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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



women representatives in Parliament. 

 An article which appeared in the Jus 

 Suifragii while the bills were pending 

 says : "The women members of the Law 

 Committee, to which the bills were re- 

 ferred, have had to stand a hard fight. 

 The men members in the committee, of 

 all parties, whether bourgeois or vSocial 

 Democrat, held that only the 'women's- 

 rights women' urged the revision of the 

 marriage laws, and the rest of woman- 

 kind was content with the status quo. 

 When this became known, protests came 

 from all sides. Women of all sorts and 

 conditions sent signed petitions to some 

 of the women members of Parliament 

 urging the revision of the marriage laws, 

 and most of the women's associations 

 took up the question and passed resolu- 

 tions giving moral support to the women 

 members, and urging the points in the 

 bills upon the marriage question." 



Moreover, the possession of the fran- 

 chise has been of practical use to women, 

 not only by giving them the possibility of 

 improving the conditions of their work 

 and extending their legal rights, but also 

 by helping them directly to better their 

 economic position. Not long ago a test 

 case was brought up by a woman teacher 

 in one of the high schools, who claimed 

 that as she was doing the same work as 

 the men teachers and had passed the 

 same examinations, she should be given 

 the same salary. After a short discussion 

 her request was granted, whereas similar 

 requests made before women had the 

 franchise had not been granted. 



SCHOOI.S TO TEACH GIRLS TO BE;C0ME; 



ElFl^ICIElNT WIVE;S AND 



MOTHERS 



But as might be expected, the chief 

 interest of the women has been to im- 

 prove the condition of children. Over 

 50 per cent of the bills introduced into 

 the three successive Diets have concerned 

 the welfare of children. Many have been 

 for rendering medical aid to poor women 

 throughout the country districts, and for 

 instructing them in the proper methods 

 of caring for infants ; many have treated 

 of the improvement and extension of the 



public-school system and the care of 

 school children; still others have dealt 

 with special classes of children, orphans, 

 waifs, and juvenile delinquents. 



Now that the system of home instruc- 

 tion and private tutoring has passed per- 

 haps forever — practically all children of 

 nine or ten are sent to schools, and a 

 large number of them to public schools — 

 it seems only natural that women should 

 take a tolerably intelligent interest in 

 the management and direction of those 

 schools and the state or municipal laws 

 which govern them. When, too, in these 

 days of democracy, the great majority of 

 boys and a large number of girls also 

 must look forward to earning their own 

 living, it is only to be expected that 

 women should feel the vital importance 

 of investigating and, if possible, amelior- 

 ating the conditions of industrial life. 



One of the noteworthy reforms under- 

 taken by the women has been the estab- 

 lishment of schools of domestic training 

 throughout the country — schools intended 

 to teach young girls to become efficient 

 and capable wives and mothers. These 

 schools are of great importance, especially 

 in the country districts and among the 

 poorer class of people. They are becom- 

 ing most valuable factors in the cultural 

 development of the country, and are 

 doing more than could perhaps be done 

 in any other way to raise the general 

 standards of living. 



Thus the women have succeeded in 

 materially bettering their own position ; 

 but they have done much more, for they 

 have also carried through reforms of 

 wide-reaching importance to the moral 

 and social life of the whole community. 

 A striking proof of this may be shown 

 by the fact that in the church synod held 

 in 1908 it was decided to grant women 

 the elective suffrage for sundry church 

 offices. 



This motion was brought before one of 

 the most conservative bodies in the coun- 

 try by a member of the synod who had 

 previously been opposed to granting the 

 political suffrage to women, and who 

 introduced the motion of his own accord, 

 saying that since the women had proved 



