Socialism; Women -- Social and moral questions; Women and socialism
In Denmark, after many years of agitation, women were given municipal
suffrage in April, 1908, and were also made eligible to municipal
offices. All those women are enfranchised who have attained their
twenty-fifth year and who have an annual income of at least 225 dollars
in the cities (less in rural districts), or whose husbands pay the
required amount of taxes. Moreover, servant girls are enfranchised,
in whose case board and lodging are added to the wages they receive.
During the first election in which women participated, which took
place in 1909, seven women were elected to the city council of
Copenhagen. In Iceland, women have municipal suffrage and are eligible
to municipal offices since 1907.
The struggle for woman suffrage in England has a considerable history.
According to an old law, in the mediaeval ages, ladies of the manors
had the right of suffrage and also exercised judicial power. In the
course of time they were deprived of these rights. In the election
reform acts of 1832, the word “person” had been employed, which
includes members of both sexes. Yet the law was construed not to
refer to women, and they were barred from voting wherever they made
an attempt to do so. In the election reform bill of 1867, the word
“person” had been replaced by the word “man.” John Stuart Mill moved
to reintroduce the word “person” instead of “man,” explicitly stating
as the object of his motion that thereby women would be given the
suffrage on the same terms as men. The motion was voted down by 194
against 73 votes. Sixteen years later, in 1883, another attempt was
made in the house of commons to introduce woman suffrage. The bill
was rejected by a majority of only 16 votes. Another attempt failed
in 1884, when a much larger membership of the house voted down a
suffrage bill by a majority of 136 votes. But the minority were not
discouraged. In 1886 they succeeded in having a bill providing for
the introduction of parliamentary woman suffrage passed in two
readings. The dissolving of parliament prevented a final decision.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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