Norwegian Life: An Account of Past and Contemporary Conditions and Progress in Norway and Sweden
History
Norwegian Life: An Account of Past and Contemporary Conditions and Progress in Norway and Sweden
Norway -- Social life and customs; Sweden -- Social life and customs
The leaders of the movement for universal suffrage for men united
forces with the women suffragists, and in 1898 accomplished their
purpose. The women might have succeeded the same year but for an
unfortunate division in their ranks. One faction wanted to limit
suffrage to unmarried women who own property and deprive married
women and dependent daughters and wage-earners of the ballot. But
a compromise was finally arranged, the two factions were brought
together, and in May, 1901, succeeded in accomplishing the purpose for
which they have been engaged. They received the support of a large
portion of the conservative members of the storthing as well as the
unanimous support of the liberal and radical parties, only twenty
votes being cast in the negative.
The women of Norway do not propose to rest on their present success.
Miss Krog is continuing the fight to secure the right of participation
in national as well as municipal affairs, and believes that the women
will have all the political rights of men in Norway within the next
few years. She insists that public sentiment favors the cause and that
parliament will take a step further soon and amend the law by making
it broader and more general. Universities are open to women on an
equal basis with men, and many women are taking advantage of the
opportunity to secure the higher education, and if ever, like the
women of Finland, they are allowed to sit in parliament, they will be
amply fitted to do so.
Under the present law only women who pay a certain amount of taxes
can vote. An unmarried woman living at home is deprived of the ballot
unless she has an income of her own; a married woman can not vote
unless either she or her husband has a stated income. Thus many of
the most intelligent and progressive women of the country are still
outside the suffrage line. Everybody in Norway who earns a dollar pays
an income tax. It may be very small, but a certain percentage of each
day's wages of every peasant goes into the government treasury. Every
person in Norway declares that it is the least objectionable means of
raising money for national and municipal expenses that has ever been
tried there, and that it stimulates the patriotism of the people, who
realize that they are contributors to the support of their government,
and should take an active interest in its management.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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