The Modern Woman's Rights Movement Part 5

MEN WOMEN (SHIL. A WEEK) (SHIL. A WEEK)

Cotton Industry 29.6 18.8 Woolen Industry 26.1 13.1 Lace Industry 39.6 13.5 Woven Goods Industry 31.5 14.3 Linen Industry 22.4 10.9 Jute Industry 21.7 13.5[48]

In the textile industry, in which women are better organized than elsewhere (there being 96,000), there existed in 1906 the preceding difference between the wages of men and women (see table, p. 84).

The organization of women laborers was first advocated by Mrs. Paterson and Miss Simc.o.x at the trade-union congress held in Glasgow in 1875. But this organization is confronted with the same difficulties as exist elsewhere: the women believe that they are engaged in non-domestic work only temporarily; therefore they are interested in the improvement of labor only to a slight degree, and in addition are burdened with housework; while the male laborer is free when the factory closes. In almost all industries women are paid lower wages than men,--partly because those who are poorly equipped are given the lower grades of work and are not given an opportunity to do the more difficult work; partly, too, because _they are women, i.e._ people of the second order. Weekly wages of 5 to 7 shillings are common. Naturally, the workingwoman who is all alone in the world cannot exist on such a sum. In _one_ industry only the women are given the same pay as the men for doing the same work,--this is the textile industry in Lancashire. Since 1847 this industry has been protected by a law prohibiting night work for women. In this industry men and women laborers are organized in the same trade-union. The standard of living of the whole body of workers is very high. There can be no doubt that the legislation for the protection of the laborers of this industry, in which the exploitation of women and children had been carried to the extreme previous to 1847, has caused the raising of the general standard of living. Without the intervention of law, exploitation would have been pursued further in this industry. So the English women have before them an example of the salutary effect of legislation for the protection of the laborers in the textile industries. Nevertheless, there is in England a faction among the woman's rights advocates which vigorously resists every movement for the protection of women laborers; it has organized itself into the "League for Freedom of Labor Defense." It acts on the principle that every law for the protection of women laborers signifies an unjustifiable tutelage; that the workingwomen should defend themselves through the organization of trade-unions; that the laws for the protection of women laborers decrease women's opportunities for work and drive them from their positions, which are filled by men (who can work at night).

These fears are based purely on theory. In practice they are realized only in entirely isolated cases. The truth is that legislation for the protection of women laborers (prohibition of night work and the fixing of a maximum number of work hours a day) is entirely favorable to an overwhelming majority of workingwomen. It protects them against a degree of exploitation that they could not resist unaided because _the majority of them are not organized_, and have no power to organize themselves; they will secure this power only through laws protecting women laborers. A comparative international study of laws for the protection of women laborers, published by the Belgian department of labor,[49] shows that the number of women laborers has nowhere decreased, and that wages have not declined as a result.

Concerning this point Mrs. Sidney Webb says: "In most cases women _cannot_ be replaced by men, either because the men are not sufficiently dextrous or because their labor is too expensive. What employer will pay a man 20 to 30 shillings a week when a woman can accomplish just as much for 5 to 12 shillings a week?" We shall return to this subject in discussing France.

Those women that are members of trade-unions persistently demand the right to vote; many of them intimate that through this right they expect to secure an increase in wages. Naturally the wishes of women laborers possessing the franchise will be considered very differently from the wishes of those not possessing this right. Proof of this has been given by the American woman's suffrage states. Previous to the debates on woman's suffrage in Parliament in 1904, a deputation of workingwomen from the potteries in Staffordshire presented the members of Parliament from that district with a pet.i.tion having 4000 signatures, requesting the introduction of a woman's suffrage bill, so that women might not continue to be excluded from all well-paid positions on account of their political inferiority. On this occasion the Hon. Mr. A. L. Emmott (member of Parliament from the Oldham district) declared that the salary of the women employees in the postal savings banks had been reduced from 65 pounds (with an annual increase of 3 pounds) to 55 pounds (with an annual increase of 2 pounds, 10 shillings). _This would have been impossible if women had had the right to vote._ Domestic servants are as yet organized only to a small extent, but they are well trained; they number 1,331,000.

In none of the Anglo-Saxon countries of the world is there a schism between the woman's rights movements of the middle cla.s.s and the Social-Democrats, such as is found in Germany. In each of the Anglo-Saxon countries there is a Socialist, and even an Anarchist party, but these parties do not antagonize the woman's rights movement. The republican const.i.tutions in America,--the more democratic inst.i.tutions of society,--in general moderate the acute opposition. The absence of historical obstacles has a conciliating influence everywhere in these countries. In England, where history, monarchy, and traditional cla.s.s antagonism seem to give socialism favorable conditions of growth, socialism has for a long time been hampered by the trade-unions. In other words, the English workingmen, the first to organize in Europe, had already improved their condition greatly when the socialistic propaganda commenced in England. In their trade-unions they confined themselves to the economic field; they avoided mixing economics with politics; they worked with both parties, they steered clear of cla.s.s hatred, and it was difficult to influence them with the speculative ultimate aims of social democracy. It has been only in the last decade that social-democracy has made any progress in England; therefore in the woman's rights movement middle-cla.s.s women and workingwomen work together peaceably.

Of all the women in Europe the English women first became conscious of their duty toward the lower cla.s.ses. In this atmosphere,--clubs and homes for working girls, and the London "College for Working Women,"--inst.i.tutions such as we on the continent know only in isolated cases flourished readily. These inst.i.tutions devote their attention to the girls of the lower ranks of society.

The oldest club is the "Soho Club and Home for Working Girls" in Soho Square, London, founded in 1880 by the Hon. Maude Stanley. It is open from seven in the morning to ten at night and _also on Sunday_. Tea can be obtained for 2-1/2 pence (5 cents), and dinner for 6-1/2 pence (13 cents).

The admission fee is 1 shilling, the annual dues are 8 shillings. The members have a library at their disposal, and they publish a club magazine, _The London Girls' Club Union Magazine_. Members of such clubs (including those outside London) have formed themselves into a union. The members of the committee--composed of wealthy and influential women--concern themselves personally with the affairs of the clubs, giving not only their money, but their time and influence. The "College for Working Women" has existed in Fitzroy Square for more than 25 years. Here are taught English, French, history, geography, drawing, arithmetic, reading, writing, singing, cooking, sewing, wood turning, and other subjects. The quarterly fee is 1 shilling (for use of the library, attending lectures, etc.), the fees for the courses range from 1 shilling and 3 pence to 2 shillings and 6 pence (31 to 62 cents) quarterly. A commission gives examinations. The inst.i.tution grants scholarships and gives prizes. The number of such clubs in the whole of Great Britain is estimated at 800.

The English woman is developing a considerable activity in the sociological field. Florence Nightingale, who organized a regular hospital service on the field of battle during the Crimean War (1854), upon her return to England took steps to secure the training of educated women for the nursing profession, in which the English nurse has been the model. The most important Training College for nurses not connected with religious orders is in Henrietta Street, in London. Still this distinguished profession, which is represented in the International Red Cross Society, has not yet attained state registration of nurses,--_i.e._ an officially prescribed course of study concluding with a state examination.

The English midwives are vehemently complaining because the new Midwives Act will be deliberated on by a commission having no midwife as a member.

The superintendent of the London Inst.i.tute for Midwives has protested against this on behalf of 26,000 midwives.

Another woman, Octavia Hill, partic.i.p.ated in the official inquiry of the living conditions of the London East End, which led to a systematic campaign against the slums. This work is at present continued in London by 31 or more women sanitary officers. They supplement the work of the factory inspectors, since they inspect the conditions under which women home-workers live. In the whole country there are more than 80 such women sanitary officers.

The home-workers are mostly women. Half of the 900,000 or more English women engaged in the manufacture of ready-made clothing are permitted to work at home. Their wages are wretchedly low. The government, which pays the _men_ of the Woolwich a.r.s.enal trade-union wages, is one of the worst exploiters of women (who do not have the right to vote); in the Army Clothing Works the government employs women either directly or indirectly (as home-workers through sweaters).[50]

The urgent need of widening woman's field of labor and improving her conditions of labor is clearly stated in a lecture which Miss B. L.

Hutchins delivered before the Royal Statistical Society. According to the census of 1901 there were 1,070,000 more women than men in Great Britain.

In 1901, of every 1000 persons 516 were women (in 1841, only 511 were women). The longevity of women is higher than that of men (47.77 to 44.13). When the old age pensions were introduced, 135 women to every 100 men applied for aid. Only half of the adult women (5,700,000) are provided for through marriage, and then only for 20 to 30 years of their lives.

Previous to marriage, and afterward, most of the women are dependent on their own work for a living. Because English women know from experience that their conditions of labor can be improved only through the exercise of the suffrage, they have adopted their "militant tactics."

In the field of poor-relief England again has taken the lead, inasmuch as she has permitted women to fill honorary posts in the munic.i.p.al administration of the poor-law. At the present time 1162 women are engaged in this work, 147 of whom are rural district councillors.

The chief reform efforts of the women were directed to the care of children and to the workhouses, through which channels private aid reaches the recipient. Still, among 22,000 guardians of the poor the number of women hardly reaches 1000. The old prejudice against women a.s.serted itself even in this field. A "Society for Promoting the Return of Women as Poor-law Guardians" is endeavoring to hasten reform.[51]

The Englishman has the valuable characteristic of forming organizations that strive to achieve very definite, though often temporary, ends, thus giving private initiative great flexibility. Such an organization, with a limited purpose, is the "Woman's Cooperative Gild," founded in 1883. Its purpose is to promote the cooperative movement (as far as consumption is concerned) among women, and to show them their enormous social and economic power as _consumers_. Women are the chief purchasers, as they purchase the housekeeping supplies. It is to their interest to purchase through the cooperative a.s.sociations that exclude the middlemen, and at the end of the year pay a dividend to the members of the a.s.sociations.

These a.s.sociations can exercise an important social influence inasmuch as they create model conditions of labor for their employees (short working day, high wages, early closing of the shops, no work on Sundays or holidays, opportunity to sit down during working hours, insurance against sickness, old age insurance, sanitary conditions of labor, etc.). The Gild organizes women into cooperative societies, and by theoretical as well as practical studies informs the women of the advantages of the cooperative system. The movement to-day numbers 26,000 members.

In England a marked increase in the use of alcoholic liquors among women was noticed; whereupon legal and medical measures were taken to curb the evil. The most effective measure would be an attack on the drunkenness of the husband, which destroys the home.

The official report of the first English school for mothers, located in St. Pancras, London, has just appeared. This report shows that the experiment has been entirely successful. Of all measures to decrease the death rate among children, the establishment of schools for mothers is the best. During the course of instruction the young married women were recommended to organize mothers' clubs in order to secure the necessaries of life more cheaply. The school for mothers also attempts to give the young mothers nourishing meals, which can be furnished for the low sum of 2-3/4 pence (about 6 cents).

In the field of morals English women have achieved a success which might well excite the envy of other countries; viz. the repeal of the law of 1869 concerning the state regulation of prost.i.tution. The law had hardly been accepted by an accidental majority when public opinion, under the leadership of members of Parliament, doctors, and preachers, protested against the measure. Nothing made such an impression as the public appearance of a woman on behalf of the repeal of this measure concerning women. In spite of all scorn, all feigned and frequently malicious pretensions not to comprehend her, in spite of all attempts, frequently brutal, to browbeat her,--Josephine Butler from 1870 to 1886 unswervingly supported the view that the regulation was to be condemned from the legal, sanitary, and moral viewpoint. Through the tireless work of Mrs. Butler and her faithful a.s.sociates, Parliament in 1886 repealed the act providing for the regulation of prost.i.tution. Since 1875, Mrs. Butler has organized internationally the struggle against the official regulation of prost.i.tution. On December 30, 1906, death came to the n.o.ble woman.

Conditions in England are an evidence of how much more difficult it is for the woman's rights movement to make progress in _old_ countries than in new. Traditions are deeply rooted, customs are firmly established, the whole weight of the past is blocking the wheels of progress. In countries with older civilization the woman's question is entirely a question of force.[52]

CANADA

Total population: 5,372,600.

Women: 2,619,578.

Men: 2,751,473.

Canadian Federation of Women's Clubs.

Canadian Woman's Suffrage a.s.sociation.

Politically Canada belongs to England, geographically it is a part of North America. The Canadian women take a keen interest in the woman's rights movement of the United States, which is setting them an excellent example. The last congress of the "International Council of Women" met in Toronto, Canada, under the presidency of Lady Aberdeen, the present president and the wife of the former governor-general of Canada. Canada is a large, young, agricultural country with large families and primitive needs. Therefore the progress of the woman's rights movement is less marked in Canada than in the United States and England. Throughout Canada the workingwoman is paid less than the workingman, partly because she is more poorly trained, partly because she is kept in subordinate positions, partly because, in order to find work at all, she must offer her services for less money. Even when teaching, or doing piecework, woman is paid less than man. In Canada there is as yet no political woman's rights movement strong enough to rectify this injustice by means of organizations and laws as has been done in Australia. As yet there are no women preachers in Canada. Women lawyers are confronted both with popular prejudice and legal obstacles. The study and practice of medicine is made very difficult for women, especially in Quebec and Montreal. In New Brunswick and Ontario as well as in the northwest provinces there is a more liberal att.i.tude toward women's pursuit of higher education. No Canadian university excludes women entirely, but not a few of the higher inst.i.tutions of learning refuse women admission to certain courses and refuse to grant certain degrees.

The prevailing property laws in the eastern part of Canada legalize joint property holding (and we know what that means for woman); in the western part there is separation of property rights or at least separate control over earnings, the wife having full control of her wages. The male Canadian, when twenty-one years old, becomes a voter and has full political rights.[53] But the Canadian woman has only restricted suffrage rights. Unmarried women that are taxpayers exercise only active suffrage in _munic.i.p.al and school elections_. Each province has its own laws regulating these conditions of suffrage.

The Copenhagen Congress (1906) of the International Woman's Suffrage Alliance promoted the cause of woman's suffrage in Canada very considerably. At a public meeting in which the Canadian delegate, Mrs.

MacDonald Denison, gave a report of the work of the International Congress, a resolution favoring woman's suffrage was adopted, and this was used very effectively in propaganda. This propaganda was carried on among women's clubs, students' clubs, debating clubs, etc. The intellectual elite is to-day in favor of woman's suffrage. In 1907 the Canadian Woman's Suffrage a.s.sociation, supported by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Women Teachers, the Medical Alumnae, the Progressive Thought a.s.sociation, the Toronto Local Council of Women, and the Progressive Club, sent a delegation to the Mayor and Council of the city of Toronto to express their support of a resolution which the Council had drawn up favoring the right of married women to vote in munic.i.p.al elections. Thus supported, the resolution was presented to the authorized commission, but here it was weakened by an amendment (granting the suffrage only to married women _owning property_). The author of this amendment, a member of the Toronto City Council, received his reward for this kindness to the women in the form of a defeat at the next election.

Organizations favoring woman's suffrage have been founded throughout the country (Halifax, Nova Scotia; St. John, New Brunswick). Woman's suffrage advocates speak in ma.s.s meetings and in men's clubs, etc.[54]

A demand for woman's suffrage, made by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, was answered evasively by the Prime Minister, Sir Wilfred Laurier,--the provincial parliaments must take the matter up first, then the Dominion Parliament can consider it. In the spring of 1909 the City Council of Toronto sent a pet.i.tion favoring woman's suffrage to the Canadian Parliament, and at the same time 1000 woman's suffrage advocates called on the Prime Minister. The 1909 Congress of the International Woman's Suffrage Alliance will undoubtedly help the Canadian woman's suffrage movement.

SOUTH AFRICA

_Natal and Cape Colony_[55]

Total population: 1,830,063.

_Transvaal_ Total population: 1,354,200.

Woman's Suffrage a.s.sociation for all three countries.

In South Africa, Natal was the leader in the woman's rights movement. In 1902, through the work of Mr. and Mrs. Ancketill, the Woman's Equal Suffrage League was organized, which endeavored primarily to interest and educate its members. Later, in 1904, public propaganda was begun. In June a pet.i.tion was presented to the Lower House by Mr. Ancketill. When he presented the matter in the form of a motion, it was not put to a vote, owing to the newness of the subject. The agricultural population opposes woman's suffrage; the urban population favors it. The woman's rights movement is made difficult in South Africa by the following circ.u.mstances: An enervating climate "that makes people languidly content with things as they are." The lack of educated and independent women (women teachers are state employees); the lack of a numerous cla.s.s of workingwomen; difficult housekeeping, owing to the untrustworthiness of the natives as domestic servants; the peculiar position of men as taxpayers (men only pay a poll tax) and as arms bearers (all men must serve in the army).[56]

In Cape Colony similar conditions prevail. The Women's Enfranchis.e.m.e.nt League was formed in 1907; and in July, 1907, there took place the first woman's suffrage debate in Parliament. The woman's suffrage societies of Natal, Cape Colony, and the Transvaal have formed an a.s.sociation and have joined the International Woman's Suffrage Alliance. In Natal and Cape Colony women taxpayers exercise the right to vote in munic.i.p.al affairs.

The regulation of the suffrage qualifications for the Federal Parliament is being considered. The South African delegates in London (1909) expressed the fear that women would not be given the federal suffrage.

THE SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES

_Sweden_ Total population: 5,377,713.

Women: 2,751,257.

Men: 2,626,456.

_Finland_ Total population: 2,712,562.

Women: 1,370,480.

Men: 1,342,082.

_Norway_ Total population: 2,240,860.

Women: 1,155,169.

Men: 1,085,691.