THE ADVANCE OF THE WOMAN’S MOVEMENT.

White Ribbon, Volume 27, Issue 320, 18 February 1922, Page 6

THE ADVANCE OF THE WOMAN’S MOVEMENT.

Wo have out to glance through any of the papers specially devoted to news of the Women’s Movement to reeoKni.se unmistakably how women are coming more and more to the fore in the political world. In the December number of the “International Woman Suffrage News," the first fact that claims our attention is the election of the first Norwegian woman M.P. Norway, v.e may remember, was one of the first countries to enfranchise its women, though a little late in returning a woman to Parliament. Miss Karen Platon Is a wellknown social and political worker, and has already acted in the Norwegian Parliament as Alternate. Sweden has returned five women representatives, one of whom, Miss Nellie Thuring, delivered no fewer than 218 political lectuns during the last year, in her efforts to rouse the Swedish women to take an active part in the elections. At the Municipal elections in Great Britain, which took place on November Ist, nearly f>o women were returned as Town Councillors in England and Wales, and 17 in Scotland; while four women have been elected as Mayors, at Southport, Cheltenham, Worthing, and Honiton. This is hut a small proportion in so populous a country, but progress in this direction Is necessarily slow. Much educational work, however, is being done amongst the women, and this is perhaps the mast important par! of the whole matter. In other parts of the British Empire considerable progress has been made of late. (Canada, where women obained the Franchise in 1018, has gone i head swiftly since that event, and is now tinonly part of the Empire that can boast of women Cabinet Ministers, of whom there are two; Mrs Ralph Smith, M.P., of Vancouver, who recently refused the Speakership of the House, but whose pasition as President of the Council of British Columbia carries with it Cabin'd rank; and Mrs Walter Parlby, Minister without portfolio in the Legislature of Alberta. Ijist year the City of Edmonston elected a woman as their representative in the same Legislature. Mrs Nellie MeClung, M.P., Is one of the best known women in the Dominion, having been for many years an ardent advocate of Prohibition, and an active worker in

the effort to gain the political freedom of women. In an interview with a representative of the Press, Mrs MeClung said: "I intend to concentrate chiefly on the interests of women and children. I am an ardent Prohibitionist, and I refused to budge an inch from that standpoint in my electoral campaign. I told the electors frankly that if .any of them wanted a relaxation of the liquor laws it was no good voting for me, for I would never modify my antagonism to alcohol. 1 am also anxious to formulate a new- immigration policy that will bring us the right people, and set them in the right place. I think much might he done in this way by means of the Women’s institutes These originated in Canada, and in co-operation with them, numbering some 2000 in this country, a constant interchange of information and interests could lx kept up.” Mrs MeClung also spoke of the ::irgc proportion of women who voted in the jeeent elections, and the prominent part they have taken in all forms of election--04 ring work. Another prominent figure is Judge Emily Murphy. Edmonton’s woman Judge, who is mentioned as a possible nominee for a vacant seat in the Senate. Speaking of her, Mrs MeClung says: “She Is loved and respected hy all classes of the community. She is absolutely supreme in her special jurisdiction the Women’s Court at Edmonton, whore children’s cases arc also tried. She has authority in all cases to clear the Court at will. She has proved herself not merely the Judge, but also the true friend of the women and girls who come before her. The walls of the little beck room behind Judge Murphy's office have witnessed many a kindl> talk, and subsequent piecing together of broken lives. Judge Murphy has done such magnificent work in Edmonton that we feel we could have no better candidate to put the women’s point of view in the Senate, hitherto an exclusively masculine preserve, the m mbers of which enjoy a life tenancy.” In India we read of the conferring of a Doctor’s Degree hy the Calcutta I’niversify upon Mrs Sarojini Naidu, the Indian poetess and political worker; and of the admission to the Bar of the Alla habad High Court of Miss Cornelia Sorabji, the first Indian Lady Graduate in Law. Turning to Peru, we notice

the work of a Peruvian woman in connection with the reform of the Peruvian Common Code, specially with regard to the position of women—Miss Acasta Gardenas, who has obtained th» Degree of Doctor of Jurisprudence. Other indications of the general advance of w-omen are to be found in the appointment by President Harding of four women to serve on the Advisory Committee to the American Delegation attending the Washington Conference for the Limitation of Armaments; and in the Pan-American Conference of Women, to be held in April next at Baltimore in connection with the Annual Convention of the National League of Women Voters, the purpase of which is to promote friendly relations betw-een the women of the United States and those of South and Central America. Mexico and Canada. Finally, perhaps of even greater significance. is the formation of the International Federation cf Working Women, which came as the result of the Work ing Women’s Congress held at Geneva last October, and which has for its object the uniting of “organised women in order that they may resolve upon the meaas by which the standard of the life of w-orking women throughout the world may be raised.” Of greater sig niflcance, 1* cause, important and necessary though it may be that women should take a prominent part, according to their capacity, in the ordering of social and political affairs, it is , f still greater and more far-reaching importance that the great mass of women should, individually and collects ely, realise the med of a higher standard of life, and of the transformation of the present social order b> a new spirit; and that they should %vor. together for the .attainment of such an ideal. To quote the affirmation of the Y W C.A., "the world social order can only be made Christian through Individuals whose life is devoted to the single purpose of doing God’s will, and *who, at all casts, strive to carry their allegiance to Christ into eve»y part of ife.” This Congress represented not only differ nt nations, but different race* —Eastern and Western—and drew’ together women workers of all classes, industrial, agricultural, and literary; and that such a spirit animated the gathering Is made char hy the summarised report of the proceedings. A visitor to the Conference writes as fol-

laws of the high standard maintained throughout the meetings: “A keen uesire for international solidarity as opposed to narrow nationalism; generosity as opposed to greed; helpfulness as opposed to hostility; all together seeking the highest ideals, working for the greatest good.” The same spirit is reflected in the inaugural speech of the President. “We are meeting,” she said, “at a time when we are facing the end of a civilisation. We are at the birth of a new era, and whether that new social order is going to be better or worse than the old order will depend very largely upon the vision, the spirit, the valour and wisdom of the women of the world. . . . It can be done! It can be done! Tno power of a great faith can recreate the mind and will of the peoples of the earth, paralysed by the aftermath of the war, with its misery and disillusion, and set free the spirit of mankind A great faith held fast by a handful of poor folks, carpenters and fishermen, net-menders and working women, two thousand years p.t * changed the face of the earth, in spite of Empire and Caesars. A great faith held fast today by the working women of all nations can redeem the world. It Is the hour- of decision. We are called to answer in the pow rof the spirit. We hear the cry, ‘Working women of the world, what ‘of the night, what of the night?’ And we make answer: ‘Till the morning conic th we will hold high the flaming torch of our faith, and through the power of the Spirit will give bread to the hungry, undo the heavy burdens, loosen the hands of wickedness, proclaim liber*; to the captives, the opening of prison doors to them that are bound, and bring reconciliation to the peoples of the <arth.’ It can be done!” May we, one and all, share this faith, and work courageously towards its fulfilment.