Since the legal status of woman is determined by the Code Napoleon, we need not comment upon it here. By a law of 1900, the wife is empowered to deposit money in a savings bank without the consent of her husband; the limit of her deposit being 3000 francs ($600). The wife also controls her earnings. If, however, _she draws more than 100 francs_ (_$20_) _a month from the savings bank, the husband may protest_. Women are now admitted to family councils; they can act as guardians; they can act as witnesses to a marriage. Affiliation cases were made legal in 1906. On December 19, 1908, women were given active and passive suffrage in arbitration courts for labor disputes. The Belgium secondary school system is exceptional because the government has established a rather large number of girls' high schools. However, these schools do not prepare for the university entrance examinations (_Abiturientenexamen_). Women contemplating entering the university, must prepare for these examinations privately. This was done by Miss Marie Popelin, of Brussels, who wished to study law. The universities of Brussels, Ghent, and Liège have been open to women since 1886. Hence Miss Popelin could execute her plans; in 1888 she received the degree of Doctor of Laws. She made an attempt in 1888-1889 to secure admission to the bar as a practicing lawyer, but the Brussels Court of Appeals decided the case against her.[86] Miss Marie Popelin is the leader of the middle-class woman's rights movement in Belgium. She is in charge of the Woman's Rights League (_Ligue du droit des femmes_), founded in 1890. With the support of Mrs. Denis, Mrs. Parent, and Mrs. Fontaine, Miss Popelin organized, in 1897, an international woman's congress in Brussels. Many representatives of foreign countries attended. One of the German representatives, Mrs. Anna Simpson, was astonished by the indifference of the people of Brussels. In her report she says: "Where were the women of Brussels during the days of the Congress? They did not attend, for the middle class is not much interested in our cause. It was especially for this class that the Congress was held." Dr. Popelin is also president of the league that has since 1908 taken up the struggle against the official regulation of prostitution. The schools and convents are the chief fields of activity for the middle-class Belgian women engaged in non-domestic callings. As yet there are only a few women doctors. One of these, Mrs. Derscheid-Delcour, has been appointed as chief physician at the Brussels Orphans' Home. Mrs. Delcour graduated in 1893 at the University of Berlin _summa cum laude_; in 1895 she was awarded the gold medal in the surgical sciences in a prize contest for the students of the Belgian universities.