FRANCE AFRAID

Evening Post, Issue 28, 1 August 1936, Page 16

FRANCE AFRAID

OF WOMEN'S FRANCHISE.

CIVIL1 RIGHTS. LACKING^

INFLUENCE OF PAST

M. Blum, the new French Premier, made an Innovation by appointing three women to minor posts In his Ministry, but France still appears far from ready to accord votes to womtn, writes Alan Houghton Brodrick In the "Daily Telegraph" There are only five countries In Europe where women may not vote at all. They are Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Albania, and France. It is true that in some other countries, such as Greece and Portugal, women have not full political equality with men. They either vote without being eligible to sit in Parliament, or they have no Parliamentary franchise but do vote at municipal elections. With the exception of Spain, where women obtained full political rights after the revolution and the downfall of the monarchy, those countries where women both vote and sit in the legislative assemblies are all in the centre and north of Europe.' The only countries where women obtained the vote in tune of peace and not as the result of a revolution are Great Britain, the Scandinavian countries, and Holland. Women vote in BelgiunT'but have not full political rights. All the states created or resurrected by the peace treaties have accorded votes to women. THE NAPOLEONIC CODE. Now two main considerations are suggested by a study of the franchise map. One is that those countries which refuse ,women the vote are t those v of Latin culture, and the second is that with the exception of Bulgaria, Albania, and Switzerland, and, to a certain extent, Yugoslavia, they are also mainly countries of Roman Catholic religion- These rules hold generally for the countries outside Europe. It has been said that in France the feminists have to combat three very powerful forces —Napoleon and the Code Civil, Voltaire and the tradition of the French Revolution, and the influence of the Clericals. Napoleon, as is known, had very reactionary ideas about women. These ideas were embodied in the Napoleonic Code of Laws, and have kept the Frenchwoman until this day, for< all intents and purposes, a perpetual minor. She has no political rights whatever; ■ she cannot marry, in practice at least, without her parents' consent, and once she is married the control of all her affairs passes into the hands of her husband It is true that her> personal, fortune and the money which she may earn can be guaranteed to her by a species of ante-nuptial settlement known as "la separation de biens," but *t is rare for such a marriage to be entered into by any except the relatively well-offi classes of society. < The average French bank will not • agree to open an account for a married woman without her " husband's written consent. Unless she is legally separated from her H spouse, the French-1 woman cannot accomplish any legal formality, from •. claiming insurance; money to instituting a prosecution; without her v husband's approval She has no recourse if'he'refuses this approvaL t , * ALWAYS SOME MONEY. * The \inmarried woman in France as, therefore, better off from many points of view than her married sister. It must be remembered that in all classes 'in France women who marry have always some money of their own. A girl with no money'has very little chance - of getting married. Fathers xegard;the savirg'up of a dowry for 'their daughters as perhaps the most important,of their duties to their families., *( 'All this seems today rather strange to us, but there is sound, common sense behind the custom, and lt^was also v the rule in England right up to the time when the industrial revolution changed .all our habits and modes of life, ,The French have never had an industrial revolution. But the French method does tend to keep families together, if that is a desirable thing for the State. The tradition of the French Revolution is strongly anti-clerical, and although in the face of a multitude of other worries religious questions are jnot so much to the fore as they were, they have by no means been forgotten, and sooner or later they will come into prominence again. i i "Moderate" Republican opinion, that is to say, the political - faith of the Socialist Radicals, is dead agairist votes for women. The French Lower-House, the Chamber, has several times passed Bills for conferring the franchise on women. Cynics'might say the more readily in that it knew that the Bills would always be v thrown out'by the Senate. Why were the Socialist Radicals and their majority in the Senate1 so opposed to giving women votes 7 It has been proved from the experience of other' countries that no- radical change in the political complexion of the State is caused by women vo«ng. They .vote, in the mam, in the same way as the men,' and feminine influence can only be all to the good in matters of legislation. INFLUENCE OF THE CURES. The answer is that too many women are supposed to be. under the influence of the cures, and women's votes might upset all the calculations in the rural constituencies. The fact is that even m the country in France there are very few regions where clerical influence is very strong, and strangely enough, the lower clergy, many of whom live in conditions of the 1 direst poverty, are in many places socially very .advanced m their ideas. .1 It is, however, undeniable that the influence of the.Church,, as such, is against votes for women. The ecclesiastical authorities consider that woman's place is the home, and that the encouraging of political ambitions for them might break up the family. Of course, it is rarely that the real reason for the Senate's opposition is pronounced. Various other arguments are brought forward. 1 The latest report of the Senate Committee on women's suffrage invokes three objections. The first is that the reform is "inopportune." The conventional Lanjuinais wrote the same thing in 1793. The objection is that as long as women have not equal civil rights with men it is not possible to give them civic rights., The answer to this is that 'there are over 6,000,000 women in France who are unmarried, widows, or divorced,1 and of age to vote —these, having no husbands, are not limited m. to their civil rights. The third argument of the Senatorial report Is that'the education of girls is not such as to fit them to become electors! ,- • > In the face of such .arguments one is inclined to agree' with a recent . French writer who has declared that all this" can be' summed up in one phrase, "We are friehtened^" , ;, no reai/movement. The anti-feminists in France are on more solid ground when they say that there is no real; profound,«movement among the women of the'country for enfranchisement^ Ux There are, however; 'at least six Societies for women's suffrage, and the

oldest* 'of these dates from 187K- It is the "Societyl pour l'ameUoration'de la sortide la femme." The youngest is twelve years old and is called "La femme nouvelle." This association is all for direct action. The "Union Rationale, pour le Vote dcs Femmes" has as chairman the Duchess de la Rochefoucauld. The movement is making headway. There were not a few candidates at the recent elections who came out for women's rights. The Communist Party is, \A course, in favour of complete sex equality. But it cannot toe 4 said that the "Front'Populaire"—the union of the t "Left" parties—is,^ as a whole, for enfranchisement. , ' ' The apparent apathy among 'the women of France with regard to these questions may' be explainedl * toy a variety of causes To begin with most French -.women lead full lives. They are* inexorably logical, sceptical' and industrious. Their influence over'their menfolk is immense. In many, one had almost said in most, of those small businesses which are^typical of France, the woman is the real head of the firm. Their sentimental Jives are generally more satisfactory than those of their northern sisters. ' Men understand women and women understand men better in France than,m many other lends. The shares the Frenchman's profound 'distrust of politicians arid politics andl sees in the local deputy imamly a means of securing privileges for'the constituency or favours for individuals. ' HER OWN BUSINESS. The average Frenchwoman is an ,adept'at minding her own,business, seeing that she and those nearest to her get the best food and drink possible, saving money, managing the family budget, and making herself as attragtive as she can She is supremely indifferent to what happens outside her immediate circle. But the hard times we live in are Ic^ianjgmg-theJliy^^f-in^titudeSfpf the' Jwomenipf ;Frariw. Clt/Ss.: i^^q'vbe^sup^ 'pios^/ihat^.aU'-tee^sSvinJiiipn'j^ridpws,: spinsters;and ::j divorcees'; of ;age; to; vote are/pleading-celibjite -lives;-;but^mbst of gttieirir'are Jvprking 'f ifpr.:]; ay living, manSg^g--th*eiri;^^ ■in|f ■ \themsel^sl&Th.ey { comprise many iof ; and * ih-telligentiwornen-jfiril'thie^countrjfiwitli defmite c poiitical:;dpiniohs. ; ''--..'cf'CK'i- : :;deal'.li|/%wa^r/:ls; :i.:goihgv:tp fldw|;under. the! bridge;i:before :Frettch! WQirietiTget :vbtes,y,^t:wKpay;;be}sure .that'-tfiey;'; will :•^g'etTthem .in alsofittiat^tnev highly■-intelligent'vyiromeh of with^their^practicalyfegqpd .sense;;iiandV/&eir.;? ab'aity,i^ll;;.mte leastsasi^wise";a^use of ■tneir^franchise ■as;th'eir,menVinavei,dbne).s:''H. :'':;!■;.-->:>'; H-]