WOMEN OF ARGENTINA

Taranaki Daily News, 23 November 1932, Page 3

WOMEN OF ARGENTINA

DIVORCE AND SUFFRAGE. Argentina, which for generations has regarded woman suffrage and divorce with traditional Latin antipathy, finds only a conservative Senate standing between it and both those social reforms (states a message from Buenos Aires). The Chamber of Deputies, spurred by its vigorous and growing Socialist wing, has pa. sed both measures, but the attitude of the Senate is expected to prevent either from becoming law at this session. The champions of both reforms are cheered, however, by their progress and by indications of a changing national viewpoint, and they believe that within a few years women will be voting in Argetina on equal terms with men, and divorce will be possible. Equal suffrage does not now exist in South America, although in several countries limited suffrage is given to women, and projects for extending them the full vote are strongly sponsored in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. Divorce is now possible in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Uruguay. Argentina has always regarded divorce with repugnance, and those seeking separation have gone chiefly to Montevideo, where, as “want ads” in all the Buenos Aires newspapers proclaim, divorces can be obtained “with the right to remarry at once.” The divorce Bill passed by the Argentine Chamber of Deputies is notable for the liberality of its terms. Among the fourteen causes for divorce that it recognises are infidelity, bigamy, maltreatment, habitual drunkenness, imprisonment for more than five years, •Abandonment, and insanity.