WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE IN MANY LANDS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10560, 10 April 1920, Page 4

WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE IN MANY LANDS.

Miss Holmgren, in a “History of Women's Suffrage in Many lands, brings out in a striking way the salient poiAvs of the history of women’s suffrage ail over the world. The pamphlet is not mere chonology, but history with its beacon fires -lit up. Examples of this method are her account of how Garrison took his scat beside tho women delegates ejected from the Slavery Congress at London in 1310, and how Wyoming telegraphed to Congress in 1889 -that it would rather stay outside tho union for 100 years than be inside and abandon women’s suffrage. It is interesting to note how in some cases, as in Germany, where women whole-heartedly helped men to extend their vote, they were rewarded by being freed at the same time as the men. In other cases, as in Portugal, where the men asked the women to help them start the Republic, when it was formed in 1910 women looked to get tho vote, but to their amazement they were not included in the 1911 Portuguese Franchise Bill. When the Senate' approved a united form of women’s sufirage in 1913 most of the members of Parliament jeered and scoffed at tho motion.

It is sad that so few men are willing to copy the wise Indians described by Miss Holmgren, who sav that, where women are honoured the eods are pleasedMany men are unwilling to take the righta of their liberal opinions and to put up with tho inevitable backwash of the prejudiced vote, without which true democratic progress, which “moves altogether if it moves at all,” is unattainable. In Galicia the Polish women are very keen about development and a fenwomen already have tho vote. Deputations to the political leaders have urgently demanded permission to hold political meetings, which at present are forbidden to women. In Bohemia women over the age of 21 had votes for the Bohemian Lantag pn the same conditions as men if they paid j taxes or -belonged to learned professions. The Czech women did not neglect to veto, and in 1870 Dr. Maltuech wrote that the/ voted with great intelligence acoordi if to conviction, and without a slaviflobedienc© to party. In 1908 they helped the Democrats and were horrified when th© Franchise Bill put forward bv the men not only gave them no extension of the vote, blit robbed them of the ones they already had. In the new Czechoslovak constitution women vote at 21.

Th©’ women of Hungary are unique in having taken an interest in- politics at an early stage. As early as 1799 they petitioned for seats in the National Assembly. Since 1903 women of every class have shown active interest in the fight for the vote. The Hungarian Socialists have been opponents of women’s suffrage for, the same reason as in Austria, esCounts Andrassy and Tisza. Count Karolyd on the other hand has fought valiantly for th© cause and attributes his enthusiasm for it to women’s love of peace. Since the proclamation of tho Republic in 1918 women over 24 who can read and write have the vote.

The womelfi of Serbia enjoy almost entirely equal rights with men and have fought for 500 years for their country’s liberation by tho side of their brothers. Their first suffrage society was formed in 1809. In Bulgaria the vomen were active in helping the men to shake off the Turkish yoke in -the ’seventies of last century. Not only did the men reject their petition for the vote, but they deprived them of the votes they already enjoyed. In 1689 the Bulgarian Woman Suffrage-So-ciety published a newspaper called "Women’s Vote.” In 1993 thirty-seven societies united to work for the women’s cause, and have done good service in fighting for equal political rights for men and women. ■ • In K-oama.uin F-ru Janoulescu did not at first rouse much interest in woman suffrage, but since Bessarabia and Transylvania have -got the vote, the movement in Rqumania has taken a start bv combining with these provinces. In Persia a gifted woman came forward in 1848 and started an insurrection against the notion of the subordinate position of women. She gained a large following of men and women, and she and 20,000 of her followers were condemned to death. But.tho Baha doctrine lives on. and a third part of the Pei sians believe in it. Women speak and teach in Persia and have made themselves so useful that Vasel ©1 Rayratli brought forward a motion in the Persian Parliament for votes for women. Unfortunately progressive movements hav© been suppressed in Persia since then, and women have been forbidden all political activity. Space does not admit to tell of all the advanced work of women in China and Japan. Kwantung showed gratitude for tho immense help women had given in forwarding the revolution, and was the only province which reserved ten places for women in its Parliament. Mrs ‘Chapman Galt _ found the Chinese women very intelligent, and in Kwantung there is a society in which tht. women vow that they will rather die than marry an unknown man. Japanese women are more enlightened than other Asiatics, and there are from three to four hundred women doctors in Jflipflll. The new Jewish State in Palestine has decided that woman are to have votes and eligibility for tho Constituent Assombly on the same conditions as men. —(By Clotilda Marston in th© I.W.S.N.j