THE ROMANCE COUNTRIES
In the Romance countries the woman's rights movement is hampered by
Romance customs and by the Catholic religion. The number of women in these
countries is in many cases smaller than the number of men. In general, the
girls are married at an early age, almost always through the negotiations
of the parents. The education of women is in some respects very deficient.
FRANCE
Total population: 38,466,924.
Women: 19,346,369.
Men: 18,922,651.
Federation of French Women's Clubs.
Woman's Suffrage League.
The European woman's rights movement was born in France; it is a child of
the Revolution of 1789. When a whole country enjoys freedom, equality, and
fraternity, woman can no longer remain in bondage. The Declaration of the
Rights of Man apply to Woman also. The European woman's rights movement is
based on purely logical principles; not, as in the United States, on the
practical exercise of woman's right to vote. This purely theoretical
origin is not denied by the advocates of the woman's rights movement in
France. It ought to be mentioned that the principles of the woman's rights
movement were brought from France to England by Mary Wollstonecraft, and
were stated in her pamphlet, _A Vindication of the Rights of Women_. But
enthusiastic Mary Wollstonecraft did not form a school in England, and the
organized English woman's rights movement did not cast its lot with this
revolutionist. What Mary Wollstonecraft did for England, Olympe de Gouges
did for France in 1789; at that time she dedicated to the Queen her little
book, _The Declaration of the Rights of Women_ (_La declaration des droits
des femmes_). It happened that The Declaration of the Rights of Man (_La
declaration des droits de l'homme_) of 1789 referred only to the men. The
National Assembly recognized only male voters, and refused the petition of
October 28, 1789, in which a number of Parisian women demanded universal
suffrage in the election of national representatives. Nothing is more
peculiar than the attitude of the men advocates of liberty toward the
women advocates of liberty. At that time woman's struggle for liberty had
representatives in all social groups. In the aristocratic circles there
was Madame de Stael, who as a republican (her father was Swiss) never
doubted the equality of the sexes; but by her actions showed her belief in
woman's right to secure the highest culture and to have political
influence. Madame de Stael's social position and her wealth enabled her to
spread these views of woman's rights; she was never dependent on the men
advocates of freedom. Madame Roland was typical of the educated republican
bourgeoisie. She participated in the revolutionary drama and was a
"political woman." On the basis of historical documents it can be asserted
that the men advocates of freedom have not forgiven her.
The intelligent people of the lower classes are represented by Olympe de
Gouges and Theroigne de Mericourt. Both played a political role; both
were woman's rights advocates; of both it was said that they had forgotten
the virtues of their sex,--modesty and submissiveness. The men of freedom
still thought that the home offered their wives all the freedom they
needed. The populace finally made demonstrations through woman's clubs.
These clubs were closed in 1793 by the Committee of Public Safety because
the clubs disturbed "public peace." The public peace of 1793! What an
idyl! In short, the regime of liberty, equality, and fraternity regarded
woman as unfree, unequal, and treated her very unfraternally. What harmony
between theory and practice! In fact, the Revolution even withdrew rights
that the women formerly possessed. For example, the old regime gave a
noblewoman, as a landowner, all the rights of a feudal lord. She levied
troops, raised taxes, and administered justice. During the old regime in
France there were women peers; women were now and then active in
diplomacy. The abbesses exercised the same feudal power as the abbots;
they had unlimited power over their convents. The women owners of large
feudal lands met with the _provincial estates_,--for instance, Madame de
Sevigne in the _Estates General_ of Brittany, where there was autonomy in
the provincial administration. In the gilds the women masters exercised
their professional right as voters. All of these rights ended with the old
regime; beside the politically free man stood the politically unfree
woman. Napoleon confirmed this lack of freedom in the Civil and Criminal
Codes. Napoleon's attitude toward all women (excepting his mother, _Madame
Mere_) was such as we still find among the men in Southern Italy, in
Spain, and in the Orient. His sisters and Josephine Beauharnais, the
creole, could not give him a more just opinion of women. His fierce hatred
for Madame de Stael indicates his attitude toward the woman's rights
representatives. The great Napoleon did not like intellectual women.
The Code Napoleon places the wife completely under the guardianship of
the husband. Without him she can undertake no legal transaction. The
property law requires joint property holding, excepting real estate (but
most of the women are neither landowners nor owners of houses). The
married woman has had independent control of her earnings and savings only
since the enactment of the law of July 13, 1907. Only the husband has
legal authority over the children. Such a legal status of woman is found
in other codes. But the following provisions are peculiar to the Code
Napoleon: If a husband kills his wife for committing adultery, the murder
is "excusable." An illicit mother cannot file a paternity suit. In
practice, however, the courts in a roundabout way give the illicit mother
an opportunity to file an action for damages.
No other code, above all no other Germanic or Slavic code,[81] has been
disgraced by such paragraphs. In the first of the designated paragraphs we
hear the Corsican, a cousin of the Moor of Venice; in the second we hear
the military emperor, and general of an unbridled, undisciplined troop of
soldiers. No one will be astonished to learn that this same lawgiver in
1801 supplemented the Code with a despotic state regulation of
prostitution. What became of the woman's rights movement during this
arbitrary military regime? Full of fear and anxiety, the woman's rights
advocates concealed their views. The Restoration was scarcely a better
time for advocating woman's rights. The philosopher of the epoch, de
Bonald, spoke very pompously against the equality of the sexes, "Man and
woman are not and never will be equal." It was not until the July
Revolution of 1830 and the February Revolution of 1848 that the question
of woman's rights could gain a favorable hearing. The Saint Simonians, the
Fourierists, and George Sand preached the rights of man and the rights of
woman. During the February Revolution the women were found, just as in
1789, in the front ranks of the Socialists. The French woman's rights
movement is closely connected with both political movements. Every time a
sacrifice of Republicans and Democrats was demanded, women were among the
banished and deported: Jeanne Deroin in 1848, Louise Michel, in 1851 and
1871.
Marie Deraismes, belonging to the wealthy Parisian middle class, appeared
in the sixties as a public speaker. She was a woman's rights advocate.
However, in a still greater degree she was a tribune of the people, a
republican and a politician. Marie Deraismes and her excellent political
adherent, Leon Richer, were the founders of the organized French woman's
rights movement. As early as 1876 they organized the "Society for the
Amelioration of the Condition of Woman and for Demanding Woman's Rights";
in 1878 they called the first French woman's rights congress.
The following features characterize the modern French woman's rights
movement: It is largely restricted to Paris; in the provinces there are
only weak and isolated beginnings; even the Parisian woman's rights
organizations are not numerous, the greatest having 400 members. Thanks to
the republican and socialist movements, which for thirty years have
controlled France, the woman's rights movement is for political reasons
supported by the men to a degree not noticeable in any other country. The
republican majority in the Chamber of Deputies, the republican press, and
republican literature effectively promote the woman's rights movement. The
Federation of French Women's Clubs, founded in 1901, and reputed to have
73,000 members, is at present promoting the movement by the systematic
organization of provincial divisions. Less kindly disposed--sometimes
indifferent and hostile--are the Church, the Catholic circles, the
nobility, society, and the "liberal" capitalistic bourgeoisie. A sharp
division between the woman's rights movements of the middle class and the
movement of the Socialists, such as exists, for example, in Germany, does
not exist in France. A large part of the bourgeoisie (not the great
capitalists) are socialistically inclined. On the basis of principle the
Republicans and Socialists cannot deny the justice of the woman's rights
movement. Hence everything now depends on the _opportuneness_ of the
demands of the women.
The French woman has still much to demand. However enlightened, however
advanced the Frenchman may regard himself, he has not yet reached the
point where he will favor woman's suffrage; what the National Assembly
denied in 1789, the Republic of 1870 has also withheld. Nevertheless
conditions have improved, in so far as measures in favor of woman's
suffrage and the reform of the civil rights of woman have since 1848 been
repeatedly introduced and supported by petitions.[82] As for the civil
rights of woman,--the principles of the Code Napoleon, the minority of the
wife, and the husband's authority over her are still unchanged. However, a
few minor concessions have been made: To-day a woman can be a witness to a
civil transaction, _e.g._ a marriage contract. A married woman can open a
savings bank account in her maiden name; and, as in Belgium, her husband
can make it impossible for her to withdraw the money! A wife's earnings
now belong to her. The severe law concerning adultery by the wife still
exists, and affiliation cases are still prohibited. That is not exactly
liberal.
Attempts to secure reforms of the civil law are being made by various
women's clubs, the Group of Women Students (_Le groupe d'etudes
feministes_) (Madame Oddo Deflou), and by the committee on legal matters
of the Federation of French Women's Clubs (Madame d'Abbadie).
In both the legal and the political fields the French women have hitherto
(in spite of the Republic) achieved very little. In educational matters,
however, the republican government has decidedly favored the women. Here
the wishes of the women harmonized with the republican hatred for the
priests. What was done perhaps not for the women, was done to spite the
Church.
Elementary education has been obligatory since 1882. In 1904-1905 there
were 2,715,452 girls in the elementary schools, and 2,726,944 boys. State
high schools, or _lycees_, for girls have existed since 1880. The
programme of these schools is not that of the German _Gymnasiums_, but
that of a German high school for girls (foreign languages, however, are
elective). In the last two years (in which the ages of the girls are 16 to
18 years) the curriculum is that of a seminary for women teachers. In
1904-1905 these institutions were attended by 22,000 girls, as compared
with 100,000 boys. The French woman's rights movement has as yet not
succeeded in establishing _Gymnasiums_ for girls; at present, efforts are
being made to introduce _Gymnasium_ courses in the girls' _lycees_. The
admission of girls to the boys' _lycees_, which has occurred in Germany
and in Italy, has not even been suggested in France. To the present, the
preparation of girls for the universities has been carried on privately.
The right to study in the universities has never been withheld from women.
From the beginning, women could take the _Abiturientenexamen_ (the
university entrance examinations) with the young men before an examination
commission. All departments are open to women. The number of women
university students in France is 3609; the male students number 38,288.
Women school teachers control the whole public school system for girls. In
the French schools for girls most of the teachers are women; the
superintendents are also women. The ecclesiastical educational
system,--which still exists in secular guise,--is naturally, so far as the
education of girls is concerned, entirely in the hands of women. The
salaries of the secular women teachers in the first three classes of the
elementary schools are equal to those of the men. The women teachers in
the _lycees_ (_agregees_) are trained in the Seminary of Sevres and in the
universities. Their salaries are lower than those of the men. In 1907 the
first woman teacher in the French higher institutions of learning was
appointed,--Madame Curie, who holds the chair of physics in the Sorbonne,
in Paris. In the provincial universities women are lecturers on modern
languages. There are no women preachers in France. _Dr. jur._ Jeanne
Chauvin was the first woman lawyer, being admitted to the bar in 1899.
To-day women lawyers are practicing in Paris and in Toulouse.
In the government service there are women postal clerks, telegraph clerks,
and telephone clerks,--with an average daily wage of 3 francs (60 cents).
Only the subordinate positions are open to women. The same is true of the
women employed in the railroad offices. Women have been admitted as clerks
in some of the administrative departments of the government and in the
public poor-law administration. Women are employed as inspectors of
schools, as factory inspectors, and as poor-law administrators. There is a
woman member of each of the following councils: the Superior Council of
Education, the Superior Council of Labor, and the Superior Council of
Public Assistance (_Conseil Superior d'Education_, _Conseil Superior du
Travail_, _Conseil Superior de l'Assistance Publique_). The first woman
court interpreter was appointed in the Parisian Court of Appeals in 1909.
The French woman is an excellent business woman. However, the women
employed in commercial establishments, being organized as yet to a small
extent, earn no more than women laborers,--70 to 80 francs ($14 to $16) a
month. In general, greater demands are made of them in regard to personal
appearance and dress. There is a law requiring that chairs be furnished
during working hours. There is a consumers' league in Paris which probably
will effect reforms in the laboring conditions of women. The women in the
industries, of whom there are about 900,000, have an average wage of 2
francs (50 cents) a day. Hardly 30,000 are organized into trade-unions;
all women tobacco workers are organized. As elsewhere, the French
ready-made clothing industry is the most wretched home industry. A part of
the French middle-class women oppose legislation for the protection of
women workers on the ground of "equality of rights for the sexes."[83]
This attitude has been occasioned by the contrast between the typographers
and the women typesetters; the men being aided in the struggle by the
prohibition of night work for women. It is easy to explain the rash and
unjustifiable generalization made on the basis of this exceptional case.
The women that made the generalization and oppose legislation for the
protection of women laborers belong to the bourgeois class. There are
about 1,500,000 women engaged in agriculture, the average wage being 1
franc 50 (about 37 cents). Many of these women earn 1 franc to 1 franc 20
(20 to 24 cents) a day. In Paris, women have been cab drivers and
chauffeurs since 1907. In 1901 women formed 35 per cent of the population
engaged in the professions and the industries (6,805,000 women;
12,911,000 men: total, 19,716,000).
There are three parties in the French woman's rights movement. The
Catholic (_le feminisme chretien_), the moderate (predominantly
Protestant), and the radical (almost entirely socialistic). The Catholic
party works entirely independently; the two others often cooperate, and
are represented in the National Council of Women (_Conseil national des
femmes_), while the _feminisme chretien_ is not represented. The views of
the Catholic party are as follows: "No one denies that man is stronger
than woman. But this means merely a physical superiority. On the basis of
this superiority man dare not despise woman and regard her as morally
inferior to him. But from the Christian point of view God gave man
authority over woman. This does not signify any intellectual superiority,
but is simply a fact of hierarchy."[84] The _feminisme chretien_
advocates: A thorough education for girls according to Catholic
principles; a reform of the marriage law (the wife should control her
earnings, separate property holding should be established); the same moral
standard for both sexes (abolition of the official regulation of
prostitution); the same penalty for adultery for both sexes (however,
there should be no divorce); the authority of the mother (_autorite
maritale_) should be maintained, for only in this way can peace prevail
in the family. "A high-minded woman will never wish to rule. It is her
wish to sacrifice herself, to admire, to lean on the arm of a strong man
that protects her."[85]
In the moderate group (President, Miss Sara Monod), these ideas have few
advocates. Protestantism, which is strongly represented in this party, has
a natural inclination toward the development of individuality. This party
is more concerned with the woman that does not find the arm of the "strong
man" to lean on, or who detected him leaning upon her. This party is
entirely opposed to the husband's authority over the wife and to the dogma
of obligatory admiration and sacrifice. The leaders of the party are
Madame Bonnevial, Madame Auclert, and others. During the five years'
leadership of Madame Marguerite Durand, the "Fronde" was the meeting place
of the party.
The radicals demand: absolute coeducation; anti-military instruction in
history; schools that prepare girls for motherhood; the admission of women
to government positions; equal pay for both sexes; official regulation of
the work of domestic servants; the abolition of the husband's authority;
municipal and national suffrage for women. A member of the radical party
presented herself in 1908 as a candidate in the Parisian elections. In
November, 1908, women were granted passive suffrage for the arbitration
courts for trade disputes (they already possessed active suffrage).
The founding of the National Council of French Women (_Conseil national
des femmes francaise_) has aided the woman's rights movement considerably.
Stimulated by the progress made in other countries, the French women have
systematically begun their work. They have organized two sections in the
provinces (Touraine and Normandy); they have promoted the organization of
women into trade-unions; they have studied the marriage laws; and have
organized a woman's suffrage department. Since 1907 the woman's magazine,
_La Francaise_, published weekly, has done effective work for the cause.
The place of publication (49 rue Laffite, Paris) is also a public meeting
place for the leaders of the woman's rights movements. _La Francaise_
arouses interest in the cause of woman's rights among women teachers and
office clerks in the provinces. Recently the management of the magazine
has been converted to the cause of woman's suffrage. In the spring of 1909
the French Woman's Suffrage Society (_Union francaise pour le souffrage
des femmes_) was organized under the presidency of Madame Schmall (a
native of England). Madame Schmall is also to be regarded as the
originator of the law of July 13, 1907, which pertains to the earnings of
the wife. The _Union_ has joined the International Woman's Suffrage
Alliance. In the House of Deputies there is a group in favor of woman's
rights. The French woman's rights movement seems to be spreading rapidly.
Emile de Morsier organized the French movement favoring the abolition of
the official regulation of prostitution. Through this movement an
extraparliamentary commission (1903-1907) was induced to recognize the
evil of the existing official regulation of prostitution. This is the
first step toward abolition.
BELGIUM
Total population: 6,815,054.
Women: 3,416,057.
Men: 3,398,997.
Federation of Belgian Women's Clubs.
Woman's Suffrage League.
It is very difficult for the woman's rights movement to thrive in Belgium.
Not that the movement is unnecessary there; on the contrary, the legal
status of woman is regulated by the Code Napoleon, hence there is decided
need for reform. The number of women exceeds that of the men; hence part
of the girls cannot marry. Industry is highly developed. The question of
wages is a vital question for women laborers. Accordingly there are
reasons enough for instituting an organized woman's rights movement in
Belgium. But every agitation for this purpose is hampered by the
following social factors: Catholicism (Belgium is 99 per cent Catholic),
Clericalism in Parliament, and the indifference of the rich bourgeoisie.
The woman's rights movement has very few adherents in the third estate,
and it is exactly the women of this estate that ought to be the natural
supporters of the movement. In the fourth estate, in which there are a
great many Socialists, the woman's rights movement is identical with
Socialism.
Since the legal status of woman is determined by the Code Napoleon, we
need not comment upon it here. By a law of 1900, the wife is empowered to
deposit money in a savings bank without the consent of her husband; the
limit of her deposit being 3000 francs ($600). The wife also controls her
earnings. If, however, _she draws more than 100 francs_ (_$20_) _a month
from the savings bank, the husband may protest_. Women are now admitted to
family councils; they can act as guardians; they can act as witnesses to a
marriage. Affiliation cases were made legal in 1906. On December 19, 1908,
women were given active and passive suffrage in arbitration courts for
labor disputes.
The Belgium secondary school system is exceptional because the government
has established a rather large number of girls' high schools. However,
these schools do not prepare for the university entrance examinations
(_Abiturientenexamen_). Women contemplating entering the university, must
prepare for these examinations privately. This was done by Miss Marie
Popelin, of Brussels, who wished to study law. The universities of
Brussels, Ghent, and Liege have been open to women since 1886. Hence Miss
Popelin could execute her plans; in 1888 she received the degree of Doctor
of Laws. She made an attempt in 1888-1889 to secure admission to the bar
as a practicing lawyer, but the Brussels Court of Appeals decided the case
against her.[86]
Miss Marie Popelin is the leader of the middle-class woman's rights
movement in Belgium. She is in charge of the Woman's Rights League (_Ligue
du droit des femmes_), founded in 1890. With the support of Mrs. Denis,
Mrs. Parent, and Mrs. Fontaine, Miss Popelin organized, in 1897, an
international woman's congress in Brussels. Many representatives of
foreign countries attended. One of the German representatives, Mrs. Anna
Simpson, was astonished by the indifference of the people of Brussels. In
her report she says: "Where were the women of Brussels during the days of
the Congress? They did not attend, for the middle class is not much
interested in our cause. It was especially for this class that the
Congress was held." Dr. Popelin is also president of the league that has
since 1908 taken up the struggle against the official regulation of
prostitution.
The schools and convents are the chief fields of activity for the
middle-class Belgian women engaged in non-domestic callings. As yet there
are only a few women doctors. One of these, Mrs. Derscheid-Delcour, has
been appointed as chief physician at the Brussels Orphans' Home. Mrs.
Delcour graduated in 1893 at the University of Berlin _summa cum laude_;
in 1895 she was awarded the gold medal in the surgical sciences in a prize
contest for the students of the Belgian universities.
In Belgium 268,337 women are engaged in the industries. The Socialist
party has recognized the organizations of these women; it was instrumental
in organizing 250,000 women into trade-unions. Elsewhere this would be
impossible.[87]
Madame Vandervelde, the wife of the Socialist member of Parliament, and
Madame Gatti de Gammond, the publisher of the _Cahiers feministes_, were
the leaders of the Socialist woman's rights movement, which is organized
throughout the country in committees, councils, and societies. Madame
Gatti de Gammond died in 1905, and her publication, the _Cahiers
feministes_, was discontinued. The secretary of the Federation of
Socialist Women (_Federation de femmes socialistes_) is Madame Tilmans.
Vooruit, of Ghent, publishes a woman's magazine: _De Stem der Vrouw_.
The women are demanding the right to vote. The Belgian women possessed
municipal suffrage till 1830. They were deprived of this right by the
Constitution of 1831. A measure favoring universal suffrage (for men and
women) was introduced into Parliament in 1894. This bill, however,
provided also for plural voting, by which the property-owning and the
educated classes were given one or two additional votes. The Socialists
opposed this, and demanded that each person have one vote (_un homme, un
vote_). The Clerical majority then replied that it would not bring the
bill to a vote. In this way the Clericals remained assured of a majority.
For tactical purposes the Socialists adopted the expression--_un homme, un
vote_. It harmonized with their principles and ideals. At a meeting of the
party in which the matter was discussed, it was shown that universal
suffrage would be detrimental to the party's interests; for the Socialists
were convinced that woman's suffrage would certainly insure a majority for
the Clericals. Hence, in meeting, the women were persuaded to withdraw
their demand for woman's suffrage on the grounds of opportuneness, and _in
the meantime to work for the inauguration of universal male suffrage
without the plural vote_.[88]
In the _Fronde_, Audree Tery summarized the situation in the following
dialogue:--
_The man._ Emancipate yourself and I will enfranchise you.
_The woman._ Give me the franchise and I shall emancipate myself.
_The man._ Be free, and you shall have freedom.
In this manner, concludes Audree Tery, this dialogue can be continued
indefinitely.
Recently the middle-class women have begun to show an interest in woman's
suffrage. A woman's suffrage organization was formed in Brussels in 1908;
one in Ghent, in 1909. Together they have organized the Woman's Suffrage
League, which has affiliated with the International Woman's Suffrage
Alliance.
Woman's lack of rights and her powerlessness in public life are shown by
the fact that in Antwerp, in 1908, public aid to the unemployed was
granted only to men,--to unmarried as well as to married men. As for the
unmarried women, they were left to shift for themselves.
ITALY
Total population: 32,449,754.
Women: about 16,190,000.
Men: about 16,260,000.
Federation of Italian Women's Clubs.
Woman's Suffrage League.
National unification raised Italy to the rank of a great power. Italy's
political position as a great power, her modern parliamentary life, and
the Liberal and Socialist majority in her Parliament give Italy a position
that Spain, for example, does not possess in any way. Catholicism,
Clericalism, and Roman custom are no match for these modern liberal
powers, and are therefore unable to hinder the woman's rights movement in
the same degree as do these influences in Spain. However, the Italian
woman in general is still entirely dependent on the man (see the
discussion in Alaremo's _Una Donna_), and in the unenlightened classes
woman's feeling of inferiority is impressed upon her by the Church, the
law, the family, and by custom. Naturally the woman attempts, as in Spain,
to take revenge in the sexual field.
In Italy there is no strict morality among married men. Moreover, the
opposition to divorce in Italy comes largely from the women, who,
accustomed to being deceived in matrimony, fear that if they are divorced
they _will be left without means of support_. "Boys make love to
girls,--to mere unguided children without any will of their own,--and when
these boys marry, be they ever so young, they have already had a wealth of
experience that has taught them to regard woman disdainfully--with a sort
of cynical authority. Even love and respect for the innocent young wife is
unable to eradicate from the young husband the impressions of immorality
and bad examples. The wife suffers from a hardly perceptible, but
unceasing depression of mind. Innocently, without suspicion, uninformed as
to her husband's past, the wife persists in her belief in his manly
superiority until this belief has become a fixed habit of thought, and
then even a cruel revelation cannot take him from her."[89]
In southern Italy,--especially in Sicily,--Arabian oriental conceptions of
woman still prevail. During her whole life woman is a grown-up child. No
woman, not even the most insignificant woman laborer, can be on the street
without an escort. On the other hand, the boys are emancipated very early.
With pity and arrogance the sons look down on the mother, who must be
accompanied in the street by her sons.
"Close intellectual relations between man and woman cannot as yet be
developed, owing to the generally low education of woman, to her
subordination, and to her intellectual bondage. While still in the
schools the boy is trained for political life. The average Italian woman
participates in politics even less than the German woman; her influence is
purely moral. If the Italian woman wishes to accept any office in a
society, she must have the consent of her husband attested by a notary.
Just as in ancient times, the non-professional interests of the husband
are, in great part, elsewhere than at home. The opportunity daily to
discuss political and other current questions with men companions is found
by the German man in the smaller cities while taking his evening pint of
beer. The Italian man finds this opportunity sometimes in the cafe,
sometimes in the public places, where every evening the men congregate for
hours. So the educated man in Italy (even more than in Germany) has no
need of the intellectual qualities of his wife. Moreover, his need for an
educated wife is the less because his misguided precocity prevents him
from acquiring anything but an essentially general education. The
restricted intellectual relationship between husband and wife is explained
partly by the fact that the _cicisbeo_[90] still exists. This relation
ought to be, and generally is, Platonic and publicly known. The wife
permits her friend (the _cicisbeo_) to escort her to the theater and
elsewhere in a carriage; the husband also escorts a woman friend. So
husband and wife share the inwardly moral unsoundness of the medieval
service of love (_Minnedienst_). At any rate this custom reveals the fact
that after the honeymoon the husband and wife do not have overmuch to say
to each other. In this way there takes place, to a certain extent, an open
relinquishment of the postulate that, in accordance with the external
indissolubility of married life, there ought to be permanent intellectual
bonds between man and wife,--a postulate that is the source of the most
serious conscience struggles, but which has caused the great moral
development of the northern woman."[91]
Naturally, under such circumstances, the woman's rights movement has done
practically nothing for the masses. In the circles of the nobility the
movement, with the consent of the clergy, has until recently confined
itself to philanthropy (the forming of associations and insurance
societies, the founding of homes, asylums, etc.) and to the higher
education of girls.[92] In a private audience the Pope has expressed
himself in _favor_ of women's engaging in university studies (except
theology), but he was _opposed_ to woman's suffrage. The daughters of the
educated, liberal (but often poor) bourgeoisie are driven by want and
conviction to acquire a higher education and to engage in academic
callings. The material difficulties are not great. As in France, the
government has during the past thirty-five years promoted all educational
measures that would take from the clergy its power over youth.
Elementary education is public and obligatory. The laws are enforced
rather strictly. Coeducation nowhere exists. The number of women teachers
is 62,643.
The secondary school system is still largely in the hands of the Catholic
religious orders. There are about 100,000 girls and nuns enrolled in these
church schools; only 25,000 girls are in the secondary state and private
schools (other than the Catholic schools), which cannot give instruction
as _cheaply_ as the religious schools. The efforts of the state in this
field are not to be criticized: it has given women every educational
opportunity. Girls wishing to study in the universities are admitted to
the boys' classical schools (_ginnasii_) and to the boys' technical
schools. This experiment in coeducation during the plastic age of youth
has not even been undertaken by France. To be sure, at present the girls
sit together on the front seats, and when entering and leaving class they
have the school porter as bodyguard. In spite of all fears to the
contrary, coeducation has been a success in northern Italy (Milan), as
well as in southern Italy (Naples).
The universities have never been closed to women. In recent years 300
women have attended the universities and have graduated. During the
Renaissance there were many women teachers in Italy. This tradition has
been revived; at present there are 10 women university teachers. _Dr.
jur._ Therese Labriola (whose mother is a German) is a lecturer in the
philosophy of law at Rome. _Dr. med._ Rina Monti is a university lecturer
in anatomy at Pavia.
There are many practicing women doctors in Italy. _Dr. med._ Maria
Montessori (a delegate to the International Congress of Women in Berlin in
1896) is a physician in the Roman hospitals. The Minister of Public
Instruction has authorized her to deliver a course of lectures on the
treatment of imbecile children to a class of women teachers in the
elementary schools. The legal profession still remains closed to women,
although _Dr. jur._ Laidi Poet has succeeded in being admitted to the bar
in Turin.
In government service (in 1901) there were 1000 women telephone employees,
183 women telegraph clerks, and 161 women office clerks. These positions
are much sought after by men. The number of women employed in commerce is
18,000; the total number of persons employed in commerce being 57,087.
Recently women have been appointed as factory inspectors.
The beginnings of the modern woman's rights movement coincide with the
political upheavals that occurred between 1859 and 1870. When the Kingdom
of Italy had been established, Jessie White Mario demanded a reform of the
legal, political, and economic status of woman. Whatever legal concessions
have been made to women are due, as in France, to the Liberal
parliamentary majority.
Since 1877, women have been able to act as witnesses in civil suits. Women
(even married women) can be guardians. The property laws provide for
separation of property. Even in cases of joint property holding, the wife
controls her earnings and savings. The husband can give her a general
authorization (_allgemeinautorisation_), thus giving her the full status
of a legal person before the law. These laws are the most radical reforms
to which the Code Napoleon has ever been subjected,--reforms which the
French did not venture to enact.
The Liberal majority made an attempt in 1877 to emancipate the women
politically. But the attempt failed. Bills providing for municipal woman's
suffrage were introduced and rejected in 1880, 1883, and 1888. However,
since 1890, women have been eligible as poor-law guardians. The elite
among the Italian men loyally supported the women in their struggle for
emancipation. Since 1881 the women have organized clubs. At first these
were unsuccessful. Free and courageous women were in the minority. In Rome
the woman's rights movement was at first exclusively benevolent. In Milan
and Turin, on the other hand, there were woman's rights advocates (under
the leadership of _Dr. med._ Paoline Schiff and Emilia Mariani). The
leadership of the national movement fell to the more active, more
educated, and economically stronger northern Italy. Here also the movement
of the workingwomen had progressed to the stage of organization, as, for
example, in the case of the Lombard women workers in the rice fields.
There are 1,371,426 women laborers in Italy. Their condition is wretched.
In agriculture, as well as in the industries, they are given the rough,
_poorly paid_ work to do. They are exploited to the extreme. Women straw
plaiters have been offered 20 centimes, even as little as 10 centimes (4
to 2 cents), for twelve hours' work. The average daily wage for women is
80 centimes to 1 franc (16 to 20 cents). The maximum is 1 franc 50
centimes (30 cents). The law has fixed the maximum working day for women
at twelve hours, and prohibits women under twenty years of age from
engaging in work that is dangerous and injurious to health. There are
maternity funds for women in confinement, financial aid being given them
for four weeks after the birth of the child. Under all these
circumstances the organization of women is exceedingly difficult. Even the
Socialists have neglected the organization of workingwomen.
Socialist propaganda among women agricultural laborers was begun in 1901.
In Bologna, in the autumn of 1902, there was held a meeting of the
representatives of 800 agricultural organizations (having a total
membership of 150,000 men and women agricultural laborers). The
constitution of the society is characteristic; many of its clauses are
primitive and pathetic. This society is intended to be an educational and
moral organization. Women members are exhorted "to live rightly, and to be
virtuous and kind-hearted mothers, women, and daughters."[93] It is to be
hoped that the task of the women will be made easier through the efforts
of the society's male members to make themselves virtuous and kind-hearted
fathers, husbands, and sons. Or are moral duties, in this case also, meant
only for woman?
The movement favoring the abolition of the official regulation of
prostitution was introduced into Italy by Mrs. Butler. A congress in favor
of abolition was held in 1898 in Genoa. Recently, thanks to the efforts of
Dr. Agnes MacLaren and Miss Buchner, the movement has been revived, and
urged upon the Catholic clergy. The Italian branch of the International
Federation for the Abolition of the Official Regulation of Prostitution
was founded in 1908. In the same year was held in Rome the successful
Congress of the Federation of Women's Clubs. This Congress, representing
the nobility, the middle class, and workingwomen, brought the woman's
suffrage question to the attention of the public. A number of woman's
suffrage societies had been organized previously, in Rome as well as in
the provinces. They formed the National Woman's Suffrage League, which, in
1906, joined the International Woman's Suffrage Alliance. Through the
discussions in the women's clubs, woman's suffrage became a topic of
public interest. The Amsterdam Report [of the Congress of the
International Woman's Suffrage Alliance] says: "The women of the
aristocracy wish to vote because they are intelligent; they feel
humiliated because their coachman or chauffeur is able to vote. The
workingwomen demand the right to vote, that they may improve their
conditions of labor and be able to support their children better." A
parliamentary commission for the consideration of woman's suffrage was
established in 1908. In the meantime the existence of this commission
enables the President of the Ministry to dispose of the various proposed
measures with the explanation that such matters will not be considered
_until the commission has expressed itself on the whole question_. Women
have active and passive suffrage for the arbitration courts for labor
disputes.
SPAIN[94]
Total population: 18,813,493.
Women: 9,558,896.
Men: 9,272,597.
No federation of women's clubs.
No woman's suffrage league.
Whoever has traveled in Spain knows that it is a country still living, as
it were, in the seventeenth century,--nay in the Middle Ages. The fact has
manifold consequences for woman. In all cases progress is hindered. Woman
is under the yoke of the priesthood, and of a Catholicism generally
bigoted. The Church teaches woman that she is regarded as the cause of
carnal desire and of the fall of man. By law, woman is under the
guardianship of man. Custom forbids the "respectable" woman to walk on the
street without a man escort. The Spanish woman regards herself as a person
of the second order, a necessary adjunct to man. Such a fundamental
humiliation and subordination is opposed to human nature. As the Spanish
woman has no power of open opposition, she resorts to cunning. By instinct
she is conscious of the power of her sex; this she uses and abuses. A
woman's rights advocate is filled with horror, quite as much as with pity,
when she sees this mixture of bigotry, coquetry, submissiveness, cunning,
and hate that is engendered in woman by such tyranny and lack of progress.
The Spanish woman of the lower classes receives no training for any
special calling; she is a mediocre laborer. She acts as beast of burden,
carries heavy burdens on her shoulders, carries water, tills the fields,
and splits wood. She is employed as an industrial laborer chiefly in the
manufacture of cigars and lace. "The wages of women," says Professor
Posada,[95] "are incredibly low," being but 10 cents a day. As tailors,
women make a scanty living, for many of the Spanish women do their own
tailoring. The mantilla makes the work of milliners in general
superfluous. In commercial callings women are still novices. Recently
there has been talk of beginning the organization of women into
trade-unions.
Women are employed in large numbers as teachers; teaching being their sole
non-domestic calling. Elementary instruction has been obligatory since
1870, however, only in theory. In 1889 28 per cent of the women were
illiterate. In many cases the girls of the lower classes do not attend
school at all. When they do attend, they learn very little; for owing to
the lack of seminaries the training of women teachers is generally quite
inadequate. A reform of the central seminary of women teachers, in Madrid,
took place in 1884; this reform was also a model for the seminaries in the
provinces. The secondary schools for girls are convent schools. In France
there are complaints that these schools are inadequate. What, then, can be
expected of the Spanish schools! The curriculum includes only French,
singing, dancing, drawing, and needlework. But the "Society for Female
Education" is striving to secure a reform of the education for girls.
Preparation for entrance to the university must be secured privately. The
number of women seeking entrance to universities is small. Most of them,
so far as I know, are medical students. However, the Spanish women have a
brilliant past in the field of higher education. Donna Galinda was the
Latin professor of Queen Isabella. Isabella Losa and Sigea Aloisia of
Toledo were renowned for their knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew;
Sigea Aloisia corresponded with the Pope in Arabic and Syriac. Isabel de
Rosores even preached in the Cathedral of Barcelona.
In the literature of the present time Spanish women are renowned. Of first
rank is Emilia Pardo Bazan, who is called the "Spanish Zola." She is a
countess and an only daughter, two circumstances that facilitated her
emancipation and, together with her talent, assured her success. She
characterizes herself as "a mixture of mysticism and liberalism." At the
age of seven she wrote her first verses. Her best book portrayed a
"liberal monk," Father Feque. _Pascual Loper_, a novel, was a great
success. She then went to Paris to study naturalism. Here she became
acquainted with Zola, Goncourt, Daudet, and others. A study of Francis of
Assisi led her again to the study of mysticism. In her recent novels
liberalism is mingled with idealism.
Emilia Pardo Bazan is by conviction a woman's rights advocate. In the
Madrid Atheneum she filled with great success the position of Professor of
French Literature. At the pedagogical congress in Madrid, in 1899, she
gave a report on _Woman, her Education, and her Rights_.
In Spain there are a number of well-known women journalists, authors, and
poets. Dr. Posada enumerates a number of woman's rights publications on
pages 200-202 of his book, _El Feminismo_.
Concepcion Arenal was a prominent Spanish woman and woman's rights
advocate. She devoted herself to work among prisoners, and wrote a
valuable handbook dealing with her work. She felt the oppression of her
sex very keenly. Concerning woman's status, which man has forced upon her,
Concepcion Arenal expressed herself as follows: "Man despises all women
that do not belong to his family; he oppresses every woman that he does
not love or protect. As a laborer, he takes from her the best paid
positions; as a thinker, he forbids the mental training of woman; as a
lover, he can be faithless to her without being punished by law; as a
husband, he can leave her without being guilty before the law."
The wife is legally under the guardianship of her husband; she has no
authority over her children. The property laws provide for joint property
holding.
In spite of these conditions Concepcion Arenal did not give up all hope.
"Women," said she, "are beginning to take interest in education, and have
organized a society for the higher education of girls." The pedagogical
congresses in Madrid (1882 and 1889) promoted the intellectual
emancipation of women. Catalina d'Alcala, delegate to the International
Congress of Women in Chicago in 1893, closed her report with the words,
"We are emerging from the period of darkness." However, he who has
wandered through Spanish cathedrals knows that this darkness is still very
dense! Nevertheless, the woman's suffrage movement has begun: the women
laborers are agitating in favor of a new law of association. A number of
women teachers and women authors have petitioned for the right to vote. In
March, 1908, during the discussion of a new law concerning municipal
administration, an amendment in favor of woman's suffrage was introduced,
but was rejected by a vote of 65 to 35. The Senate is said to be more
favorable to woman's suffrage than is the Chamber of Deputies.
The fact that women of the aristocracy have opposed divorce, and that
women of all classes have opposed the enactment of laws restricting
religious orders, is made to operate against the political emancipation of
women. A deputy in the Cortez, Senor Pi y Arsuaga, who introduced the
measure in favor of the right of women taxpayers to vote in municipal
elections, argued that the suffrage of a woman who is the head of a family
seems more reasonable to him than the suffrage of a young man, twenty-five
years old, who represents no corresponding interests.
PORTUGAL
Total population: 5,672,237.
Women: 2,583,535.
Men: 2,520,602.
No federation of women's clubs.
No woman's suffrage league.
Portugal is smaller than Spain; its finances are in better condition;
therefore the compulsory education law (introduced in 1896) is better
enforced. As yet there are no public high schools for girls; but there
are a number of private schools that prepare girls for the university
entrance examinations (_Abiturientenexamen_). The universities admit
women. Women doctors practice in the larger cities. The women laborers are
engaged chiefly in the textile industry; their wages are about two thirds
of those of the men.
THE LATIN-AMERICAN REPUBLICS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA[96]
The condition prevailing in Mexico and Central America is one of
patriarchal family life, the husband being the "master" of the wife. There
are large families of ten or twelve children. The life of most of the
women without property consists of "endless routine and domestic tyranny";
the life of the property-owning women is one of frivolous coquetry and
indolence. There is no higher education for women; there are no high
ideals. The education of girls is generally regarded as unnecessary.
There are public elementary schools for girls,--with women teachers. The
higher education of girls is carried on by convent schools, and comprises
domestic science, sewing, dancing, and singing. In the Mexican public
high schools for girls, modern subjects and literature are taught; the
work is chiefly memorizing. Technical schools for girls are unknown. Women
do not attend the universities. Women teachers in Mexico are paid good
salaries,--250 francs ($50) a month.
Women are engaged in commerce only in their own business establishments;
and then in small retail businesses. The rest of the workingwomen are
engaged in agriculture, domestic service, washing, and sewing. Their wages
are from 40 to 50 per cent lower than those of men. The legal status of
women is similar to that of the French women. In Mexico only does the wife
control her earnings. Divorce is not recognized by law, though separation
is. By means of foreign teachers the initiative of the people has been
slightly aroused. It will take long for this stimulus to reach the
majority of the people.
SOUTH AMERICA[97]
In South America there are the same "patriarchal" forms of family life,
the same external restrictions for woman. She must have an escort on the
streets, even though the escort be only a small boy.
Just as in Central America, the occupations of the women of the lower and
middle class are agriculture, domestic service, washing, sewing, and
retail business. But woman's educational opportunities in South America
are greater, although through public opinion everything possible is done
to prevent women from desiring an education and admission to a liberal
calling. Elementary education is compulsory (often in coeducational
schools). Secondary education is in the hands of convents. In Brazil,
Chili, Venezuela, Argentine Republic, Paraguay, and Colombia, the
universities have been opened to women. As yet there are no women
preachers or lawyers, although several women have studied law. Women
practice as physicians, obstetrics still being their special field.
The beginnings of a woman's rights movement exist in Chili. The Chilean
women learn readily and willingly. They have proved their worth in
business and in the liberal callings. They have competed successfully for
government positions; they have founded trade-unions and cooperative
societies; many women are tramway conductors, etc. In all the South
American republics women have distinguished themselves as poets and
authors. In the Argentine Republic there is a Federation of Woman's Clubs,
which, in 1901, joined the International Council of Women.