THE FULL CITIZENSHIP OF WOMEN.

White Ribbon, Volume 20, Issue 240, 18 June 1915, Page 1

THE FULL CITIZENSHIP OF WOMEN.

C oik luded

Laws Affecting Women. By the British Nationality and Status of Aliens’ Act, the British woman whose husband is an alien, may not keep her nationality, but her husband inay change his. Paternity is the thing that matters. Maternity is of no account so far as this Act is concerned, e.g., the children of a British father mav not hand over their nationality to an alien stepfather, but the British mother must give up her nationality on taking a second and alien husband. This Act applies to the British woman of Australia and New Zealand, who if married, rests under a disability, which link* her on th( Statute Book with the minor, lunatic, or idiot. (‘‘Christchurch, Star.” Mar., 6, iqis) The powers of a British Consul resident in foreign countries *to assist passengers and crews of shipwrecked vessels make evident at all times the importance of nationality, but in times of war especially, when r.uial hatred D at its height, nationality becomes a matter of great moment, yet a British woman married to an alien has no choice, she loses her nationality, and belongs to whatever nation her hu* band may choose to adopt. A husband is compelled by law to give his wife some kind of food, clothing, and shelter. He may take hack the presshelter. He may take back the pres*See Encyclopaedia Britannica.

v nts he ha< given her. If *he saves the allowance for the washerwoman or charwoman, and does the work herself, lie can claim the money she has thus saved. Savings from the house allowance are either the property of the husband or the wife, according to the arrangement between them. If the arrangement is that the husband gives to hi* wife the allowance on condition that she keeps the house, the balance is hers. If he hands her an allowance to keep the house, the savings are his. The wife may not give presents without her husband’s consent. In all matters connected with the children he has the casting vote, .-'■he mu>t, if he is incapable of being their guardian, go to court and prove it, otherwise he is their legal guardian. On the death of the father, the moth r may become the guardian, but she must act jointly in connection with the guardian appointed by the Court. In no ease is she sole guardian. In regard to the guardian*hip of children, at common law the father is the only guardian, and he can by will leave the guardianship away from the mother. Let us suppose a case: A Roman Catholic woman marries a Protestant. She has a fortune. He has none. The husband agrees in the marriage settlement deed that all the children shall be brought up in the Roman Catholic faith. He can refuse to be bound by his solemn agreement. Similarly, if the man is of the Catholic faith and the wife a Protestant, the father can demand th it the children be brought up in his faith, notwithstanding a solemn agreement to the contrary. The theory of the law is that the bringing up of the children in the father’s faith is a right

ot whu h he is incapable ct divesting himself. (See Infants’ Act, 1908, sec. 2-11, Consolidated Statutes.) l’he father of an illegitimate child need not give information concerning tie* birth ot the child, hi* name i> not entered on the birth register, except at tli ' joint n'C|Ucst of himself, and the mother. .11 which case, they must both sign th • register. Failing his consent, the word “L’nknown” i* written in the column tor ‘‘Name of Father.” On the other hand penalties .re imposed on the mother for com alment of birth. But by the Destitute Persons Act, 1908, sec. 15, when a paternity order is m ule it is now mandatory on the Magistrate to register the father’s name against the register of the birth of the child. An investigation of the Statute Books, especially of the Old Country, will show that the words, “person” and “we” are sometimes meant to include “woman,” yet in actual practice it is often interpreted to exclude her when a privilege' is in question, and to include her if a penalty i> involved. Dcuttful Piivileges. Coder the Education Act, certain privileges as regards length of service are granted to women teachers. Cnder the Factory Act women work 45 hours a we< k as compared with 48 hours worked by men. Employers must give notice each time girls are emploved to work overtime. Women workers in these cl isses of employment should consider whether thos« privileges are real advantages, and whether they militate against their being made eligible for the better paid positions. While in America women

are placed at the head of some of the largest public schools, and in Great Britain women school inspectors are employed for both primary and technical school work, we have nothing of the kind in New Zealand. Ihe New Council of Education, with its women representatives, will give an opportunity to women teachers to make their demands felt. The raising of the age of consent i> urgently needed, and it is a matter for satisfaction that so many protests were sent to the Minister of Justice against a time limit being set to the laying of an information against men charged with criminal assault. Women Justices of the Peace in some fair proportion to the female imputation should he appointed,* and as the appointment of women police in American cities has resulted so suressfully in saving young girls from an evil life, and in rendering aid to women generally, no time should be lost in appointing such officers in New Zealand, especially where military camps are established, such women are urgently needed. We also await the appearance of women jurors, and although women are allowed to visit the prisons, they have no executive power, and until women are established in all public positions, especial!) Parliament, we have no guarantee that crimes of personal violence will r.ot be treated more leniently than crimes against property. Solving the Problem. As examples of advanced social development you have in Christchurch vour own city trams, your drainage system, and your streets, lit by electricity. In your public hospital you have an example of efficiency and economy in the hospital steam laundry. Imagine the convenience to the women of the city if there were h laundries under municipal control. Now try to imagine the reverse of thi>, imagine the waste and confusion resulting if each of those hundred nurses did the washing for her own patients, yet that is just how we manage, or rather mismanage, in our homes today. The work accomplished bv the Roman Association of Good Building in improving large tenement houses, and by Dr Montessori in establishing schools in those houses, shows that the comforts of a real home, good education, medical advice, expert care of the

children, both of mind and body, may be within the reach of the poorest. These women, too, are not economically dependent on their husbands. They too arc wage-earners, so by a similar rearrangement of the work in the homes, to be made possible by th~ » stablishment of co-operative laundries, and co-operative kitchens, why may not women of the more prosperous class engage ir. work outside their own homes, either for their own profit, or to consider questions of public, health and morality. As Mrs Gilman says, “A mother economically free, a world servant instead of a house servant, a mother knowing the world, and living in it can he to her children far more than has ever been possible before.'* And again, “a dependent and servile womanhood is an immovable obstacle to race development . . . the major defects of our civilisation are clearly traceable to the degradation of the female, and the unbalanced predominance of the male, which unnatural relation is responsible for the social evil, for the predatory and combative elements in our economic processes, and for that colossal mingling of folly, waste and horror —that wholly masculine phenomenon—war.”

—(These extracts are taken from Mrs Gilman’s contribution to ‘‘(ireat Suffragists and Why,” but the position is made clear in her book, “Women and Economics.”) The Women’s Charter. I feel I cannot close this paper without a brief reference to the Women's Charter of Rights, and Liberties, by Lady M, Laren. This charter, published in 1909, gives reasons for the demands made by the women of the mother country- their legal and economic disabilities —but perhaps the most significant section is that dealing with the marriage service of the Church of England. Section 10 of the Charter demands that, “The House of Commons shall request the Bishops of the Church of England in Convocation to draw up a new marriage service in accordance both with womanly dignity and legal truth.” When the women get the vote we may hope to see the removal of the absurdity, “With all my wordly goods, i thee endow," said by the man in plighting: his troth, and the word “obey” said by the woman. Everywhere are signs of an awakened womanhood, of a generous and en-

lightened manhoed, without either of which we can make little progress, but we shall get none of the things we seek for without earnest effort, and I hope it will be considered by Convention, if the time has not arrived fer a movement akin to the Franchise Movement of a quarter of a century ago, and whether it would not be advisable to circulate petitions for the removal of the disabilities, especially that which debars their entrance into Parliament.