In the Pacific Ocean, far beyond China and Japan, lie the only two
countries in the world which fully acknowledge the equality of men and
women by giving political rights to all citizens of twenty-one, regardless
of sex. They are New Zealand and Australia.
New Zealand was the first by a dozen years to put her daughters on an
equality with her sons. It was in 1867 that the cry was raised. "Shall our
mothers, wives, and sisters be our equals or our subjects?"
The answer was given in 1893 by the full enfranchisement of women. In
Australia the change came more gradually, province by province. But a few
months ago the final concession was made and now Australian women, like
their sisters of New Zealand, are the equals and not the subjects of their
husbands, brothers, and sons.
More conservative than England's colonies of the Southern Seas is her
great Northern possession, Canada. There widows and spinsters are held in
high favor, for full municipal suffrage belongs to them. But the married
woman is barred out. This is probably a survival of the subordination of
the wife; but the Canadian woman is asking whether the acceptance of a
husband should be considered unfailing proof of her inferior judgment.