STATUS OF WOMEN.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1751, 16 May 1913, Page 2

STATUS OF WOMEN.

AN ADDRESS BY LADY STOUT. At the meeting of the Moral and Physical Health Socioty, held in Godbsr a rooms, Courtenay JL'lace, last evening, an address upon tho status of -women generally, and more especially in respect to the law, was given by Lady Stout. Dr. PlatlsMills presided. _ T , c ., . In dealing with hor subject, Lady Slouc pointed out tho differences that existed in tho laws pertaining to women and children in this country and in England. For instance, in New Zealand a child could not he adopted without the consent of a magistrate having first been obtained, and, where there was a premium, it was paid in to the Education Department, tho latter paying out so much weekly to tho adopted parent Dr parents. 11l England a sum of money could lie paid by the person adopting it, and that was allthere was about it. Tho Adoption ox Children Act was first brought forward by tho Society for the Protection ot \Pomen and Children. Tho testators Family Maintenance Act _ was another measure which had been introduced l>> the same society- It provided that where property had been left away from tho family, the Court could step in and order restitution. At llomo a man could leave his property to anyone outside tho tamilj and nothing could be done.- In the caso of intestacy, a division of tho money was made, but the eldest son got the landed property. Hero tho entail was not used. In England, if ono of a family died and left no will, the father got whatever money might be left, and the womani no- 1 thing but the personal property. It a man wore divorced from his wife, and tno wife died without a will, everything went to him though she might liavo dono everything for the children while lie did nothing. In England a wife could only gain maintenance for herself and nor family bv reaching such a point of destitution that there was no refugo for her but the workhouso. In New Zealand she could sue her husband while living under tho same roof, and, usually, she obtained it. Men in this country, said tho sp eaker > were really very fair to women—'tho only tiling was that women did not ask enougli. The Society for tho Protection of womenand Children and for the Health ot Women'ami Children, the Women s Cliris; tian Temperance Society, and tho Ladies Christian Association had done; useful weak in bringing the disabilities ot women in this country to tho front, and, by so doing, getting them removed. .In New Zealand the woman s point ot was represented in legislation. It nacl been asked why women did not go in more for women's occupations, but tticsc were blocked in England. In the cookery cla <<? £ s > arranged by tno London Countj Council, bays were given preference, for they were provided with a years course, and girls were only given three months. It was not coui'Msy and compliments that women wanted so much as .their right to fair facilities. Lady Stout illustrated 'the way in which women were not allowed to practise law in England, no matter it their degrees were tho highest in the land. In the greatly-talked-of Insurance Bill of Mr. Lloyd-George's, tho maternity bonus went to tho inati not to tlio woman. When the White Slavo Iraflic Bill was first brought forward in tho House of Conimonj, only twenty men out of six hundred voted for it, and it was onlv when the powerful women supporters of the Liberal party showed tlioir displeasure, bv withdrawing their support, that the Bill gained ground, and was finally passed. Even now it was shorn of much of its effective power, and, in a little while, tho procurers would be back again by the back door to once more pLy their trade. Tho low political status ot woman, and tho fact that she was legally only an adjunct of man, was responsible lor' its existence. Another thing that women in England were fighting for was the safety of women and children.. In New Zealand outrages could bo punished by life sentences, or by a long term ot years, as well as a flogging; in England the man would often get only a. foi tnight or three weeks. Another great object was to raise the wages of the workers. Tlif! menace of England lajr in her slums, and, if women did not obtain the suffrage, there would assuredly bo an industrial revolution. England badly wanted a "spring cleaning," and only women, could d °A th vo t to of thanks to the speaker was proposed by Mrs. Godber and seconded by Mrs. A. E. Atkinson.