This growing liberty of women has affected her position as wife and
mother. In the days when she had no sphere but the home and no career but
marriage, she was a very insignificant creature even within those limits.
She could not own her home, could not choose its location, or have
anything at all to say about it. The home, the children, and she herself
belonged to the husband, who was "lord and master" in the sense of owner
and dictator.
Now, in those countries where women have gained financial, industrial, and
political standing, they hold a more dignified position in the home.
Formerly a widow could be left penniless and her children willed away from
her.
The present English law gives to the widow one-third of the property, and
half the guardianship of the children. In case of divorce, the children
under sixteen belong to the mother, unless she is notoriously unfit to
have them.
Very similar to these are the laws in the British colonies, the United
States, and Scandinavia. In these countries, too, with the exception of
certain of our States, a married woman can own property, earn money, and
collect her own wages, sue or be sued, make a contract with others, and in
some places with her own husband.
She is also entitled to support for herself and her children, and to a
divorce for various causes, including infidelity, brutality, intoxication,
desertion, failure to provide, and felony.
In Germany the wife is legally entitled to a certain proportion of her
husband's income, a right which women have in no other country. Everywhere
else the vague term "support" is used, and even that is not granted in
seven of our States.
In Holland, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, and Denmark the woman's movement is
recent and slow. The Dutch Queen is the only woman there who is not ruled;
and the Dutchman wanted her called "king," so as to lessen their dislike
of being subject to a woman's commands.
Switzerland, though it boasts of its democracy, excludes its women from
influence and political power. It does not deny them work, but like the
German, French, and Russian peasants, the Swiss women carry the heavy
burdens of field work and street-cleaning without any reason to believe
that there is dignity in labor.
In Italy, Spain, and Portugal the upward movement of women has come mainly
from the masses, not, as in Russia, from the aristocrats, or, as among the
English-speaking races, from the middle class.