Civic improvement; Urban women; Women in public life
The other bill, presented in the name of the federated club women of
the state, amended the existing statute by raising the age of
consent from 14 to 18. The course of this bill through the
Legislature affords a good illustration of the difficulties met by
women when they undertake to create new legislation that affects
dominant man. At every meeting of the legislature since the year
1887 an amendment raising the age of consent had been presented and
had been smothered in committee. This bill narrowly escaped a like
fate. It was introduced in the Senate and the senators were
practically unanimous in their promises to vote for it; of course
their mental reservation was “if it ever gets out of committee.” The
women in charge of the bill were allowed to plead their cause. Two
features of the meeting were that many members of the committee who
had promised support were “unavoidably absent” and that a lawyer
from Chicago who was not required to disclose the interests he
represented was allowed to make an elaborate attack on the proposed
amendment. It quickly became evident that the Committee would not
favorably consider the raise to 18 years. On a compromise at 16 the
result hung in doubt until the friendly chairman, Senator Juul, who
introduced the bill, decided a tie vote on the motion to report the
bill. Once before the Senate, the senators stood by their promises
and the bill was quickly passed unanimously.
In the House the bill met with a reception that was far from
friendly. The committee refused to hear the women in charge of the
bill and the program was silence and secrecy. The House Committee,
however, did not dare to kill the bill and contented itself with
adding several minor amendments apparently intended to afford
loopholes of escape to offenders. When the amended bill was returned
to the Senate, the women, believing the amendments to be innocuous
and regarding the raising of the age by two years as a substantial
victory, requested that it be passed. It was.
This bill has been a great aid to all the organizations interested
in protecting young girls, and convictions have been frequent under
it. But the club women were actually obliged to print both the old
law and the amended law and post them in police stations and police
courts to secure these convictions.
In this connection it should be stated that the very first
legislation undertaken by the Iowa State Federation of Women’s Clubs
was in 1894, when it petitioned the legislature to raise the age of
consent in that state from 15 to 18 years; the age was raised to 16.
In practically every state in the Union women have worked for a similar
age of consent but it is by no means yet established at 18 years in many
places. They have also supported all other measures giving more security
to girls.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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