Switzerland's existence and welfare depend on the harmony of the German, the French, and the Italian elements of the population. Switzerland is accustomed to considering three racial elements; out of three different demands it produces one acceptable compromise. Naturally the Swiss woman's rights movement has steadily developed in the most peaceful manner. No literary manifesto, no declaration of principles of freedom is at the root of this movement. It is supported by public opinion, which is gradually being educated to the level of the demands of the movement. The woman's rights movement began in Switzerland as late as 1880; in 1885 the Swiss woman's club movement was started. The Federation of Women's Clubs is made up of cantonal women's clubs in Zurich, Berne, Geneva, St. Gallen, Basel, Lausanne, Neuchâtel, and in other cities, as well as of intercantonal clubs, such as the "Swiss Public Utility Woman's Club" (_Schweizer Gemeinnütziger Verein_), "la Fraternité," the "Intercantonal Committee of Federated Women," etc. Recently a Catholic woman's league was formed. Since 50 per cent of the Swiss women remain unmarried, the woman's rights movement is a social necessity. In the field of education the authorities have been favorable to women in every way. In nine cantons the elementary schools are coeducational. There are public institutions for higher learning for girls in all cities. In German Switzerland (Zurich, Winterthur, St. Gallen, Berne) girls are admitted to the higher institutions of learning for boys, or they can prepare themselves in the girls' schools for the examination required for entrance to the universities (_Matura_). There are 18 seminaries that admit girls only; the seminaries in Küssnacht, Rorschach, and Croie are coeducational. Women teachers are not appointed in the elementary schools of the cantons of Glarus and Appenzell-Outer-Rhodes. On the other hand in the cantons of Geneva, Neuchâtel, and Ticino 59 to 66 per cent of the teachers in the elementary schools are women. They are given lower salaries than the men. The canton of Zurich pays (by law) equal wages to its men and women teachers, but the additional salary paid by the municipalities and rural districts to the men teachers is greater than that paid to the women. In its elementary schools the canton of Vaud employs 500 women teachers, some of whom are married. The Swiss universities have been open to women since the early sixties of the nineteenth century. As in France, the native women use this right far less than foreign women, especially Russians and Germans. The total number of women studying in the Swiss universities is about 700. Most of the Swiss women that have studied in the universities enter the teaching profession. Women are frequently employed as teachers in high schools, as clerks, and as librarians. Sometimes these positions are filled by foreign women.