Such is the general outline of the legal status of woman according to the new Civil Code. It will undoubtedly be most interesting to watch the gradual evolution of a new woman in Japan as the outcome of this legislation. It remains to be seen how far the social status of woman will be improved. It is not at all likely that her actual position will be immediately advanced in any great degree. It is probable that custom will continue, for a while at least, to wield a mightier influence than the Code; and that, as Mr. Gubbins remarks, “the present transitional condition of Japanese society may favor a rule being honored more in the breach than in the observance.” But it will probably not be long before here and there certain women will claim the rights accorded by law[125] and will find a corresponding improvement in their social condition; and thus the general position of the Japanese woman will gradually be advanced. And, as a matter of fact, the status of woman in Japan is improving in practice no less than in theory, especially in the new openings for work that render her more or less independent of male support. For instance, although the work of weaving, formerly carried on by women in the homes, is now largely transferred to factories, with modern machinery, there is an increasing demand for female hands. This is also true in cotton mills, match factories, tobacco shops, and many other such places of work. Telephone exchanges, post-offices, railway ticket offices, printing offices, also find girls and women deft and skilful. In hospitals and schools, too, the Japanese young woman is finding her sphere. She is likewise showing her skill and taste in both artistic and literary employments. But in Japan, as elsewhere, this drift into industrial and other occupations is producing a scarcity of servants for housework. Just as Kaibara’s “Onna Daigaku” (Great Learning for Women) was the standard for female education under the old _régime_, so New Japan most appropriately has a “Shin [New] Onna-Daigaku,” by Mr. Fukuzawa, the famous educator and writer. The following summary thereof is from the “Japan Mail”:—