History of Woman Suffrage/Volume 3/Chapter 57
If you would know the political and moral status of a people, demand what place its women occupy.-[L. Aimé Martin.
There is nothing, I think, which marks more decidedly the character of men or of nations, than the manner in which they treat women.-[Herder.
The reader of the preceding pages will be sorely disappointed if he expects to find in this brief chapter a similar record of progress and reform. If, however, he looks simply for an earnest of the future, for a humble beginning of that wonderful revolution in favor of women which has occurred in the United States, and to a less degree in England, during the past quarter of a century, his expectations will be fully realized. More than this; he will close this long account of woman's emancipation in the new world convinced that in due season a similar blessing is to be enjoyed by the women of the old world.
For the moment, the woman question in Europe is pushed into the background by the all-absorbing struggle still going on in various forms between the republican and monarchical principle, between the vital present and the moribund past; but the most superficial observer must perceive, that the amelioration of the lamentable situation of European womanhood is sure to be one of the first problems to come to the front for resolution, as soon as liberty gains undisputed control on this continent, a victory assured in the not-distant future. When men shall have secured their rights, the battle will be half won; women's rights will follow as a natural sequence.
The most logical beginning for a sketch of the woman movement on the continent, and indeed of any step in advance, is of course France, where ideas, not facts, stand out the more prominently; for, in questions of reform, the abstract must always precede the concrete, public opinion must be convinced before it will accept an innovation. This has been the role of France in Europe ever since the great revolution; it is her rôle to-day. She is the agitator of the old world, and agitation is the lever of reform.
The woman movement in France dates from the upheaval of 1789. Though the demands for the rights of man threw all other claims into the shade, a few women did not fail to perceive that they also had interests at stake. Marie Olympe de Gouges, for example, in her "Declaration of the Rights of Woman," vindicated for her sex all the liberties proclaimed in the famous "Declaration of the Rights of Man." During the empire and the restoration the reform slept; under the July monarchy there was an occasional murmur, which burst forth into a vigorous protest when the revolution of 1848 awakened the aspirations of 1789, and George Sand consecrated her talent to the cause of progress. During the second empire, in spite of the oppressive nature of the government, the movement took on a more definite form; its advocates became more numerous; and men and women who held high places in literature, politics and journalism, spoke out plainly in favor of ameliorating the condition of French women. Then came the third republic, with more freedom than France had enjoyed since the beginning of the century. The woman movement felt the change, and, during the past ten years, its friends have been more active than ever before.
The most tangible event in the history of the question in France is the International Woman's Rights Congress, the first international gathering of the kind, which assembled in Paris in the months of July and August during the exposition season of 1878. The committee which called the congress contained representatives from six different countries, viz.: France, Switzerland,
Italy, Holland, Russia and America. Among the eighteen members from France were two senators, five deputies and three Paris municipal councilors. Italy was represented by a deputy and the Countess of Travers, an indefatigable friend of the undertaking, who died just before the opening of the congress. The American members of the committee were Julia Ward Howe, Mary A. Livermore and Theodore Stanton. Among the members[2] of the congress, besides those just mentioned, were deputies, senators, publicists, journalists, and men and women of letters from all parts of Europe. Sixteen different organizations in Europe and America sent delegates. The National Woman Suffrage Association was represented by Jane Graham Jones and Theodore Stanton, and the American Woman Suffrage Association by Julia Ward Howe.
The work of the congress was divided into five sections, as follows: the historical, the educational, the economic, the moral, and the legislative. The congress was opened on July 25, by Léon Richer, its promoter and originator, and one of the most indefatigable friends of women's rights in France. He invited Maria Deraismes, an able speaker well known among Paris reformers, to act as temporary chairman. The next thing in order was the election of two permanent presidents, a man and a woman. The late M. Antide Martin, then an influential member of the Paris municipal council, and Julia Ward Howe were chosen. Mrs. Howe, on taking the chair made a short speech which was very well received; Anna Maria Mozzoni, of Milan, a most eloquent orator, followed; and then Genevieve Graham Jones advanced to the platform, and in the name of her mother, Jane Graham Jones, delegate of the National Woman Suffrage Association, she conveyed to the congress messages of good-will from the United States. This address, delivered with much feeling, and appealing to French patriotism, was enthusiastically received. When Miss Jones had taken her seat, M. Martin arose, thanked the foreign ladies for their admirable words, and concluded in these terms: "In the name of my compatriots, I particularly return gratitude to Miss Graham Jones for the eloquent and cordial manner in which she has just referred to France, and in turn, I salute republican America, which so often offers Europe examples of good sense, wisdom and liberty."
At the second session was read a long and eloquent letter from Salvatore Morelli,[3] the Italian deputy. Theodore Stanton read a paper entitled, "The Woman Movement in the United States." The third session was devoted to the educational phase of the woman question. Tony Révillon, who has since become one of the radical deputies of Paris, spoke, and Miss Hotchkiss presented an able report on "The Education of 'Women in America." After Miss Hotchkiss had finished, Auguste Desmoulins, now a member of the Paris municipal -council, offered, as president of the section, a resolution advocating the principal reforms—the same studies for boys and girls, and coëducation—demanded by Miss Hotchkiss. The resolution was carried without debate. Aurelia Cimino Folliero de Luna, of Florence, followed in a few remarks on the "Mission of Woman." Eugénie Pierre, of Paris, spoke on the "Vices of Education in Different Classes of Society," and in closing complimented America in the highest terms for its progressive position on the woman question. In fact, the example of the United States was frequently cited throughout the proceedings of this congress, and the reformers of America may find some joy in feeling that their labors are producing fruit even in the old world.
At the last session of the congress, August 9, 1878, a permanent international committee was announced. France, England, Italy, Alsace-Lorraine, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Roumania and the United States are all represented on this committee.[4] The chief duties of this committee were to be the advancement of the reforms demanded by the congress and to issue the call for the next international gathering. The congress ended with a grand banquet on the evening of the last day's session, in which about two hundred guests participated.
The present situation in France is full of interest and encouragement. There are societies, journals, and different groups of reformers all striving independently but earnestly to better the situation of French women politically, civilly, morally and intellectually. At the head of the agitation in favor of women's political rights stand Hubertine Auclert and her vigorous monthly, La Citoyenne[5]; the reformers of the code are lead by Léon Richer and his outspoken monthly, Le Droit des Femmes[6]; the movement in favor of divorce, which was crowned with success in the summer of 1884, is headed by Alfred Naquet in the senate, and finds one of its earliest and ablest supporters in Olympe Audouard; the emancipation of women from priestly domination—and herein lies the greatest and most dangerous obstacle that the reformers encounter—counts among its many advocates Maria Deraismes; woman's moral improvement, to be mainly accomplished by the abolition of legalized prostitution, is demanded by Dr. and Mrs. Chapman and Emilie de Morsier; while the great uprising in favor of woman's education has such a host of friends and has already produced such grand results, that the brief limits of this sketch will permit neither an enumeration of the one nor the other.
The transition from France to Italy is easy and natural, for it is on the Cisalpine peninsula that Gallic ideas have always taken deeper root than elsewhere on the Continent, and, as might be expected, the Italian woman movement resembles in many respects that of which we have just spoken.
With the formation of the kingdom of Italy in 1870 began a well-defined agitation in favor of Italian women. The educational question was first taken up. Prominent among the women who participated in this movement were Laura Mantegazza, the Marchioness Brigida Tanari, and Alessandrina Ravizza. Aurelia Cimino Folliero de Luna, who has devoted her whole life to improving the condition of her countrywomen, writes me from Florence on this subject. "Here it was," she says, "that the example of American and English women, who in this respect were our superiors, was useful to us. While we were still under foreign domination and ignorant of solidarity of sex, they were free and united.” The new political life produced a number of able women orators and writers, such as Anna Mozzoni, Malvina Frank, Gualberta Beccari, and many others. The last named founded at Venice La Donna, and in 1872 Aurelia Cimino Folliero de Luna established in Florence La Cornelia, which has since ceased to exist, while in 1882 Ernesta Napollon began at Naples the publication of the short-lived L’Umanitario, the youngest of a goodly list of journals which have done much to excite an interest in the woman question. The Italian government has generously seconded the efforts of the reformers. The code has been modified, schools have been established, the universities thrown open and courses in agriculture proposed.
But the most significant sign of progress in Italy was afforded by the great universal suffrage convention, held at Rome on February 11, 12, 1881. Anna Mozzoni, delegate to the convention from the Milan Society for the Promotion of Woman’s Interests, of which she is the able president, made an eloquent appeal for woman suffrage and introduced a resolution to this effect which was carried by a good majority.See the Index, of Boston, May 19, 1881, where I give in full this remarkable speech. In 1876 a committee of the Chamber, of which the deputy Peruzzi was chairman, reported a bill in favor of conferring on women the right to vote on municipal and provincial questions (voto amministrativo), a privilege which they had formerly enjoyed in Lombardy and Venice under Austrian rule. This bill was reintroduced in 1882 by the Depretis ministry and was reported upon favorably by the proper committee in June, 1884. It is believed that the proposition will soon become a law. If such is the case, Italian women will enjoy the same rights as Italian men in municipal and provincial affairs, with this exception, that they will not be eligible to office in the bodies of which they are electors.[7] Aurelia Cimino Folliero de Luna, says:
I make no doubt that in a few years the question of the emancipation of women in Italy will be better understood; will be regarded from a more elevated standpoint and will receive a more general and greater support ; for if we turn to the past, we shall be astonished at what has already been accomplished in this direction.
A few years ago a school of arts and trades was founded at the capital, and women were admitted to the classes in drawing. In 1881, one hundred and thirty availed themselves of this privilege. In 1882, one hundred and fifty-four female students were present at the institutions (institutos) for intermediate education in Spain. The coëducation of the sexes, therefore, is not unknown to us. In that year Valencia, Barcelona, Gerona and Seville each counted sixteen, while the single girl at Mahon discontinued her studies on the ground that she preferred not to mingle with boys. At Malaga, the only female aspirant for the bachelor's degree took seven prizes, and was "excellent" in all her studies. During the academic year, 1881-1882, twelve women attended lectures in the Spanish universities. The three at Madrid were all working for the doctorate, and one had passed the necessary examinations; the two at Valladolid were occupied with medicine, while at Barcelona five were studying medicine, one law, and one pharmacy. Three of the medical students have passed their examinations, but instead of the degrees, which are refused them, they are granted certificates which do not allow them to practice.
Our public opinion is progressing, as is evidenced by the laws, and especially by the educational reforms, which are the exclusive work of men. The council of public instruction, a consulting body holding by no means advanced ideas, was called upon a short time ago, to decide whether the university certificates conferred upon women could be converted into regular degrees, which would entitle the recipients to the enjoyment of the privileges attached to these titles. The learned council discussed, hesitated, tried to decide the question, but finally left it in a situation which was neither clear nor conclusive. This hesitancy and vagueness are very significant; a few years ago a negative decision would have been given promptly and in the plainest terms.Portugal is following closely upon the steps of Spain, and, in the former as in the latter country, it is in the department of education that the most marked signs of an awakening are to be found. Rodrigues de Freitas, the well-known publicist and republican statesman of Porto, says: There is not a single intermediate school for girls in all Portugal. In 1883, the Portugese parliament took up the subject of intermediate instruction, and discussed the question in its relation to women, and the progress in this direction realized in France during the last few years. A deputy who opposed the reform, recalled the words of Jules Simon; pronounced in a recent sitting of the council of public instruction at Paris. The philosopher remarked:
We are here a few old men, very fortunate gentlemen, in being excused from having to marry the girls you propose to bring up.
Our minister of the interior, who has charge of public instruction, followed, and declared that he was in favor of the establishment of girls' colleges. He said:
It is true that M. Jules Simon considers himself fortunate in not having to marry a girl educated in a French college; but I think I have discovered the reason for this aversion. He is getting in his dotage, otherwise he would experience no repugnance in proposing to such a girl, provided, of course, that, along with an education, she was at the same time pretty and virtuous.
The chamber laughed. And such is the situation to-day: the minister favorable to the better instruction of women, while neither minister nor deputies make an earnest effort to bring it about.
This dark picture is relieved, however, by one or two bright touches. There are many private boarding schools where families in easy circumstances send their daughters, who learn to speak several languages, are taught a little elementary mathematics and geography, and acquire a few accomplishments. Some of the pupils of these institutions pass with credit the examinations of the boys' lyceums or colleges. Article 72, of the law of June 14, 1880, on intermediate instruction, reads as follows: "Students of the female sex, who wish to enter the State schools, or pass the examinations of said schools, come within the provisions of this law, except as regards the regulations concerning boarding scholars." That is to say, girls enjoy in the State intermediate schools the same privileges as male day scholars. Many girls have availed themselves of this opportunity and have passed the lyceum examinations.
Crossing the Rhine into the Teutonic countries, we find less progress on the whole, than among the Latin races. Germany, however, if behind France and Italy, is far ahead of Spain and Portugal. The agitation is divided into two currents: the Leipsic and the Berlin movements. The former is the older, the General Association of German Women having been founded in Leipsic in October, 1865. Louise Otto-Peters, the prime mover in the organization of this association, may be considered the originator of the German movement. A novelist of much power, whose stories all teach a lesson in socialism, she established in 1848, the year of the great revolutionary fermentation throughout Europe, the first paper which advocated the interests of women in Germany. The aims of the Leipsic and Berlin reformers were of an economic and educational nature. It was felt that the time had come when weman must have wider and better paid fields of work, and when she must be more thoroughly educated in order to be able the easier to gain her livelihood. A paper, New Paths (Neue Bahnen), was established as the organ of the association. It still exists. The plan of holding annual conventions—much like those which have been in progress in America for so many years—in the chief cities of Germany was settled upon, and numerous meetings of this kind have already occurred. At these gatherings all questions pertaining to woman’s advancement are discussed, and auxiliary associations organized. The General Association of German Women has sent several petitions to the Reichstag, or imperial parliament, demanding various reforms and innovations. The principal members of the association are Louise Otto-Peters, the president and editor of the Neue Bahnen ; Henriette Goldschmidt, the most effective speaker of the group; and Mrs. Winter, the treasurer, all of whom live in Leipsic; Miss Menzzer of Dresden; Lina Morgenstern, the well-known Berlin philanthropist; and Marie Calm of Cassel, perhaps the most radical of the body, whose ideas on woman suffrage are much the same as those entertained in England and the United States. In fact, an American is frequently struck by the similarity between many of the features of the General Association of German Women, and the Woman’s Rights Association in the United States.
The Berlin movement, which resembles that of Leipsic in everything except that it is rather more conservative, owes its origin to that distinguished philanthropist, Dr. Adolf Lette. The Lette Verein, or Lette Society, so called in honor of its founder, was organized in December, 1865, but a few months after the establishment of the Leipsic association. The object of the society is, as has already been said, to improve the material condition of women, especially poor women, by giving them a better education, by teaching them manual employments, by helping to establish them in business—in a word, by affording them the means to support themselves. The Lette Society has become the nucleus of similar organizations scattered all over the German empire. Its organ, the German Woman's Advocate (Deutcher Frauenanwalt), is a well-conducted little monthly, edited by the secretary of the society, Jenny Hirsch. Anna Schepeler-Lette, daughter of the founder, has been for many years and is still at the head of this admirable society. She writes me:
If we are asked whether we would have women enter public life, whether we would wish them to become professors in the university, clergymen in the church, and lawyers at the bar, as is the case in America, we should make no response, cor they are but idle questions. These demands have not yet been made in Germany, nor will they be made for a long time to come, if ever. But why peer into the future? We have today many institutions, many customs, which past centuries would have looked upon as contrary to Divine and human law. In this connection we would say with Sancho Panza: "What is, is able to be."
The German philosopher, Herr von Kirchmann, is more decided in his views concerning the future of his countrywomen. In one of his last works, entitled "Questions and Dangers of the Hour" (Zettfragen und Abenteuer) is a chapter on "Women in the Past and Future," where it is shown that the female sex has been gradually gaining its freedom, and the prediction is made that the day is near at hand when women will obtain their complete independence and will compete with men in every department of life, not excepting politics.
Turning to the other great Germanic nation, Austria, we find still less progress than in the north. In fact, the movement in the south is little more than a question of woman's self-support. The important problem of woman's education is not yet resolved in Germany, and in Austria still less has been done. "In two particulars," writes a Berlin correspondent, "Austria may be said to be in advance of Germany. The admission of women to the university does not present such insurmountable difficulties, and her employment in railroad, post, and telegraph offices does not encounter such strong opposition." But it must not be supposed from this statement that the Austrian universities are open to women. "Our universities are shut against women," Professor Wendt, of Troppau, informs me; "but they may pass the same examinations as boys who have finished their preparatory studies, though it is distinctly stated in the women's diplomas that they may not continue their studies in the university." The professors, however, sometimes allow foreign girls to attend lectures. Professor Bruhl, of Vienna, for example, has lectured to men and women on anatomy. The Academy of Fine Arts at Vienna is not open to women, though the Conservatory of Music is much frequented by them. In 1880, in fact, three women received prizes for musical compositions. Johanna Leitenberger, of Salzburg, writes:
In one important particular the Austro-Hungarian empire treats women more fairly than is the case in other European countries. Elise Krásnohorská, the Bohemian author, writes me:
Carolina Svetlá, the distinguished poet and author, has done, perhaps, the most to awaken thought on the woman question in Bohemia. She stands at the head of a talented group of literary women, which plays a brilliant part in the fatherland of Huss. The means for woman's instruction, however, are most lamentable in Bohemia. The universities are shut against women, and though two women have been graduated in Switzerland, their degrees are not recognized in their native land. Beyond primary instruction the State does almost nothing for its women, though they outnumber the other sex by two hundred thousand. In several of the large cities of Bohemia something has been accomplished for girls' high-school and normal-school instruction; but, in general, we may say that the intellectual development of Bohemian girls is left to private instruction. Associations of women have done much to fill this void, one of which, founded by Carolina Svetlá, is devoted to the industrial and commercial instruction of girls.—Two thousand women belong to this association, and five hundred girls attend its school annually, while many young women frequent its school for the training of nurses. This vigorous organization has disarmed prejudices by the success of its schools and by the arguments of its monthly organ, the Zenské Listy, ably edited by Elise Krásnohorská, one of the best known Bohemian poets, and a leader in the work of improving the condition of her countrywomen. Vojtá Náprstek, a man who has justly been named "the woman's advocate," has founded at Prague the Women's American Club, whose object is charity and the intellectual elevation of women, and has presented the club a valuable collection of books and objects of art. A lady, writing me from Prague, says:
The Austrian code, in its treatment of women, is unsurpassed in contradictions. Women, for example, may testify in criminal actions, but they may not be witnesses to the simplest legal document. There are many absurdities of this sort in the existing law which were unknown in the ancient code of independent Bohemia, which was more liberal in its treatment of women. Divorce exists, but divorced persons cannot marry again. Bohemia being a part of Austria, women vote in the same way as has already been mentioned in what was said of the latter country. But at Prague, however, women do not vote, the capital still retaining its old laws on this subject.
Concerning the other grand division of the empire of the Hapsburgs, Hungary, much the same may be said as of Bohemia. It is only within the last forty years that Hungary has striven to attain to the level of occidental civilization and culture, so that the question of the amelioration of women's condition is of very recent origin in that country. Rose Revai, of Budapest, writes:
Although the Hungarian universities are still closed against women, there are many girls' industrial and normal schools and colleges. The impetus given to female education in Hungary is chiefly due to the late Baron Joseph Eœtvœs, the savant, poet and philanthropist, who was minister of public instruction in 1867. Women are employed in the postal and telegraphic service.
Returning north, to Holland, we find much the same situation as in the other Teutonic nations. "The women of Holland are unquestionably better educated, and entertain as a body more liberal ideas than French women," said a Dutch lady to me, who had lived many years at Paris; "but, on the other hand, there is not the little group of women in the Netherlands who grasp the real meaning of the woman question as is the case here in France." Woman's social position is a little better in Holland than in the Catholic countries. In 1870 an essay on the woman question "by a lady "demanded political rights for women, and there are a few instances of women having lectured on that subject. The Dutch universities are open to female students, and Aletta Henriette Jacobs, the first and only female physician in Holland, has a successful practice at Amsterdam. Dr. Jacobs recently attempted to vote, and carried the question before the courts. Elise A. Haighton, of Amsterdam, writes:
A few of our women do not hesitate to participate in political and social discussions. The Union (Unic), a society which aims to promote popular interest in politics by meetings, debates, tracts, etc.; the Daybreak (Dageraad), a radical association which holds very ultra opinions on politics, religion and science, and supports a magazine to which many scientific men contribute; and the New Malthusian Band, an organization sufficiently explained by its name, all count several women among their members.
Elise van Calcar, the veteran Dutch authoress, sums up the situation in Holland, as follows:
I am sorry to have to confess that, as regards the general emancipation of women, we have accomplished but very little. Our work is indirect; we can only proclaim the injustice of our position. Two countries, the product of Latin and Teutonic civilization, Belgium and Switzerland, must be touched upon before we turn to the Scandinavian people. Of the first, Belgium, about the same may be said as of Holland with which she was so long united politically. A correspondent in Belgium writes me as follows:
There cannot be said to be any movement in this country in favor of the emancipation of women. No journal, no association, no organization of any kind exists.
But public opinion is said to be quite favorable. Women are making their way slowly into certain callings. The professors of the universities of Liege and Ghent, when asked their opinion not long ago by the minister of public instruction, expressed a desire to see women admitted J:o the privileges of these institutions on the same terms as men, and to-day female students are found at all the institutions for higher education. Another correspondent writes:
In one respect at least Belgium is far behind her neighbor, Holland. Dr. Isala van Diest, the first and so far the only female physician in Belgium, although she has passed successfully all the necessary examinations and taken all the necessary degrees, may not practice medicine in her own country. She wrote me recently:
I fear I shall soon be obliged to give up the fight and go to France, England or Holland, unless I wish to lose the fruit of all my studies.
Concerning the higher education of women Dr. van Diest writes:
Switzerland being made up of more than a score of separate cantons closely resembling our States in their political organization, it is difficult to arrive at the exact situation throughout the whole country small though it be. However, generally speaking, it may be said that the Helvetic republic has remained almost a passive spectator of the woman movement, though a few signs of progress are worthy of note. The Catholic cantons lag behind those that have adopted Protestantism, and the latter are led by Geneva. Though subject to the Napoleonic code, Geneva has never known that debasing law of the tutelage of women which existed for so long a time in the other cantons, even in the intelligent canton of Vaud, where it was abolished only in 1873. It was not until 1881 that a federal statute put an end to the law throughout all Switzerland. Geneva has always been very liberal in its treatment of married women—divorce exists, excellent intermediate girls' schools were created more than thirty years ago, and women are admitted to all the university lectures. Marie Gœgg, the untiring leader of the movement in that country, writes me:
In March, 1868, Marie Gœgg published a letter, in which she invited the women of all nations to join with her in the formation of a society. In July of that same year the Woman’s International Association was founded at Geneva with Marie Gœgg as president. The organization began immediately an active work, and through its efforts, several of the reforms already mentioned were brought about, and public opinion in Switzerland considerably enlightened on the question. Mrs. Gœgg says:
Two years later the International Association was revived in the form of the Solidarity (Solidarité), whose name signified the spirit which ought to unite all women. In 1875 Mrs. Gœgg became president of the new organization as well as founder and editor of its organ, the Solidarity Bulletin (Bulletin de la Solidarité). But on September 20, 1880, both society and journal ceased to exist. The president in her farewell address said:
In October, 1872, I sent a petition to the grand-council of Geneva, asking that women be admitted to the university of Geneva on the same footing as men. The state of public opinion on this subject in Switzerland, and especially in Geneva, may be judged from the fact that, fearing to compromise the demand if I acted in my own name or that of the Solidarity, the petition was presented as coming from "the mothers of Geneva." Our prayer was granted.
The number of women who have pursued studies at Geneva has steadily increased every year. In 1878 the university of Nuefchatel was thrown open to women, while the university of Zurich has long had a large number of female students. Professor Pflüger, of the university of Bern, writing to me in April, 1883, said:
From February 2, 1876, to the present time, thirty-five women have taken degrees at our medical school. The lectures are attended each semister on an average by from twenty-five to thirty women, while from three to six follow the lectures on philosophy and letters. The presence of women at our university has occasioned no serious inconvenience and many colleagues favor it.
The rector of the university of Geneva wrote, February, 1883:
Up to the present time the attendance of women at our university has occasioned us no inconvenience except in some lectures of the medical school, where the subjects are not always of a nature to admit of their treatment before mixed classes.
We shall now glance at the situation of woman in the three Scandinavian countries, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Sweden stands first, just as Germany does among the Teutonic nations, and France among the Latin nations; in fact we may perhaps go farther and say that of all Continental States, Sweden leads in many respects at least, in the revolution in favor of women.
The State, the royal family, private individuals, and, above all, women themselves have all striven to outstrip each other in the emancipation of Swedish women. Normal schools, high schools, primary schools, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, both at Stockholm, dairy schools and a host of other educational insitutions, both private and public, are thrown wide open to women. The State has founded scholar. ships for women at Upsala University and at the medical school of the university of Lund. Numerous benevolent, charitable and industrial societies have been established and in many instances are managed by women. But the best idea may be gained of the liberal spirit which prevails in Sweden by showing what the State has done for the emancipation of women. For instance, in 1845, equality of inheritance for son and daughter was established, and the wife was given equal rights with the husband as regards the common property; in 1846, woman was permitted to practice industrial professions and to carry on business in her own name; in 1861, the professions of surgery and dentistry were opened to her; in 1864, her rights in trade and industrial pursuits were enlarged; in 1870, she was admitted to the universities and medical profession; in 1872, a woman of twenty-five was given the full right of disposing of herself in marriage, the consent of parents and relations having been necessary before that time; and in 1874, a married woman became entitled to control that part of her private property set aside for her personal use in the marriage contract, as well as to possess her own earnings. The reforms in favor of married women are in no small measure due to the society founded in 1871 by Mrs. E. Anckarsvärd and Anna Hierta Retzius, whose aim was the accomplishment of these very reforms.
A good beginning has been made toward securing full political rights for Swedish women. In many matters relative to the muncipality, women vote on the same terms with men, as for example, in the choice of the parish clergy, in the election of municipal councilors, and members of the county council. This latter body elects the House of Lords, so that woman's influence, through an intermediate electoral body, is felt in the upper chamber. May this not be one reason why the Swedish legislature has been so liberal toward women? Demands have been made, but in vain, for the complete franchise which would confer upon women the privilege of voting for members of the diet. Woman's interests have found a warm and energetic advocate in the Home Review (Tidskrift för Hemmet), which was founded in 1859 by the Hon. Rosalie d'Olivecrona and the Baroness Leyonhufoud, to-day the Hon. Mrs. Adlersparre. The paper is still edited by the latter; Rosalie d'Olivecrona, whq has always been a most active friend of the woman movement, having retired in 1868.
If we cross the boundaries of Sweden into the sister kingdom of Norway, we find the condition of woman absolutely changed. "Concerning Norway, I have said almost nothing," writes Camilla Collett, the distinguished Norwegian author, in some notes which she sent me recently on the situation of women in Scandinavia, "for the very simple reason that there is little to say." The long and oppressive domination of Denmark prostrated Norway, but her close union with Sweden since the fall of Napoleon, has begun to have a good effect, and the liberal influence of the latter country in favor of woman is already beginning to be felt in the other half of the Scandinavian peninsula. One step in advance has been the opening of the university to women—" The best thing that can be said of Norway," says Camilla Collett. Miss Cecilie Thoresen, the first female student to matriculate at Christiania University, writing to me from Eidsvold, Norway, in December, 1882, says it was in 1880 that she decided to try and take an academic degree. Her father, therefore, applied to the minister of public instruction for the necessary authorization; the latter referred the application to the university authorities, who, in their turn, submitted the portentous question to the faculty of the law-school. In due season Miss Thoresen received this rather unsatisfactory response:
The admission of women to the university is denied, but we recognize the necessity for changing the law on the subject.
Thereupon Mr. H. E. Berner, the prominent liberal member of the Storthing, or Norwegian parliament, introduced a bill permitting women to pursue university studies leading to the degrees in arts and philosophy (examen artium and examen philosophicum). The committee reported unanimously in favor of the bill; on March 30, 1882, it passed without debate the Odelsthing, one of the two chambers of the Storthing, with but one dissenting voice—that of a clergyman; on April 21, 1882, it received the unanimous vote of the other house, the Lagthing; and it finally became a law on June 15, 1882. But Mr. Berner did not stop here. He once wrote me:
In my opinion there hardly exists nowadays another social problem which has a better claim on public attention than that of the emancipation of women. Until they are placed on an equal footing with men, we shall not have departed from the days of barbarism.
In 1884, Mr. Berner succeeded in making it possible for women to take all university degrees, the law of 1882 having opened to them only the degrees in arts and philosophy. He is now pressing on the attention of parliament other reforms in favor of women; and he has recently written me that he believes that his efforts will be crowned with success.
In Denmark nothing has been done in the direction of political rights, nothing for school suffrage, though the liberal movement of 1848 improved woman's legal position slightly. But the situation of married women is still very unsatisfactory, for it may be summed up by saying that her property and her children are controlled by the husband. In 1879 many thousand women petitioned the legislature for the right to their own earnings, and a law was passed to this effect. During the last twenty years, thanks to the example set by Sweden, much has been done to open to women the field of work. In 1875 the university consented to receive women, but as the State furnishes them only primary instruction, and does nothing for their intermediate instruction, leaving this broad gap to be filled by private efforts, the educational situation of Danish women leaves much to be desired. But the women themselves have turned their attention to this matter, and high schools and professional schools for women, and generally managed by women, are springing up.
Denmark has produced several journals devoted to the interests of women and edited by women. The Friday (Fredagen), issued from July, 1875, to 1879, was edited by Vilhelmine Zahle. It was a bold, radical little sheet. The name was probably taken from the Woman's Journal and Friday Society, which appeared at Copenhagen in 1767, under the anonymous editorship of a woman. The Woman's Review (Tidsskrift for Kvinder) began to appear in January, 1882. Its editor, Elfride Fibiger, has associated with her Mr. Friïs, a very earnest friend of the women's movement, who has given a more progressive turn to the paper, which has come out for women's suffrage—the first journal in Denmark to take this radical step.
Perhaps the most encouraging sign of progress is the foundation, during the past few years, of numerous associations of women with different objects in view. John Stuart Mill's "Subjection of Women," which was translated into Danish and widely read; the "Letters from Clara Raphael," of Mathilde Fibiger, which appeared still earlier, in 1850; the writings of Camilla Collett, of Norway; the liberal utterances of the great poets of the North, Björnsen, Hostrup and Ibsen, whose "Nora" has rightfully procured for him the title of ""Woman's Poet"; the great progress in America, England and Sweden; all these influences stimulated thought, weakened prejudices and prepared the way for reforms in the Danish peninsula. Kirstine Frederiksen, of Copenhagen, says:
It is plainly evident that Danish women are weary of the part allotted to them in the old society, a part characterized by the sentiment that the best that can be said of a woman is that there is nothing to say about ere... When, in due time, the claim for political rights is made here in Denmark, then will women from all classes unite in their efforts to secure the palladium which alone can protect them from arbitrariness and subjection.
We shall now take up the Slavonic countries, beginning with Russia, which stands first, not only because of its vastness, but also because of its liberality toward women. The position of the Russian women before the law is very peculiar. Children, whatever their age and whether male or female, are never emancipated from the control of their parents. The daughter can only escape from this authority, and then only in a limited degree, by marriage, and the son by entering the service of the State. In the provinces alone girls of twenty-one may marry without the parents' consent. The married woman is in the full power of her husband, though she is the mistress of her own fortune. Divorce exists. Russian women vote on an equality with men for members,of the municipal councils and county assemblies, and these two bodies choose the boards which transact the public business, such as superintending the collection of taxes, keeping the roads in order, directing the schools, etc. The Russian woman does, not however, appear at the polls, but is represented by some male relative or friend (as we have already seen in Austria) who casts the vote for her. Thus the Russian woman, except that she is ineligible to office, possesses all the political rights of the Russian man—a privilege, however, that is of little value in a country where liberty is crushed under the iron heel of autocracy. The position of the Russian peasant women is not as good as that of the women of the upper classes. They find some comfort, however, in the doctrines of the rapidly spreading religious sects, which resemble somewhat the American Revivalists or Anabaptists. In fact, the subject condition of Russian women is one of the chief causes of the growth of these sects; down-trodden by society and the State, they seek liberty in religion. In some of these sects women preach. Miss Maria Zebrikoff, an able Russian writer, sends me this curious information:
We have lately heard of a new sect which preaches a doctrine exalting woman. She is placed above man, because she can give birth to another being. Her pain and travail are so great, that alleviating the other sufferings and annoyances of woman would be but a poor reward; she is entitled to the deepest gratitude of mankind.
Thought concerning the emancipation of woman was first awakened among the upper classes about 1840, inspired by George Sand, but was confined to a narrow circle of men of science and authors. The new ideas continued to exist in a latent form until the freedom of the serfs in 1860, when they burst forth into life. The reforms of the last reign, the abolishment of bureaucratic government and the emancipation of the slaves, advanced the cause of woman, for the daughters of the office-holders and landowners, reduced to poverty by these changes, were forced to go forth into the world and earn their own living. Woman's success in the walks of higher education—especially in medicine— has been a great victory for the friends of the rights of woman. The government, the professors of the university and women themselves have all united, more or less heartily, in a common effort to give Russian women facilities for a complete education. The first woman's medical school in Russia owes its origin to a donation of 50,000 rubles from a woman. The war department —for Russia thinks of medicine only in its relation to the army— came to the aid of the new movement, and the medical profession, though in a restricted manner, was thrown open to women.[8] As yet women physicians may treat only diseases of women and children, but, notwithstanding this drawback, there are fifty-two women physicians in St. Petersburg and two hundred and fifty in Russia. During the last war with Turkey twenty women physicians did noble work in the army. Women flock to the universities in great numbers. An attempt has been made to render the profession of law accessible to them, but the government has prohibited it. It is expected that ere long women will be professors in the university. The chemical, medical and legal associations have already received women into membership.
In literature Russian women take an active part; reviews, magazines, and political journals counting many women among their contributors and in some cases their directors. Writes Maria Zebrikoff:
"The reäctionary party," exclaims the same lady with enthusiasm, "counts in its ranks no woman distinguished for thought or talent." Even this brief glance at woman's position in Russia conclusively proves that when the day of liberty comes to the great Cossack empire, the women will be as thoroughly fitted to enter upon all the duties of citizenship as the men. The women of no other continental nation are perhaps better prepared for complete emancipation than those of Russia. Here, as in several other respects, autocratic Russia resembles free America. The good-will of every transatlantic friend of woman's elevation should ever go forth to this brave, struggling people of the North.
The civil law of the kingdom of Poland, a part of Russia, has been, since 1809, the Napoleonic code; the other Polish provinces of Russia are subject to Russian law. Under the former, the woman has an equal share in the patrimony; but the married woman is a perpetual minor. According to the Russian code, on the contrary, a girl receives only a fourteenth part of the patrimony; and when a distant relative dies, brothers alone inherit. But a woman has absolute control of her own property; and when she becomes of age, at twenty-one, she may buy, own, sell, without being subjected to any tutelage, without requiring the consent of the husband the very contrary of the Napoleonic code. This same thing is true in several other particulars, a striking illustration of the fact that much-abused Russian civilization is in some respects superior to the much-vaunted Latin civilization. In regard to education, the Polish woman is not so well off. In the primary schools alone does she enjoy equal rights; in secondary education she has far fewer advantages than the boy; while as for university instruction, she is forced to seek it in Russia or in foreign lands, the Polish universities being absolutely closed against her. In the Polish provinces under direct Russian authority, the State does nothing whatever for woman's instruction; and in the kingdom of Poland, the same thing is true except in the matter of primary instruction. Polish women may practice medicine, if, besides this foreign diploma, they also pass an examination before the medical school of St. Petersburg. Tomaszewicz-Dobrska is one of the few Polish women who has succeeded in this difficult field.
The Academy of Fine Arts at Cracow is open to men alone, but Madeline Andrzejkowicz has endeavored to fill the gap by establishing at Warsaw a school of painting for women. The first woman’s industrial school was founded in 1874 at Warsaw, and during the first six years, to 1880, it had 743 scholars. Establishments of this kind are now quite numerous in the kingdom, but, for political reasons, they have not been founded in the Polish provinces of Russia. The unfortunate political situation of Poland, which robs even men of their rights, is an insurmountable obstacle in the way of the emancipation of women. There are, however, many encouraging signs of progress. At Warsaw there is more than one newspaper edited by a woman. Marie Ilnicka has owned and edited for more than sixteen years, at the capital, a paper which is widely read and which has great influence. It is no uncommon thing for women to deliver public lectures, which are very popular and draw large houses. Elise Orzeszko, the distinguished Polish novelist, tells me:
We have confidence in the efforts of the men who are leading society and who are sacrificing their talents and earnestly toiling to advance liberal ideas. In the meanwhile our duty is to awaken thought on the question of woman's rights, so that when a better day does come to Poland, women may be ready to participate in the common welfare.
But we cannot close this brief sketch without mentioning the Orient, that region of transition between the darkness of Asia and the light of occidental Europe; for, though the position of woman is in general so lamentable that at first glance it seems best to pass over this portion of the continent in silence, one catches here and there a glimmer of progress that portends a better day in the still distant future. And, too, regenerate Greece commands our attention, for she indeed is a rich oasis in this desert of Mohammedan conquest.
There are many Ottoman women, especially among the rich families, who desire to change their dress and enter into relations with the women of other religions, but the ecclesiastical and civil authorities are always ready to check this tendency and to rigorously enforce the ancient customs. In certain harems earnest efforts have been made to establish true family life and to bring up the children under the eye and care of the parents, with the aid of foreign governesses, who, along with the languages, inculcate the habits and manners of occidental nations. Vain attempts have been made to found girls' schools. There are noble natures who long for amelioration of their state, and for progress, but fanaticism condemns everything to mortal stagnation.
The Jewish woman leads a contracted, monotonous existence under the authority of the priest. The wives of many rich bankers have tried to do something to improve the condition of Hebrew women by founding aid societies, primary schools, and normal schools. The Bulgarian women of the country enjoy an agricultural and pastoral life, and those of the city are simple and primitive in their habits and customs. But little has been done for woman's instruction, though some worthy attempts have been made to establish schools. The hope of the regeneration of the Oriental woman lies in the influence of Greek civilization. The emancipation of the Greek woman means the emancipation of the Turkish woman.
The Greek woman in the Orient must be studied under two heads: the Greek woman in Turkey and the Greek woman in Greece. In both cases we find them filled with the spirit of western civilization—perhaps it would be better to say, with the spirit of their classic ancestors. Primary, secondary and normal schools, asylums, hospitals, societies—all for women and generally managed by women—are found in all the Greek centers of Turkey. Calliope A. Kechayia, the cultured principal of the Zappion, the famous girls' college at Constantinople, says:
The intellectual condition of the Greek woman in the Orient is, generally speaking, not inferior to that of women in many parts of Europe; and as regards the instruction of the girls of the lower classes, it is much superior to that of several Latin countries.
The Greek woman in Greece differs essentially from the Oriental woman. With the independence of Greece came a great patriotic movement for the building up of the new nationality, a movement in which women took a most active and prominent part. Several American women, especially Mrs. Hill, lent their aid and founded the first girls' school at Athens. "A whole generation of women," says a Greek lady, "distinguished for their social and family virtues, received their education in this college." An association of Greeks soon afterward established a normal school for women. The Greek government also early took up the question of popular education without excluding women from its plans. The way in which young Greek schoolmistresses hastened all over the peninsula, spreading knowledge, the Greek language and their own enthusiasm throughout the newly liberated nation, is one of the most unique episodes in modern history. "It is true and beyond dispute," I am told by Miss Kechayia, "that the Greece of to-day owes its rapid progress and its Greek instruction to its women." But the Greek woman is more than a school-mistress. The wife of a public man has other than social duties to occupy her. She often represents her husband before his constituents. She participates actively and usefully in many of his political affairs. It frequently hap. pens that the wife goes into the provinces to solicit votes for her husband, and sometimes in drawing-room lectures she defends his political conduct. In truth these facts would not be believed by a foreigner if he had not seen them with his own eyes," I was once told by a Greek. Associations of various kinds have been formed by women during the past few years, and there is at least one instance of a woman lecturing in public on literary topics. However, woman's rights in the American sense has not yet penetrated into Greece, but from what has just been said it will be seen that when that day comes, the reform will find a soil well prepared for its reception.
Such is a brief and general view of the present status of the Woman Question on the European Continent. It will have been constantly noticed in the preceding pages that in every country there are evidences of progress. Public opinion in the Old World is slowly but surely accepting Voltaire's statement when the broad-minded philosopher says, with a dash of French gallantry: "Women are capable of doing everything we do, with this single difference between them and us, that they are more amiable than we are." In matters of instruction, the ideas of Montesquieu and Aimé Martin are gaining ground. "The powers of the sexes," wrote the penetrating author of the "Spirit of the Laws," "would be equal if their education were, too. Test women in the talents that have not been enfeebled by the way they have been educated, and we will then see if we are so strong." "It is in spite of our stupid system of education," declared Aimé Martin, more than fifty years ago, "that women have an idea, a mind and a soul." And even the more radical utterances of the late Eugène Pelletan find an echo. "By keeping women outside of politics," once said the distinguished senator, "the soul of our country is diminished by one-half." No wonder then that Frances Power Cobbe likens this revolution to the irresistible waves of the ocean. "Of all the movements, political, social and religious, of past ages, there is, I think," writes Miss Cobbe, "not one so unmistakably tide-like in its extension and the uniformity of its impulse, as that which has taken place within living memory among the women of almost every race on the globe. Other agitations, reforms and revolutions have pervaded and lifted up classes, tribes, nations, churches. But this movement has stirred an entire sex, even half the human race. *** When the time comes to look back on the slow, universal awakening of women all over the globe, on their gradual entrance into one privileged profession after another, on the attainment by them of rights of person and property, and, at last, on their admission to the full privileges of citizenship, it will be acknowledged that of all the 'Decisive Battles of History,' this has been, to the moralist and philosopher, the most interesting; even as it will be (I cannot doubt) the one followed by the happiest Peace which the world has ever seen."
- ↑ This chapter is, in large part, a résumé of Mr. Stanton's valuable work "The Woman Question in Europe," published in 1884 by the Putnams of New York, to which we refer the reader who desires to study more in detail the European movement for women.—[The Editor.
- ↑ The United States was represented by Albert Brisbane and Mrs. Brisbane, of New York; Elizabeth Chalmers and Mrs, Gibbons, of Philadelphia; Colonel T. W. Higginson, of Massachusetts; Miss Hotchkiss, Fernando Jones and his wife and daughter, Jane Graham Jones and Genevieve Graham Jones (now Mrs. Geo. R. Grant), Mrs. Klumpke and her two daughters, of Chicago; Mrs, Party and Louisa Southworth, of Ohio.
- ↑ Before closing this brief sketch, I desire to mention with deep gratitude the name of the man who first lifted up his voice in the Italian parliament to defend and protect women. Salvatore Morelli deserves the veneration of every Italian woman. His first book, "Woman and Science" (La Donna e la Scienza), dedicated to Antona Traversi, was animated by a just and noble spirit, too radical, however, to meet with universal approbation. When he entered parliament, Morelli, with the same courage, constancy, and radicalism, demanded the complete emancipation of women. Conservatives laughed, and many friends of our movement trembled for the cause. Ably seconded by Mancini, he succeeded in securing for women the right to testify in civil actions, a dignity which they had not previously enjoyed, although, by an absurd contradiction they could be witnesses in criminal cases, convict of murder by a single word and send the criminal to the scaffold. One of Morelli's last acts was a divorce bill which was examined by the Chamber. Guardasigilli Tomman Villa, the then Minister of Justice, was inclined to accept it, but death, which occurred in 1880, saved poor Morelli the pain of seeing his proposition rejected. An appeal to women has been made to raise a modest monument to Salvatore Morelli in memory of his good deeds, by Aurelia Cimino Folliero de Luna. The author of this essay has been requested to receive subscriptions to this fund. Such subscriptions will be acknowledged and forwarded to the Italian Committee. They should be addressed to Theollore Stanton, 9 Rue de Bassano, Paris, France.
- ↑ The American members are as follows: Massachusetts, Julia Ward Howe, Lucy Stone; Illinois, Jane Graham Jones, Miss Hotchkiss; New York, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Theodore Stanton; Pennsylvania, Mrs. Gibbons, of Philadelphia.
- ↑ The office of this journal is 12, rue de Cail, Paris.
- ↑ The office of this journal is 4, rue des Deux-Gares, Paris.
- ↑ What is said of Austria in this respect further on in this chapter will apply to Italy if the proposed reform is finally accepted by parliament.
- ↑ Recent reforms in the war department call for economy, and the minister has been forced to refuse the usual subsidy for the support of the woman's medical courses and they are unfortunately in a very critical situation, The result will probably be the foundation of medical colleges for women independent of government aid.