74 



The Review of Reviews. 



THE EFFECT OF VOTES ON 

 WOMEN IN FINLAND. 



Two Views : (i) Miss Sellers. 

 " Where Women Sit in Parliament " is the title of 

 a very bright and instructive article by Miss Edith 

 Sellers in the Nineteenth Century. Miss Sellers reminds 

 us that in Finland co-education is for all classes the 

 order of the day. Much of the work done in other lands 

 by men is done by women. The average woman in 

 Finland is more gifted in some ways than the average 

 woman in other countries, is intellectually more alertj 

 has more natural ability, more originality. 



HOW THEY VOTED. 



There is no fear of clerical influence, " for a woman 

 in Finland would as soon think of asking a chimney- 

 sweep for advice as of asking a pastor " ! Women 

 voters are in Finland in the majority : — 



L.ist year there were 1,350,058 names on the parliamentary 

 register, and 707,247 of them were the names of women. 



Universal suffrage did not come into force in Finland imtil 

 1906, and since then five general elections have been held. At 

 the first, that in 1907, 899,347 persons voted ; but it is uncertain 

 how many of them were men and how many women, as their 

 votes were all clubbed together. At the second, 416,373 men 

 voted and 401,194 women; at the third, 439,847 men and 

 412,280 women ; at the fourth, 409,880 men and 386,683 

 women ; and at the fifth, 419,491 men and 387,603 women. 

 In 1908, 68'9 per cent, of the men who could vote did, and 

 6o'3 per cent, of the women ; while in 1911 only 65"3 per cent, 

 of the men who could vote did, and only 54'S per cent, of the 

 women. Although during these years, 1907-I1, the electorate 

 had increased by 77,185, only 3,118 more men voted in 191 1 

 than in 1907 ; while the number of women who voted were 

 actually less by 13,591 in 191 1 than in 1908. At every election 

 fewer women vote in country districts, although not in towns. 



Of the nineteen women first elected to Parliament, 

 fifteen were E.\tremists. The cleverest had been a 

 servant. The women who do not vote as their men folk 

 vote, vote almost invariably Socialist. 



TONE NOT RAISED. 



Miss Sellers inquired of members of all classes and 

 parties and schools of thought, and reports the most 

 varied answers. It seems, however, that there is 

 general agreement on the fact that the presence of 

 women in the Finnish Parliament has not raised the 

 tone the."e : — 



'I'hat certain changes have come over many women since they 

 have had votes no one denies : m iny women are much more 

 active now than they were belore 1906, more aggressive, more 

 bent on being to the fore in everything. Finnish servant-maids 

 for instance are many of them quite different now from wdiat 

 they were when I first knew them, some ten years ago. They 

 have become personages now that they have a voice in the 

 management of the affairs of the nato'i, and they know it. 



I have been assured in all seriousness that 'it is not iheir own 

 convenience that mistresses have now to consult in making their 

 household arrangements, but solely the convenience oi" their 

 servants. Should a Socialist orator announce that he will give 

 an address at the hour when most families dine, most families 

 must either change their hour or go without dinner, if their 

 maids have a fancy for hearing him. .\ mistress may he left 

 " to do " for herself fir the day together, if any deb.ite of 

 special interest to those who are supposed " 10 do'' for her is 

 being held in I'arliament. That many women of the second 

 order have had their herds a little f.irneil, since female suffr.ige 



came into force, almost every cominon-sense Finnish man, I 

 know, and most of the common-sense Finnish women, stoutly 

 maintain. 



HOME LIFE WANING, MADNESS WAXING. 



The same witnesses declare that a fairly large section 

 of town-dwelling Finnish women have less sweet 

 reasonal.)leness since they got a vote. They are much 

 more eager to be out in the world than in their own 

 homes ; home lite has lost all attraction for them. 

 Habies are at a discount amongst them. At the same 

 time Miss Sellers reports madness is increasing every- 

 where, but nowhere quite so rapidly as in Finland, it 

 seems. A Poor Law official who was trying to introduce 

 the Elberfeld system was assured it would not succeed 

 because he could not get voluntary helpers. He said 

 to Miss Sellers, " Oh, if only our ladies here would give 

 a little less thought to politics and a little more thought 

 to the poor ! " A Finnish lady insisted on com- 

 passionating Miss Sellers because she was subject to 

 such cruel oppression in her own land. In spite of all 

 that Miss Sellers could say to the contrary, the lady 

 insisted that she was oppressed. 



(2) The Record or Women as M.P.'s. 

 Finland's women deputies and their work are 

 described in the Conten:t>nrary Retiew for July bv 

 V. Palen-Kordes. Their record is shown to have been 

 excellent ; — 



Up to the beginning of last year the women brought in 

 twenty-nine different legislative Bills, of which the Seim passed 

 the following :— (I) The establishment of laws for child pro- 

 tection against ill-treatment ; (2) the complete freeing of the 

 wife from the legal guardianship of her husband ; {3) the 

 raising of the marriage age from fifteen to eighteen years ; 

 (4) the organisation of colonies for youthful criminals ; (5) the 

 right of women to assist in the department of public medicine ; 

 (6) the abolition of police observation over prostitutes. 



Women's Hills awaiting decision deal with maternity 

 insurance, establishment of Government midwives, 

 giving a wife the right to dispose of her children, 

 appointment of women as factory-inspectors. In all 

 questions dealing with social and hygienic matters the 

 women ha\ e taken a great interest, they unanimously 

 supported the Hill prohibiting the importation, sale, 

 and consumption of alcohol. 



'Ihe number of women deputies fluctuates between 

 nineteen and twenty-four. They belong to different 

 parties. The electors have, with few exceptions, 

 returned to every Seim the women deputies they have 

 once elected— which may be considered the best 

 criticism of their work. 

 This is a vignette of the chief woman in Parliament :— 

 The most prominent woman deputy is, according to general 

 opinion, the Social I lemocrat, Mina Silanpee, editor of a 

 journal. Her history is a very interesting one. .\fler education 

 in an elementary school, she became a worker in a factory, ami 

 later a cook in llelsingfors. She spent every spare minute in 

 rcadmg and self-education, and by hard work has become one 

 of the most intellectual and popular women in Finland. She 

 went through all her elections without difficulty, each lime 

 rcceivmg a great number of votes. .Mina Silanpee is a splendid 

 orator and organiser. She has done a great deal in or"anisin" 

 domestic servants. Together with Ch. Persinen, she" edits a 

 journal entitled TAf If'oman IKiri-c-r. 



