WHAT NEW ZEALAND WOMEN HAVE GAINED SINCE 1893.

White Ribbon, Volume 23, Issue 267, 18 September 1917, Page 9

WHAT NEW ZEALAND WOMEN HAVE GAINED SINCE 1893.

1 he following is a list of humanitarian Acts which have been passed since women have had the right to vote 1. Infant Life Protection Act (to .(prevent baby farming). 2. Act to regulate the adoption of children. 3. Industrial Schools Amendment Act (providing for better classification and general methods). 4. Illegitimacy Amendment Act (whereby a child born out of wedlock may claim a share of the father’s property after his death, the claim to be sett'ed by the Court; and also providing that where parents .ire willing, the child may be registered in the name of the father as well as of the mother). 5. Legitimation Act provides that when the parents marry, any child born before >uch marriage' shall be entitled to all the rights of a child born in wedlock, including inheritance of property. 6. Widow’s Pension Act grants small pensions to a widow (or the wife of an incurably insane man), who has a child or c hildren born in New Zealand. 7. Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act. (Enacts equal standard of morality. Divorce granted for adultery; wilful desertion for 5 years; for habitual drunkenness; for failure to support wife; if either person is iu-

sane and unlikely to recover; or if either person has received sentence of at least seven years’ imprisonment for at empt on the life of the oth *r. 8. Summary Legal Separation Ac t gives protection to working women against worthless husbands. c>. An Act enabling women to receive compensation for slander without proving special damage. 10. Testator’s Family Maintenance Act compels testator to provide for his wife and family according to his means. n. Destitute Person’s A* t (1910) provides for registration of child born out of wedlock, in its father’s name, where paternity is proved, and for the power to claim against the estate of either parent for the maintenance of such child. This Act also allows the imprisonment of any man not providing for his wife and children. Deserting husbands are brought back at the expense of the State. 12. The Destitute Person’s Amendment Act (1915) provides that an officer of the Court shall be appointed to receive and 10 recover monies clue under a maintenance order. 13. Married Women’s Property Act. 14. National Provident Lund Act enables persons, on paying a small sum weekly, to secure an annuity .it 60 years of age, the annuity varying from ten shillings to two pounds a week, according to payments made' It also grants assistance to widows, and parents on the birth of a child. 15. Old Age Pensions Act. (Both sexes treated alike.) 16. State Maternity Hospitals Act Provides skilled medical attendance and trained nursing at moderate cost. 17. Aged and Infirm Persons’ Protection Act. Provides that when any person is unable, by means of age, disease, illness, physical or mental infirmity, excessive use of alcoholic liquors or drugs, to manage his own affairs, a protection order may be made over the whole or any part of his estate. 18. Cvimes Amendment Act provides for indeterminate sentences and reformative treatment by modern methods. 19. First Offenders’ Probation Act Under this Act first offenders may, at the discretion of the Magistrates, be placed upon probation instead of being sent to gaol.

jo. Juvenile Couits established. Young persons under iG years of age .ire dealt with in these Courts. 21. Juvenile Smoking Suppression Act. Sale of tobacco and cigarettes to children under 15 prohibited. 22. Age of consent rais-d from 14 to iG years, and other amendments made in Criminal Code. 23. Repeal of C.l). Acts (1910). 24. Temperance Jnstruuion given in State Schools. 23. let hmeal Schools establish* d, giving equality ct opportunity to botli sexes. 20. Shop Assist uits’ Act safeguards the interests and health of female shop assistants, and betters the conditions under which they work. 27. Factory At t Amendment recognises principle of equal pay for equal work, fixes minimum wage, and limits hour:} of woik. 25. Workers’ Compensation Act. Made applicable to all women workers, including domestic servants. 29. Municipal Franchise extended to women. 30. Women made eligible for election to Municipal Councils; the Mayor of a city; Hospital and Charitable Aid Hoards; education Hoards and School Committees. 31. Amendment of education Act provides for the election of four women on the National Council of education, which advises education Department. 32. Female Law Practitioners’ Act admits women to the practice of the law. 33. Licensing Act Amendment Act gradually abolishes barmaids, makes 10 o’clock closing universal, does away with bottle licenses and the locker system, prohibits sale of liquor for consumption off premises to persons under 21 years of age, gives electors the right to vote on Dominion Prohibition. Women doctors are appointed as Medical Inspectors of Schools. A Woman is appointed Assistant Inspector of Hospitals. W >men official visitors are appointed for the women’s gaol and othe r State and State-inspect-ed institutions. The fund for the payment of Plunket nurses (Royal Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children) is subsidised by the State.