The elections have taken place more quietly and women have indicated a lively interest in public affairs.

"Woman's suffrage has not caused family dissensions. It has frequently happened that whole families have voted for the same candidate. In other cases different members of one family voted for different candidates. But this has not disturbed domestic tranquillity, for nowhere have family feuds been engendered by one member or another of the family boasting of the success of his candidate. The fear that the women would vote largely for Conservative candidates, through the influence of the clergy, was not realized. Already the women have twice contributed to the reelection of a Liberal minister. Neither the Protestant nor the Catholic clergy endeavored to influence the votes of the women anywhere." The Countess Wachtmeister, a Californian traveling in Australia, confirms this opinion, "Thanks to woman's suffrage the respectable elements that formerly often remained away from the political arena have now again stepped to the front; they have presented successful candidates, and have begun to play an important part in the political life of the country."

Since women have exercised the right to vote in New Zealand the following legal reforms have been enacted:

1. Divorces are granted to the wife and to the husband upon the same grounds.

2. The husband can no longer deprive the wife and children of their inheritances by means of a will.

3. The conditions of suffrage in munic.i.p.al elections were made the same for both women and men.

4. The saloons are closed on election days.

5. Women are admitted to the practice of law.

6. The age of consent for girls was raised to 17.

Similar reforms were enacted in South Australia. There Mrs. Mary Lee is the leader in the woman's suffrage movement, and founder of the "Women's Suffrage Society." When the woman's suffrage bill was pa.s.sed in 1895 the Prime Minister, the Minister of Public Instruction, and the Lord Mayor gave Mrs. Lee an impressive reception in the town hall; they thanked her for the untiring efforts which she had devoted to the cause, and the Prime Minister said, "Mrs. Lee is the originator of the greatest reforms in the const.i.tutional history of Australia." What enlightened views the ministers in the antipodal countries do have! Are they really our antiscians to such a degree?

Since 1896, the following reforms have been effected by the South Australian Parliament:

1. A modification of the marriage law (the husband must provide for the wife and children if his brutality leads to a divorce). An enlargement of woman's sphere in the business world. Separate property rights.

2. Greater strength was given to the law compelling the father of illicit children to fulfill his pecuniary duties.

3. A severer penalty for trafficking in girls.

4. The increasing of the age of consent to 17.

5. Improved laws providing for the care of dependent children.

6. A maximum working week of 52 hours for children engaged in industry.

7. Laws suppressing p.o.r.nography.

8. Laws prohibiting the sale of liquor and tobacco to children.

9. Women were appointed to the positions of inspectors of schools, prisons, hospitals, etc.

In West Australia, where women have voted since 1899, the women were admitted to the practice of law; the age of consent was raised to 17 years; and the conditions on which divorce are granted were made the same for man and woman. In Europe people still question the practical value of woman's suffrage.

Following the establishment of woman's suffrage in New South Wales and Tasmania, juvenile courts were introduced; New South Wales adopted a very stringent law regulating the sale of liquor (local option; no barmaids under 21 years could be employed; the sale of liquors to children under 14 years was prohibited).

Since women have voted in the elections for the Federal Parliament they have formed the Australian Woman's Political a.s.sociation. The President is Miss Vida Goldstein, of Victoria. To the a.s.sociation belong woman's suffrage leagues, woman's trade-unions, temperance societies, woman's church clubs, and other organizations. For the present the women will not ally themselves with any of the existing parties, since the principles of none of them correspond exactly to the programme which the women have set up. The "Political Equality League" is satisfactory in one respect (equal rights for both s.e.xes), but goes too far in its socialistic demands.

The women have succeeded in having federal laws enacted providing that all state employees be paid the same wages for the same work, and that the legal provisions for naturalization permit woman to retain her right of self-government and her individuality. The government will propose a federal law securing uniformity in the marriage laws (laws in regard to marriage, property, divorce, and parental authority).

In all the Australian colonies women have active suffrage, but not in all cases the pa.s.sive. Wherever they possess the latter they have laid little claim to it:

1. because a part of the capable women believe they can work more effectively and achieve more if they are not attached to a political party;

2. because the established party programmes very frequently embody the demands of the women;

3. because for this reason the political parties expect no special advantage from the women, and it is difficult to secure the support of the great party papers for the women candidates;

4. because the Australian elections also cost money, and the capable women are not always well-to-do.

In 1903, Miss Vida Goldstein announced her candidature for the Federal Parliament and was defeated. In the federal elections of 1906 on an average 58.36 per cent of the registered men and 43.30 per cent of the registered women voted (against 53.09 and 30.96 per cent in 1903).

In two pamphlets,--_Woman's Suffrage in New Zealand_, and _Woman's Suffrage in Australia_,[31]--the leading men of the youngest region of the world have given their written testimony on the practical workings of woman's suffrage. These men are prime ministers of the colonies, public prosecutors, the ministers of the various state departments, members of the lower houses in the parliaments, high dignitaries of the Church, the editors of large political newspapers. They all make the most favorable statements concerning woman's suffrage.

"The women have demanded nothing unreasonable from their representatives, and have always placed themselves on the side of clean politics and clean politicians." "Woman's suffrage has brought about neither the millennium nor pandemonium," and the New Zealanders do not understand why it is that in other countries people "can still become agitated over anything so inherently reasonable as woman's suffrage."

All who wish to have the right to partic.i.p.ate in a discussion on woman's suffrage must first study these two books of testimonials. A mere knowledge of these facts will cause much insipid discussion to cease in public meetings.

From the French consul in Dantzig, Count Jouffroy d'Abbans, one familiar with Australian conditions, I learned the following isolated facts concerning woman's suffrage. It has a salutary influence throughout. Women show a lively interest in political and munic.i.p.al questions; for the sake of their political rights they neglect their "specifically feminine"

duties so little that they come to the parliamentary sessions with knitting, embroidery, and sewing. They also engage in these feminine activities while attending the night sessions. On election days there is certainly often a cold dinner or supper. But that occurs on washing days, too, and no one has yet wished to deny women the privilege of doing the washing. It is safe to say that the Australian woman's rights movement will not fail because of this obstacle.

GREAT BRITAIN

Total population: 41,605,220.

Women: 21,441,911.

Men: 20,163,309.