The History of Woman Suffrage Volume III Part 135

Concerning the higher education of women Dr. van Diest writes:

There existed in Belgium some years ago a law which required students who would enter the university, to pa.s.s the examination of graduate in letters (_gradue-en-lettres_). Candidates for this degree were expected to know how to translate Greek and write Latin. But as there were no schools where girls could study the dead languages with the thoroughness of boys who were trained six years in the cla.s.sics, the former were almost entirely shut out from enjoying the advantages of an university course. This _graduat_, however, no longer exists, and the entrance of women into our universities is now possible. Female students are found to-day at Brussels, Liege and Ghent, but their number is still very small. It was in 1880 that the first woman entered the university of Brussels, but it was not until 1883 that their admission became general. They pursue, for the most part, scientific studies, thereby securing more lucrative positions as teachers, and pa.s.s their examinations for graduation with success.

Switzerland being made up of more than a score of separate cantons closely resembling our States in their political organization, it is difficult to arrive at the exact situation throughout the whole country--small though it be. However, generally speaking, it may be said that the Helvetic republic has remained almost a pa.s.sive spectator of the woman movement, though a few signs of progress are worthy of note. The Catholic cantons lag behind those that have adopted Protestantism, and the latter are led by Geneva. Though subject to the Napoleonic code, Geneva has never known that debasing law of the tutelage of women which existed for so long a time in the other cantons, even in the intelligent canton of Vaud, where it was abolished only in 1873. It was not until 1881 that a federal statute put an end to the law throughout all Switzerland.

Geneva has always been very liberal in its treatment of married women--divorce exists, excellent intermediate girls' schools were created more than thirty years ago, and women are admitted to all the university lectures. Marie Goegg, the untiring leader of the movement in that country, writes me:

However, notwithstanding these examples of liberality, which denote that the law-makers had a breadth of view in accord with their time, Switzerland, as a whole, has been one of the least disposed of European States to accept the idea of the civil emanc.i.p.ation of woman, much less her political emanc.i.p.ation, so that from 1848 to 1868 the demands of American women were considered here to be the height of extravagance.... The seed planted in America in 1848, though its growth was difficult, finally began to take root in Europe. The hour had come.

In March, 1868, Marie Goegg published a letter, in which she invited the women of all nations to join with her in the formation of a society. In July of that same year the Woman's International a.s.sociation was founded at Geneva with Marie Goegg as president.

The organization began immediately an active work, and through its efforts, several of the reforms already mentioned were brought about, and public opinion in Switzerland considerably enlightened on the question. Mrs. Goegg says:

With the object of advancing the young movement, I established at my own risk a bi-monthly, the _Woman's Journal_ (_Journal des femmes_). But this was a violation of that good Latin motto, _festina lente_, and, at the end of a few months the paper suspended publication. Swiss public opinion was not yet ready to support such a venture.

It may be pointed out here that, except in England, all the women's societies created in Europe had, up to the time of the organization of the International a.s.sociation refrained from touching the question of the political rights of women. The Swiss a.s.sociation, on the contrary, always included this subject in its programme. But, unfortunately, at the moment when our efforts were meeting with success, and the future was full of promise for the cause which we advocated, the terrible Franco-German war broke out, and, for various reasons unnecessary to go into here, I felt constrained to resign the presidency, and the a.s.sociation came to an end.

Two years later the International a.s.sociation was revived in the form of the Solidarity (_Solidarite_), whose name signified the spirit which ought to unite all women. In 1875 Mrs. Goegg became president of the new organization as well as founder and editor of its organ, the _Solidarity Bulletin_ (_Bulletin de la Solidarite_).

But on September 20, 1880, both society and journal ceased to exist. The president in her farewell address said:

The dissolution of the Solidarity ought not to discourage us, but ought rather to cause us to rejoice, for the recent creation of so many women's national societies in different countries proves that the Solidarity has accomplished its aim, so that we have only to retire.

The striking success of university coeducation in Switzerland calls for a few words of notice. Mrs. Goegg writes:

In October, 1872, I sent a pet.i.tion to the grand-council of Geneva, asking that women be admitted to the university of Geneva on the same footing as men. The state of public opinion on this subject in Switzerland, and especially in Geneva, may be judged from the fact that, fearing to compromise the demand if I acted in my own name or that of the Solidarity, the pet.i.tion was presented as coming from "the mothers of Geneva." Our prayer was granted.

The number of women who have pursued studies at Geneva has steadily increased every year. In 1878 the university of Neufchatel was thrown open to women, while the university of Zurich has long had a large number of female students. Professor Pfluger, of the university of Bern, writing to me in April, 1883, said:

From February 2, 1876, to the present time, thirty-five women have taken degrees at our medical school. The lectures are attended each semester on an average by from twenty-five to thirty women, while from three to six follow the lectures on philosophy and letters. The presence of women at our university has occasioned no serious inconvenience and many colleagues favor it.

The rector of the university of Geneva wrote, February, 1883:

Up to the present time the attendance of women at our university has occasioned us no inconvenience except in some lectures of the medical school, where the subjects are not always of a nature to admit of their treatment before mixed cla.s.ses.

We shall now glance at the situation of woman in the three Scandinavian countries, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Sweden stands first, just as Germany does among the Teutonic nations, and France among the Latin nations; in fact we may perhaps go farther and say that of all Continental States, Sweden leads in many respects at least, in the revolution in favor of women.

The State, the royal family, private individuals, and, above all, women themselves have all striven to outstrip each other in the emanc.i.p.ation of Swedish women. Normal schools, high schools, primary schools, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, both at Stockholm, dairy schools and a host of other educational inst.i.tutions, both private and public, are thrown wide open to women. The State has founded scholars.h.i.+ps for women at Upsala University and at the medical school of the university of Lund. Numerous benevolent, charitable and industrial societies have been established and in many instances are managed by women.

But the best idea may be gained of the liberal spirit which prevails in Sweden by showing what the State has done for the emanc.i.p.ation of women. For instance, in 1845, equality of inheritance for son and daughter was established, and the wife was given equal rights with the husband as regards the common property; in 1846, woman was permitted to practice industrial professions and to carry on business in her own name; in 1861, the professions of surgery and dentistry were opened to her; in 1864, her rights in trade and industrial pursuits were enlarged; in 1870, she was admitted to the universities and medical profession; in 1872, a woman of twenty-five was given the full right of disposing of herself in marriage, the consent of parents and relations having been necessary before that time; and in 1874, a married woman became ent.i.tled to control that part of her private property set aside for her personal use in the marriage contract, as well as to possess her own earnings. The reforms in favor of married women are in no small measure due to the society founded in 1871 by Mrs.

E. Anckarsvard and Anna Hierta Retzius, whose aim was the accomplishment of these very reforms.

A good beginning has been made toward securing full political rights for Swedish women. In many matters relative to the munic.i.p.ality, women vote on the same terms with men, as for example, in the choice of the parish clergy, in the election of munic.i.p.al councilors, and members of the county council. This latter body elects the House of Lords, so that woman's influence, through an intermediate electoral body, is felt in the upper chamber. May this not be one reason why the Swedish legislature has been so liberal toward women? Demands have been made, but in vain, for the complete franchise which would confer upon women the privilege of voting for members of the diet. Woman's interests have found a warm and energetic advocate in the _Home Review_ (_Tidskrift for Hemmet_), which was founded in 1859 by the Hon.

Rosalie d'Olivecrona and the Baroness Leyonhufoud, to-day the Hon.

Mrs. Adlersparre. The paper is still edited by the latter; Rosalie d'Olivecrona, who has always been a most active friend of the woman movement, having retired in 1868.

If we cross the boundaries of Sweden into the sister kingdom of Norway, we find the condition of woman absolutely changed.

"Concerning Norway, I have said almost nothing," writes Camilla Collett, the distinguished Norwegian author, in some notes which she sent me recently on the situation of women in Scandinavia, "for the very simple reason that there is little to say." The long and oppressive domination of Denmark prostrated Norway, but her close union with Sweden since the fall of Napoleon, has begun to have a good effect, and the liberal influence of the latter country in favor of woman is already beginning to be felt in the other half of the Scandinavian peninsula. One step in advance has been the opening of the university to women--"The best thing that can be said of Norway," says Camilla Collett. Miss Cecilie Th.o.r.esen, the first female student to matriculate at Christiania University, writing to me from Eidsvold, Norway, in December, 1882, says it was in 1880 that she decided to try and take an academic degree. Her father, therefore, applied to the minister of public instruction for the necessary authorization; the latter referred the application to the university authorities, who, in their turn, submitted the portentous question to the faculty of the law-school.

In due season Miss Th.o.r.esen received this rather unsatisfactory response:

The admission of women to the university is denied, but we recognize the necessity for changing the law on the subject.

Thereupon Mr. H. E. Berner, the prominent liberal member of the Storthing, or Norwegian parliament, introduced a bill permitting women to pursue university studies leading to the degrees in arts and philosophy (_examen artium_ and _examen philosophic.u.m_). The committee reported unanimously in favor of the bill; on March 30, 1882, it pa.s.sed without debate the Odelsthing, one of the two chambers of the Storthing, with but one dissenting voice--that of a clergyman; on April 21, 1882, it received the unanimous vote of the other house, the Lagthing; and it finally became a law on June 15, 1882. But Mr. Berner did not stop here. He once wrote me:

In my opinion there hardly exists nowadays another social problem which has a better claim on public attention than that of the emanc.i.p.ation of women. Until they are placed on an equal footing with men, we shall not have departed from the days of barbarism.

In 1884, Mr. Berner succeeded in making it possible for women to take all university degrees, the law of 1882 having opened to them only the degrees in arts and philosophy. He is now pressing on the attention of parliament other reforms in favor of women; and he has recently written me that he believes that his efforts will be crowned with success.

In Denmark nothing has been done in the direction of political rights, nothing for school suffrage, though the liberal movement of 1848 improved woman's legal position slightly. But the situation of married women is still very unsatisfactory, for it may be summed up by saying that her property and her children are controlled by the husband. In 1879 many thousand women pet.i.tioned the legislature for the right to their own earnings, and a law was pa.s.sed to this effect. During the last twenty years, thanks to the example set by Sweden, much has been done to open to women the field of work. In 1875 the university consented to receive women, but as the State furnishes them only primary instruction, and does nothing for their intermediate instruction, leaving this broad gap to be filled by private efforts, the educational situation of Danish women leaves much to be desired. But the women themselves have turned their attention to this matter, and high schools and professional schools for women, and generally managed by women, are springing up.

Denmark has produced several journals devoted to the interests of women and edited by women. The _Friday_ (_Fredagen_), issued from July, 1875, to 1879, was edited by Vilhelmine Zahle. It was a bold, radical little sheet. The name was probably taken from the _Woman's Journal and Friday Society_, which appeared at Copenhagen in 1767, under the anonymous editors.h.i.+p of a woman. The _Woman's Review_ (_Tidsskrift for Kvinder_) began to appear in January, 1882. Its editor, Elfride Fibiger, has a.s.sociated with her Mr. Fris, a very earnest friend of the women's movement, who has given a more progressive turn to the paper, which has come out for women's suffrage--the first journal in Denmark to take this radical step.

Perhaps the most encouraging sign of progress is the foundation, during the past few years, of numerous a.s.sociations of women with different objects in view. John Stuart Mill's "Subjection of Women," which was translated into Danish and widely read; the "Letters from Clara Raphael," of Mathilde Fibiger, which appeared still earlier, in 1850; the writings of Camilla Collett, of Norway; the liberal utterances of the great poets of the North, Bjornsen, Hostrup and Ibsen, whose "Nora" has rightfully procured for him the t.i.tle of "Woman's Poet"; the great progress in America, England and Sweden; all these influences stimulated thought, weakened prejudices and prepared the way for reforms in the Danish peninsula. Kirstine Frederiksen, of Copenhagen, says:

It is plainly evident that Danish women are weary of the part allotted to them in the old society, a part characterized by the sentiment that the best that can be said of a woman is that there is nothing to say about her.... When, in due time, the claim for political rights is made here in Denmark, then will women from all cla.s.ses unite in their efforts to secure the palladium which alone can protect them from arbitrariness and subjection.

We shall now take up the Slavonic countries, beginning with Russia, which stands first, not only because of its vastness, but also because of its liberality toward women. The position of the Russian women before the law is very peculiar. Children, whatever their age and whether male or female, are never emanc.i.p.ated from the control of their parents. The daughter can only escape from this authority, and then only in a limited degree, by marriage, and the son by entering the service of the State. In the provinces alone girls of twenty-one may marry without the parents' consent. The married woman is in the full power of her husband, though she is the mistress of her own fortune. Divorce exists. Russian women vote on an equality with men for members of the munic.i.p.al councils and county a.s.semblies, and these two bodies choose the boards which transact the public business, such as superintending the collection of taxes, keeping the roads in order, directing the schools, etc.

The Russian woman does, not however, appear at the polls, but is represented by some male relative or friend (as we have already seen in Austria) who casts the vote for her. Thus the Russian woman, except that she is ineligible to office, possesses all the political rights of the Russian man--a privilege, however, that is of little value in a country where liberty is crushed under the iron heel of autocracy. The position of the Russian peasant women is not as good as that of the women of the upper cla.s.ses. They find some comfort, however, in the doctrines of the rapidly spreading religious sects, which resemble somewhat the American Revivalists or Anabaptists. In fact, the subject condition of Russian women is one of the chief causes of the growth of these sects; down-trodden by society and the State, they seek liberty in religion. In some of these sects women preach. Miss Maria Zebrikoff, an able Russian writer, sends me this curious information:

We have lately heard of a new sect which preaches a doctrine exalting woman. She is placed above man, because she can give birth to another being. Her pain and travail are so great, that alleviating the other sufferings and annoyances of woman would be but a poor reward; she is ent.i.tled to the deepest grat.i.tude of mankind.

Thought concerning the emanc.i.p.ation of woman was first awakened among the upper cla.s.ses about 1840, inspired by George Sand, but was confined to a narrow circle of men of science and authors. The new ideas continued to exist in a latent form until the freedom of the serfs in 1860, when they burst forth into life. The reforms of the last reign, the abolishment of bureaucratic government and the emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves, advanced the cause of woman, for the daughters of the office-holders and land-owners, reduced to poverty by these changes, were forced to go forth into the world and earn their own living. Woman's success in the walks of higher education--especially in medicine--has been a great victory for the friends of the rights of woman. The government, the professors of the university and women themselves have all united, more or less heartily, in a common effort to give Russian women facilities for a complete education. The first woman's medical school in Russia owes its origin to a donation of 50,000 rubles from a woman. The war department--for Russia thinks of medicine only in its relation to the army--came to the aid of the new movement, and the medical profession, though in a restricted manner, was thrown open to women.[574] As yet women physicians may treat only diseases of women and children, but, notwithstanding this drawback, there are fifty-two women physicians in St. Petersburg and two hundred and fifty in Russia. During the last war with Turkey twenty women physicians did n.o.ble work in the army. Women flock to the universities in great numbers. An attempt has been made to render the profession of law accessible to them, but the government has prohibited it. It is expected that ere long women will be professors in the university. The chemical, medical and legal a.s.sociations have already received women into members.h.i.+p.

In literature Russian women take an active part; reviews, magazines, and political journals counting many women among their contributors and in some cases their directors. Writes Maria Zebrikoff:

It is especially in the domain of fiction that Russian women excel. After the two renowned names of Tourgueneff and Tolstoi, the greatest genius of which our contemporary literature can boast is Krestowsky, the pseudonym of woman.

"The reactionary party," exclaims the same lady with enthusiasm, "counts in its ranks no woman distinguished for thought or talent."

Even this brief glance at woman's position in Russia conclusively proves that when the day of liberty comes to the great Cossack empire, the women will be as thoroughly fitted to enter upon all the duties of citizens.h.i.+p as the men. The women of no other continental nation are perhaps better prepared for complete emanc.i.p.ation than those of Russia. Here, as in several other respects, autocratic Russia resembles free America. The good-will of every transatlantic friend of woman's elevation should ever go forth to this brave, struggling people of the North.

The civil law of the kingdom of Poland, a part of Russia, has been, since 1809, the Napoleonic code; the other Polish provinces of Russia are subject to Russian law. Under the former, the woman has an equal share in the patrimony; but the married woman is a perpetual minor. According to the Russian code, on the contrary, a girl receives only a fourteenth part of the patrimony; and when a distant relative dies, brothers alone inherit. But a woman has absolute control of her own property: and when she becomes of age, at twenty-one, she may buy, own, sell, without being subjected to any tutelage, without requiring the consent of the husband--the very contrary of the Napoleonic code. This same thing is true in several other particulars, a striking ill.u.s.tration of the fact that much-abused Russian civilization is in some respects superior to the much-vaunted Latin civilization. In regard to education, the Polish woman is not so well off. In the primary schools alone does she enjoy equal rights; in secondary education she has far fewer advantages than the boy; while as for university instruction, she is forced to seek it in Russia or in foreign lands, the Polish universities being absolutely closed against her. In the Polish provinces under direct Russian authority, the State does nothing whatever for woman's instruction; and in the kingdom of Poland, the same thing is true except in the matter of primary instruction.

Polish women may practice medicine, if, besides this foreign diploma, they also pa.s.s an examination before the medical school of St. Petersburg. Tomaszewicz Dobrska is one of the few Polish women who has succeeded in this difficult field.

The Academy of Fine Arts at Cracow is open to men alone, but Madeline Andrzejkowicz has endeavored to fill the gap by establis.h.i.+ng at Warsaw a school of painting for women. The first woman's industrial school was founded in 1874 at Warsaw, and during the first six years, to 1880, it had 743 scholars. Establishments of this kind are now quite numerous in the kingdom, but, for political reasons, they have not been founded in the Polish provinces of Russia. The unfortunate political situation of Poland, which robs even men of their rights, is an insurmountable obstacle in the way of the emanc.i.p.ation of women. There are, however, many encouraging signs of progress. At Warsaw there is more than one newspaper edited by a woman. Marie Ilnicka has owned and edited for more than sixteen years, at the capital, a paper which is widely read and which has great influence. It is no uncommon thing for women to deliver public lectures, which are very popular and draw large houses. Elise Orzeszko, the distinguished Polish novelist, tells me:

We have confidence in the efforts of the men who are leading society and who are sacrificing their talents and earnestly toiling to advance liberal ideas. In the meanwhile our duty is to awaken thought on the question of woman's rights, so that when a better day does come to Poland, women may be ready to partic.i.p.ate in the common welfare.

But we cannot close this brief sketch without mentioning the Orient, that region of transition between the darkness of Asia and the light of occidental Europe; for, though the position of woman is in general so lamentable that at first glance it seems best to pa.s.s over this portion of the continent in silence, one catches here and there a glimmer of progress that portends a better day in the still distant future. And, too, regenerate Greece commands our attention, for she indeed is a rich oasis in this desert of Mohammedan conquest.

There are many Ottoman women, especially among the rich families, who desire to change their dress and enter into relations with the women of other religions, but the ecclesiastical and civil authorities are always ready to check this tendency and to rigorously enforce the ancient customs. In certain harems earnest efforts have been made to establish true family life and to bring up the children under the eye and care of the parents, with the aid of foreign governesses, who, along with the languages, inculcate the habits and manners of occidental nations. Vain attempts have been made to found girls' schools. There are n.o.ble natures who long for amelioration of their state, and for progress, but fanaticism condemns everything to mortal stagnation.

The Jewish woman leads a contracted, monotonous existence under the authority of the priest. The wives of many rich bankers have tried to do something to improve the condition of Hebrew women by founding aid societies, primary schools, and normal schools. The Bulgarian women of the country enjoy an agricultural and pastoral life, and those of the city are simple and primitive in their habits and customs. But little has been done for woman's instruction, though some worthy attempts have been made to establish schools. The hope of the regeneration of the Oriental woman lies in the influence of Greek civilization. The emanc.i.p.ation of the Greek woman means the emanc.i.p.ation of the Turkish woman.