PARLIAMENT OF WOMEN

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1785, 25 June 1913, Page 8

PARLIAMENT OF WOMEN

A SUGGESTION DISCUSSED. SOME INTERESTING VIEWS. A recent suggestion put forward in tho 'Daily Mail" that women should show their capacity for political affairs by electing a Parliament of their own in which they could clearly define their views on questions of the day was widely discussed in London. Tlio proposal was raado in the following terms:— "It would lie possible, for example, with tho enthusiasm and wealth which the Suffragettes command, to organise a woman's Parliament or Senate, elected on represcntativo linos by tho women of tho whole country. Such a body could discuss proposals and draft measures. Even though it. possessed no cxecutivo authority, if it acted with sanity, judgment, and moderation it would speedily acquire immense influence. Its recommendations would not be lightly disregarded by the House of Commons when thoy liad public opinion behind them. 'A great power,' as Bismarck once said, 'does not ask to bo recognised; it reveals itself.' In this perfectly orderly and legal manner women could obtain distinction, sway,the Legislature, and demonstrate alike their capacity and the justice of their claims."

Lord Robert Cecil's Opinion, Lord Robert Cecil, M.P., on being invited to express his views on the scheme, said: "Various attempts have been made to create unofficial representative bodies, but they have all failed. The Representative CbuTch Council, for example, is by no means satisfactorily representative of tho whole Church opinion of the country. Generally speaking, you cannot get ; people to take much interest in an assembly unless it has got definite power and' a definite function. Therefore I do not think you would get women to tako up the work of an unofficial tody of thin sort. "Moreover, the whole of tho women's suffrage organisations are based on the idea of obtaining the vote, and have been constituted for that purpose, and to ask them to alter that basis would be to invite them to throw away tho labour of more than a generation. It is not the conception of those advocating tho extension of the suffrage th,at women should act separately from men. It is the idea of the combination of the two sexes that seems to iuo so valuable. For myself, I should rather regret any attempt to form an assembly for women separately, beeauso I do not think that cither sex without tho other is really in its 'highest condition of efficiency. "It may be that some day or other a powerful demand will arise for women to enter Parliament, but there has been no such agitation at present. The object of Suffragists is not to 'get women into Parliament, and tho formation of a women's Parliament, as suggested, would mislead people as to tho true prototype of what we are working for.

"Women should make greater use of tho political power which they already possess. If all the women who tako an interest in politics and who are Suffragists exerted their influence locally, becamo members of the various political organisations, insisted on due representation on the local bodies, and put pressure on the members of, local bodies who represent women and are naturally powerful persons in the local political organisations they would very soon obtain such a hold upon the political organisations of tho country that their demand for the vote would soon be conceded."

Other Points of View. Mrs. Fawcett, tho president of tho National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, said the idea of an unofficial Parliament was in her opinion a futile one. "There would bo 110 reality about it. You would never get responsible women to devoto their time to it. Women's organisations already do their share towards moulding legislation that directly affects them. When the Insnranco Act was under consideration various organisations of women put their views and recommendations forward, and their advice and criticisms were gladly accepted by a number of M.P.'s who espoused their cause in tho House." Mrs. Humphrey Ward (Anti-Suffragist) said: I think the suggestion of a women's Parliament quite impracticable. I liavo always advocated largo developments of the local government powers of women, leading ultimately to some form of provincial devolution, as likely to solve tho whole question by giving women an equitablo sharo of public responsibility without interference with 111011.