On receiving this practically unanimous backing we further proceeded to recommend distinct forms of active service. The Local Government Board had addressed a circular to Lord Mayors and Mayors and Chairmen of Town and County Councils directing them at once to form Local Relief Committees to deal with any kind of distress caused by the war. We suggested to our societies that they should offer their services to help, each in its own district, in this national work. We also opened in different parts of the country forty workrooms in which women thrown out of work by the war found employment. We established bureaux for the registration of voluntary workers and gradually our work spread in all directions; help for the Belgian refugees, the starting of clubs and canteens for soldiers and sailors, clubs for soldiers' wives, work in connection with the Sailors' and Soldiers' Families Association, patrol work in the neighborhood of soldiers' training camps, Red Cross work, conducting French classes for our men in training. A very largenumber of our societies concentrated on maternity and child welfare work; others in country districts took up fruit picking and preserving in order to conserve the national food supplies. It is really impossible to mention all our various activities. These were included under a general heading adopted at a Provincial Council meeting held in November, 1914, urging "our societies and all members of the Union to continue by every means in their power all efforts which had for their object the sustaining of the vital energies of the Nation so long as such special efforts may be required."
The war work with which the name of the N.U.W.S.S. is most widely known was the formation of the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service. This was initiated and organised by the Hon. Sec. of our Scottish Federation, Dr. Elsie Inglis, and was backed by the whole of the N.U.W.S.S. (See Life of Dr. E. Inglis by Lady Frances Balfour.) Meeting at first with persistent snubbing from the Royal Army Medical Corps and the British Red Cross, Dr. Inglis formed her first hospital at the Abbaye de Royaument about thirty miles from Paris, officered entirely by women. Other units on similar lines quickly followed in France and Serbia. Their work was magnificent and was rapidly recognised as such by the military authorities and by all who came in contact with it. These hospitals probably produced by the example of their high standard of professional efficiency and personal devotion a permanent influence on the development of the women's movement in those countries where they were located. They received no farthing of government money but raised the 428,856 pounds, which their audited accounts show as their net total to August 3, 1919, entirely by private subscription from all over the world including, of course, the United States.
The N.U.W.S.S. were very early in the field of women's national work during the war because their members were already organised and accustomed to work together, but it is no exaggeration to say that the whole of the women of the country of all classes, suffragist and anti-suffragist, threw themselves into work for the nation in a way that had never been anticipated by those who had judged women by pre-war standards. Intomunition work and all kinds of manufacturing activity they crowded in their thousands. They worked on the land and undertook many kinds of labour that had hitherto been supposed to be beyond their strength and capacity. By what was called the Treasury agreement of 1915 the Trade Unions were induced to suspend the operation of their rules excluding the employment of female labour. They bargained that women should be paid the same as men for the same output and the Government agreed not to use the women as a reservoir of cheap labour. Thus industrial liberty was ensured for women at least so long as the war should last.
All these things combined to produce an enormous effect on public opinion. Newspapers were full of the praises of women; financiers, statesmen, economists and politicians declared that without the aid of women it would be impossible to win the war. The anti-suffragism of Mr. Asquith even was beginning to crumble. In speaking of the heroic death of Edith Cavell in Belgium in October, 1915, he said: "She has taught the bravest men among us a supreme lesson of courage; yes ... and there are thousands of such women and a year ago we did not know it." Almost the whole of the press was on our side. The general tone was that it would be difficult to refuse woman a voice in the control of affairs after the splendid way in which she had justified her claim to it. We old suffragists felt that we were living in a new world where everyone agreed with us. Nevertheless, I do not believe we should have won the vote just when we did if it had not been that, through the action of the Government itself, it was absolutely necessary to introduce legislation in order to prevent the almost total disfranchisement of many millions of men who had been serving their country abroad in the Navy and Army, or in munition or other work which had withdrawn them from the places where they usually resided.
It may be necessary to explain to non-British readers that by far the most important qualification for the Parliamentary franchise in this country before 1918 was the occupation of premises, and before a man could be put on the register of voters it was necessary for its owner to prove "occupation" of these premisesfor twelve months previous to the last 15th of July. Seven out of every eight voters were placed on the register through this qualification. It was not a property qualification, for the tiniest cottage at a shilling a week could qualify its occupier for a vote if he had fulfilled the condition just described; and a man might be a millionaire without getting a vote if he were not in occupation of qualifying premises. Before the war the register of voters was kept up to date by annual revision. The war, however, made this difficult and the Government in 1915 gave directions that this annual revision should be abandoned. As the war went on, the existing register, therefore, rapidly became more and more out of date. Millions of the best men in the country had become disqualified through their war service by giving up their qualifying premises. The House of Commons again and again postponed the date of the General Election but the occasional by-elections which took place proved that there was no register in existence on which it would be morally possible to appeal to the country. The old, the feeble, the slacker, the crank, the conscientious objector would all be left in full strength and the fighting men would be disfranchised. A Parliament elected on such a register would, Mr. Asquith declared, be wholly lacking in moral authority. Therefore, by sheer necessity the Government was forced to introduce legislation dealing with the whole franchise question as it affected the male voter. A Coalition Government of the Liberal, Conservative and Labour Parties had been formed in 1915. This improved suffrage prospects, for many of the new men joining the Government, more especially Lord Robert Cecil, the Earl of Selborne and the Earl of Lytton, were warm supporters of our cause; while in making room for these newscomers, Mr. Asquith found it possible to dispense with the services of men of the type of Sir Charles Hobhouse, Mr. A. J. Pease and others who were our opponents. The formation of a Coalition Government helped us in another way. Neither of the great parties, Conservative and Liberal, had been unanimous on the women's question and the heads of these parties lived in terror of smashing up their party by pledging themselves to definite action on our side. Mr. Gladstone had broken up the Liberal Party in 1886 by advocatingIrish Home Rule, and Mr. Balfour and Mr. Chamberlain had broken up the Conservative Party by advocating Protection in 1903-4. Each of these had, in consequence, a prolonged sojourn in the wilderness of Opposition. But now a Government was formed in which all the parties were represented except the Irish Nationalists, who had refused to join, and therefore our friends in both the old parties could give free rein to their disposition to make Women's Suffrage a reality without dread of bringing disaster on their organisations. The attitude of the N.U.W.S.S. and seventeen other Constitutional Suffrage Societies who had united to form a Consultative Committee, was quite clear as to the line we should take under these circumstances. In various ways and by repeated communications, letters, memorials and deputations we kept the Government informed that if their intentions with regard to the new register were limited simply to replacing upon it the names of the men who had lost their vote through their patriotic service, we should not press our own claim; but if on the other hand the Government determined to proceed by creating a new basis for the franchise, or changing the law in any way which would result in the addition of a large number of men to the register, without doing anything for women, we should use every means in our power within the limits of lawful agitation to bring the case for the enfranchisement of women before Parliament and the country.
Mr. Asquith answered a communication from us on these lines in May, 1916, with the greatest politeness but said that "no such legislation was at present in contemplation." However, within the next fortnight it was in contemplation and the Government made repeated attempts to deal with the situation by the creation of a special register. All the attempts were rejected by the House of Commons, which evidently wanted the subject dealt with on broader and more comprehensive lines. On August 14 Mr. Asquith, in introducing yet another Special Register Bill, announced his conversion to Women's Suffrage! This was an advent of great importance to our movement, for it virtually made the Liberal Party a Suffrage Party, but the Parliamentary difficulty was not removed, for the Government was still nibbling at the question by trying to deal with it by little amendmentsto the law relating to the registration of voters. At last a way out was devised. Mr. Walter Long, president of the local government board, a typical conservative country gentleman and at that time an anti-suffragist, made the suggestion that the whole question of Electoral Reform, including the enfranchisement of women, should be referred to a non-party Conference, consisting of members of both Houses of Parliament and presided over by the Speaker. Mr. Asquith concurred and Parliament agreed. Women's Suffrage was only one of many subjects connected with Electoral Reform which had to be dealt with by the Conference but it is not too much to say that if it had not been for the urgency of the claim of women to representation the Conference would never have been brought into existence.
The members of this Conference were chosen by the Speaker, who was careful to give equal representation to suffragists and anti-suffragists. Sir John Simon and Sir Willoughby Dickinson, members of the Conference, were very active and skilful in organising the forces in our favour. The Conference was called into being in October, 1916, and began its sittings at once. A ministerial crisis which occurred in December resulted in the resignation of Mr. Asquith and the appointment of Mr. Lloyd George as his successor. The Speaker enquired of the new Prime Minister if he desired the Conference to continue its labours. The reply was an emphatic affirmative. The Conference reported on January 27, 1917. Everyone knows that it recommended by a majority, some said a large majority, the granting of some measure of suffrage to women. Put as briefly as possible the franchise recommended for women was "household franchise," and for the purposes of the bill a woman was reckoned to be a householder not only if she was so in her own right but if she were the wife of a householder. An age limit of thirty was imposed upon women, not because it was in any way logical or reasonable but simply and solely in order to produce a constituency in which the men were not out-numbered by the women.
Some few weeks earlier we had heard on unimpeachable authority that the new Prime Minister was "very keen and verypractical" on our question and was prepared to introduce legislation upon it without delay. He no doubt remembered how emphatically he had told us in 1911 of the extreme value of the promises which had been made to us by Mr. Asquith, and how in our meeting in the Albert Hall in the following March he had referred to the doubt which some suffragists had expressed upon the worth of these promises as "an imputation of deep dishonour which he absolutely declined to contemplate." He had in 1911 put into writing and sent as a message to theCommon Cause, the official organ of the N.U.W.S.S., a statement of his conviction that Mr. Asquith's promises made the carrying of a Women's Suffrage amendment to next year's franchise bill a certainty and he had offered his personal help to bring this about. It has already been described how all these confident hopes had been brought to nought; but now, December, 1916, within a fortnight of becoming Prime Minister, Mr. Lloyd George let us know that he was not only ready but keen to go forward on practical lines. When Parliament met we asked the Prime Minister to receive a large and representative deputation of women who had worked for their country during the war. Our object was to ask him to legislate at once on the lines recommended by the Speaker's Conference but we were pushing an open door.
The new Prime Minister had arranged to receive us on March 29, 1917, and on the 28th Mr. Asquith had moved a resolution in the House of Commons, and his motion had been agreed to by 341 votes to 62, calling for the early introduction of legislation based on the recommendations of the Speaker's Conference. When our deputation waited on Mr. Lloyd George the following day he was able to inform us that he had already instructed the Government draftsman to draw up a bill on these lines. The debate in the House on March 28 had turned mainly on Women's Suffrage and the immense majority in support of Mr. Asquith's motion was rightly regarded as a suffrage triumph. Every leader of every party in the House of Commons had taken part in the debate and had expressed his support of the enfranchisement of women. The Government whips had not been put on and throughout the debates which followed the Bill was not treatedas a Government but as a House of Commons measure. The victory, therefore, was all the more welcome to us because it was the result of a free vote of the House. Mr. Asquith's retraction of his former errors was quite handsome. He said, among other things, that his "eyes which for years in this matter had been clouded by fallacies and sealed by illusions at last had been opened to the truth." It required a European War on the vastest scale that the world had ever known to shake him out of his fallacies and illusions, and many of us felt that it would have been better if a less terrible convulsion had sufficed to awaken him, but still, now he was awakened, he was prompt in owning he had been in the wrong and therefore no more was to be said. The subsequent stages of this Representation of the People Bill were a series of triumphs for the suffrage cause. The second reading debate was taken on May 22d and 23d and again turned almost entirely on the women's question; the majority was 329 to 40. When the Bill was in Committee and the clauses enfranchising women were taken up on June 19 the majority was 385 to 55, or exactly seven to one. On June 20 a last division was made, when the number of anti-suffragists was only 17.
Our friends in the Speaker's Conference had so often impressed on us the danger of departing, even in the direction of obvious improvement, from its recommendations that we had carefully abstained from urging any deviation from them; but when the immense majorities just quoted showed that the Bill and our clauses in it were safe beyond a peradventure, we did press very strongly that the same principle should be applied to Municipal suffrage for women which had already been sanctioned by the House for the Parliamentary Suffrage, namely, that the wives of householders should be recognized as householders, which would entitle them to vote. On November 15 an amendment to this effect was moved but was not accepted by the Government. There were vigorous protests in our favour from all parts of the House and the debate on it was adjourned. During the interval the N.U.W.S.S. and other societies with whom we were cooperating bombarded the leader of the House and the Minister in charge of the bill with letters and telegramsin support of the amendment. These produced a good effect and on November 20, Government opposition having been withdrawn, the amendment was agreed to without a division. Thus without the existence of a single woman voter but on the strength of her coming into existence within the next few months, the women on the Municipal registers of Great Britain and Ireland were increased in number from about one million to over eight-and-a-half millions. And yet Lord Bryce and the other anti-suffragists assured us that the vote would make no difference!
In the House of Commons a third reading of the Representation of the People Bill was taken on December 7 without a division. The Bill was now safely through the Commons but its passage through the Lords had yet to be undertaken. The second reading debate began on December 17 and lasted two days. No one could predict what would happen; Lord Curzon, president of the Anti-Suffrage League, was leader of the House and chief representative of the Government. The Lord Chancellor [Lord Finlay], who is in the chair in House of Lords' debates, was an envenomed opponent. Among other influential Peers whom we knew as our enemies were Lord Lansdowne, Lord Halsbury, Lord Balfour of Burleigh and Lord Bryce. On the other hand we could count on the support of Lord Selborne, Lord Lytton, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, Lord Courtney and Lord Milner. We looked forward to the debate and the divisions in the Lords with considerable trepidation. The Lords have no constituents, they have no seats to fight for and defend. It is therefore impossible to influence them by any electioneering arts but we sent to all the Peers a carefully worded and influentially signed memorandum setting forth the chief facts and arguments in our favour. The second reading of the Bill was taken in the Lords without a division, the most important speech against it being Lord Bryce's; he insisted again and again that the possession of a vote made no difference. Lord Sydenham had the courage (!) to assert that the suffrage movement had made no progress in America, and, while admitting that it had lately been adopted in the State of New York, no doubt thought that he was giving a fair description when he said: "In America ... fourteen States have refused the franchise to women and two, Montanaand Nevada, have granted it. The population of the fourteen States is 43,000,000 and that of the two States is 500,000." (Twelve States had fully enfranchised their women.)
The real fight in the House of Lords began on Jan. 8, 1918, when the committee stage was reached. The debate lasted three days and on Clause IV, which enfranchised women, Lord Selborne made an extraordinarily powerful and eloquent speech in its favour. The House was filled and the excitement on both sides was intense. As we were sitting crowded in the small pen allotted to ladies not Peeresses in the Upper House on January 10th we received a cable saying the House of Representatives in Washington had accepted the Women's Suffrage Amendment to the Federal Constitution by the necessary two-thirds majority. This we hailed as a good omen. No one knew what Lord Sydenham thought of it! The most exciting moment was when Lord Curzon rose to close the debate. The first part of his speech was devoted to a description of the disasters which he believed would follow from the adoption of women's franchise but the second part was occupied by giving very good reasons for not voting against it. He reminded their Lordships of the immense majorities by which it had been supported in the House of Commons, by majorities in every party "including those to which most of your Lordships belong.... Your Lordships can vote as you please; you can cut this clause out of the Bill—you have a perfect right to do so—but if you think that by killing the clause you can also save the Bill, I believe you to be mistaken.... The House of Commons will return it to you with the clause re-inserted. Will you be prepared to put it back?..." Before he sat down Lord Curzon announced his intention of not voting at all, for the reason that if he had done otherwise he "might be accused of having precipitated a conflict from which your Lordships could not emerge with credit." The division was taken almost immediately after the conclusion of this speech. Both of the Archbishops and the twelve Bishops present voted for the bill. Our clause was carried by 134 votes to 71, and Women's Suffrage was, therefore, supported in the Lords by nearly two to one. The Lords inserted in it among other things Proportional Representation. It was on this and not on women's suffrage that the final contest took place when it wasreturned to the Commons, but at last the long struggle of \women for free citizenship was ended, having continued a little over fifty years. The huge majorities by which we had won in the House of Commons had afforded our ship deep water enough to float safely over the rocks and reefs of the House of Lords. The Royal Assent was given on Feb. 6, 1918.
The first election at which women voted was held on December 14. Our friends in the Speaker's Conference had aimed at producing a constituency numbering roughly about 10,000,000 men and 6,000,000 women. The actual numbers of both sexes enfranchised by the Act of 1918 turned out to be considerably in excess of this calculation. A Parliamentary return published in November, 1918, showed the following numbers of men and women on the register.
Men.12,913,166Naval and Military Voters3,896,76316,809,929Women.8,479,156Naval and Military Voters3,3728,482,528
At the annual Council meeting of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies held in March, 1918, its object was changed by formal vote. It was no longer necessary to concentrate on Women's Suffrage and we adopted as our object "To obtain all such reforms as are necessary to secure a real equality of liberties, status and opportunities between men and women." No change of name was made until the following year when a revised constitution was adopted and the name was modified in accordance with our present object. We have now become the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship and we hope that the letters N. U. S. E. C. will soon become as familiar and as dear to our members as N. U. W. S. S. were in the old days. At the same meeting I retired from the presidency and my friend and colleague, Miss Eleanor Rathbone, was elected in my place.
[216]In 1907 Acts of parliament for England, Wales and Scotland (and one for Ireland in 1911) made women eligible as members of Town, County, Burgh and Borough Councils and as chairmen of these bodies, including the right to be Mayors and Provosts, Aldermen and Baillies, with the limitation that women appointed to an office carrying with it the right to be Justices of the Peace should be incapacitated from so acting. These Acts though non-contentious in the party sense required fourteen years' strenuous work to secure their adoption as Government measures. This was achieved during Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman's premiership, the necessary legislation being announced in the King's Speech as part of the Government programme.
In 1918 the Qualification of Women Act for the United Kingdom made women eligible to the House of Commons. The Bill passed almost without opposition through both Houses and became law in the week ending November 16. As the General Election took place on December 14 there was little time for preparation, nevertheless, there were seventeen women candidates and one, the Countess Makievicz, a Sinn Feiner, was elected but refused to take her seat. The fact that her husband was a foreigner made it doubtful whether she would have been allowed to do so, though an Irishwoman by birth. In 1919 Viscountess Astor was elected for Plymouth.
In 1919 the Sex Disqualification Removal Act for the United Kingdom went some way but not the whole way towards the fulfilment of the pledge given by the Coalition Government of Mr. Lloyd George in December, 1918, "to remove existing inequalities in the law as between men and women." A much more complete bill had been introduced by the Labour Party early in the session, which passed through all its stages in the House of Commons notwithstanding Government opposition but was defeated in the House of Lords and the Government changeling substituted. This Act, though it did not give women the parliamentary vote on the same terms as men nor admit them to the civil service on equalterms, and though the clause specifically conferring on them eligibility to the House of Lords was cut out, contained, nevertheless, important provisions in the direction of equality. It allowed them to sit on juries, be Justices of the Peace, sworn in as police officers, enter the legal profession and made it possible for the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge to admit women to membership and degrees on equal terms with men.
The only important advance in education after 1900 was the throwing open to women by the Governing Body of Trinity College, Dublin, of degrees, membership and all privileges pertaining thereto in 1903. All the universities in the United Kingdom, with the exception of Oxford and Cambridge, have been for many years open to women and in November, 1919, a Royal Commission was appointed to enquire into their financial resources and into the administration and application of these resources. On the commission, Miss Penrose of Somerville College, Oxford, and Miss B. A. Clough of Newnham College, Cambridge, the women's colleges, were appointed as members. An Act of Parliament later enabled both universities to grant membership, degrees and all privileges to women. Oxford availed itself of these powers without delay. Cambridge in December, 1920, refused to do so by a large vote, but it will ultimately have to open its doors.
FOOTNOTES:[215]The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, J.P., LL.D., who has been prominently connected with the movement for women's suffrage in Great Britain for nearly fifty years and was President of the National Association from 1904, when it was re-organized, until after the victory was won in 1918.[216]Accompanying this chapter was a complete list of laws in the interest of women enacted by the Parliament beginning in 1902, prepared by Miss Chrystal Macmillan, M.A., B.Sc. The lack of space which has compelled the omission of similar laws from all of the State chapters makes it necessary in this one. Three of importance politically are given.—Ed.
[215]The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, J.P., LL.D., who has been prominently connected with the movement for women's suffrage in Great Britain for nearly fifty years and was President of the National Association from 1904, when it was re-organized, until after the victory was won in 1918.
[215]The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, J.P., LL.D., who has been prominently connected with the movement for women's suffrage in Great Britain for nearly fifty years and was President of the National Association from 1904, when it was re-organized, until after the victory was won in 1918.
[216]Accompanying this chapter was a complete list of laws in the interest of women enacted by the Parliament beginning in 1902, prepared by Miss Chrystal Macmillan, M.A., B.Sc. The lack of space which has compelled the omission of similar laws from all of the State chapters makes it necessary in this one. Three of importance politically are given.—Ed.
[216]Accompanying this chapter was a complete list of laws in the interest of women enacted by the Parliament beginning in 1902, prepared by Miss Chrystal Macmillan, M.A., B.Sc. The lack of space which has compelled the omission of similar laws from all of the State chapters makes it necessary in this one. Three of importance politically are given.—Ed.
In granting the complete franchise to a part of her women in 1918 Great Britain followed all of her self-governing colonies, which, with the exception of South Africa, had given the full suffrage on the same terms as exercised by men. New Zealand, Australia and Canada gave Municipal suffrage at early dates, extending from 1867 in New South Wales to 1894 in the Northwest Territories of Canada.
New Zealand was the first country in the world to give full suffrage to women, its Parliament in 1893 conferring the franchise on all persons over 21. In case of women, however, this did not include the right to sit in Parliament, and, although efforts to secure this right were made at intervals during all the following years, the bill for it several times passing the Lower House, they were not successful until 1919. The unvarying record has been that the registration and vote of women have nearly averaged those of men and in some instances have exceeded them. In the election of 1919 the registration of men was 355,000; of women, 328,320. New Zealand is noted for its advanced legislation.
In 1901 the six States of Australia federated in a commonwealth with a National Parliament and one of its earliest acts in June, 1902, was to confer the complete universal suffrage on women and eligibility to this body. About 800,000 women were thus enfranchised. This action had been preceded by the granting of the State suffrage by the Legislatures in South Australia in 1894 and in West Australia in 1899 and this was done in New South Wales in August, 1902. Women received the State suffragein Tasmania and Queensland in 1905, Victoria in 1908. South Australia was the only one that gave the right to sit in the Legislature with the State suffrage. This eligibility was not conferred until 1919 in New South Wales and Victoria; 1920 in West Australia and does not yet exist in Tasmania and Queensland. One must be a property owner to be a municipal voter or office holder.
Australia has largely substituted advanced legislation for women for the English Common Law. The statistics relating to the voting of women follow closely those of New Zealand. There never has been a proposal to take away the political privileges of women, which could be done by an Act of Parliament. On the contrary during the years when the contest for woman suffrage was being carried on in Great Britain its Parliament was more than once urged by that of Australia to grant it. In 1917, when the struggle was at its height, the strongest possible memorial was adopted by the National Parliament of Australia, which said:
Appreciating the blessings of self-government in Australia through adult suffrage, and appreciating the desire of Your Majesty's Government to vindicate the claims of the small nations to self-government, we are confident that Your Majesty will recognize the justice of the same claim in the case of the small nation of women in Your Majesty's kingdom—women who, in this great crisis in the history of the British Empire ... have proved themselves as worthy soldiers as those on the battlefield, and as worthy of the protection of the ballot, which is conceded to men.... We are deeply interested in the welfare of the women of the Empire and we again humbly petition Your Majesty to endow them with that right of self-government for which they have petitioned for nearly three-quarters of a century.
Appreciating the blessings of self-government in Australia through adult suffrage, and appreciating the desire of Your Majesty's Government to vindicate the claims of the small nations to self-government, we are confident that Your Majesty will recognize the justice of the same claim in the case of the small nation of women in Your Majesty's kingdom—women who, in this great crisis in the history of the British Empire ... have proved themselves as worthy soldiers as those on the battlefield, and as worthy of the protection of the ballot, which is conceded to men.... We are deeply interested in the welfare of the women of the Empire and we again humbly petition Your Majesty to endow them with that right of self-government for which they have petitioned for nearly three-quarters of a century.
The most prominent statesmen of Australia and New Zealand in their visits to Great Britain, Canada and the United States have given testimony as to the benefits of woman suffrage.
When Volume IV of this History was written in 1900 four pages sufficed for an account of woman suffrage in Canada. It was confined to a Municipal or School franchise or both in the Provinces for widows and spinsters, and in some of them married women were included. This privilege began in Ontario in 1884and the situation remained unchanged until 1916, when the World War, which brought the full enfranchisement of women in many countries, began to have its effect in Canada. For the large amount of valuable material from which the following brief résumé is made the History is indebted to Dr. Augusta Stowe Gullen, a leader of the woman suffrage movement. Its foundation was laid in 1878 and following years by the mother of Dr. Gullen, the pioneer woman physician, Dr. Emily Howard Stowe, a friend and contemporary of Susan B. Anthony[217]. Dr. Stowe was a founder and the first president of the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association, which secured many privileges for women.
The first woman suffrage society was organized in 1883 in the city council chamber of Toronto with the Mayor in the chair. Mrs. Donald McEwan was made president and other officers were Dr. Stowe, Miss Mary McDonnell and Dr. James L. Hughes, afterwards Inspector of Schools. Petitions were sent to the Dominion Parliament and bills presented but when in the late 90's the Electoral Act was changed to make the voters' list for its members coincide with the lists in the Provinces, the latter became in a large measure the battle ground, although the efforts for a national law were not discontinued. The movement for Prohibition had a strong influence in the granting of woman suffrage in the Provinces and it was hastened by the splendid war work of the women.
The first Provincial Legislature to enfranchise women was that of Manitoba, Jan 27, 1916. A convention of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union as early as July, 1902, passed a resolution to press the work for it and later in the year the Labor Party endorsed equal suffrage through its paper,The Voice, and its officers affiliated with the suffrage club. Dr. Amelia Yeomans was a devoted worker. In 1906 when there was a prospect that the Municipal vote would be taken away from married women property owners, the Liberal party convention made its retention a plank in their platform but the Conservative Legislature abolished it. In 1907 it was restored. In 1913 the women succeeded in getting a full suffrage bill before one Houseof the Legislature, which was defeated by 21 to 14 votes. The next year the Liberal Party pledged itself to give the complete franchise if it won the election. It did so and the women rolled up a big petition as a backing. Premier Norris and the Cabinet supported the bill. The Executive Board of the Political Equality League were invited to seats on the floor of the House the day of the third reading and the bill giving women equal suffrage and eligibility was passed amid great enthusiasm by unanimous vote.
The suffragists of Alberta began extensive work in 1910 to have the Municipal franchise possessed by widows and spinsters extended to married women and the agitation was continued to include the full suffrage. Following the example of Manitoba Premier A. L. Sifton announced on Feb. 24, 1916, before the Legislature opened, that the Government would introduce a woman suffrage bill of the widest scope. The bill passed in Alberta in March with the full approval of press and people and the suffragists met at once in the home of Mrs. Nellie McClung at Edmonton to arrange for taking up their new duties. Mrs. O. C. Edwards had been a ceaseless worker here and in Saskatchewan. In 1914 the first woman Judge in Canada, Mrs. Jamieson, president of the Local Council of Women of Calgary, was appointed by the Attorney General as Commissioner of the Juvenile Court. In February, 1918, two women, Mrs. L. M. McKinney and Miss Roberta McAdams, a Lieutenant on the staff of the Canadian military hospital in Orpington, Kent, were elected to the Legislature, the first women legislators in the British Empire.
In 1910 the women of Saskatchewan sent in petitions, some of them endorsed by city councils, asking Municipal suffrage for married women, but the Government refused it. In opening the Legislature on Mar. 14, 1916, Lieutenant Governor Lake said: "In future years the one outstanding feature of your program will be the full enfranchisement of women." The suffragists of the Province had been organized about five years and the president of the Franchise Board, Mrs. F. A. Lawton, had presented to Premier Scott a petition signed by 10,000 names to show that public sentiment was in favor of this action. He answered that he could give them a definite answer and, as he had already announced, their request would be granted. He said that althoughManitoba had been the first to give women the suffrage those of Saskatchewan would be the first to have a chance to use it. At an early and full meeting of the Legislature a number of members spoke in favor of it and it passed practically without opposition. In 1919 Mrs. M. O. Ramsden was elected to the Legislature.
In 1902 a petition for woman suffrage was presented to the Government in British Columbia and refused. Another effort was made in 1903 but the subject was not brought before the Legislature until 1906, when it defeated a bill. In 1908 it took away the Municipal franchise from women householders. The women's clubs in Victoria secured 1,000 names in three days protesting against this action. Mr. Naden, Liberal member from Greenwood, introduced a bill restoring it, supported by his party, but it was defeated. The Council of Women, at its November meeting, adopted a resolution "to do all in its power to promote the woman suffrage cause." It was the first Local Council in Canada to endorse this cause and later held two public meetings in its interest. In 1910 extensive work was done to regain the Municipal franchise. In 1911 nine important amendments to the very reprehensible laws concerning women and children were submitted to the Legislature by the Council through the Attorney General and one was passed. In the autumn the Political Equality Club was re-organized in Victoria, Mrs. Gordon Grant, president, and in December at a Provincial Conference in Vancouver she assisted in organizing one there; Mrs. Lashley Hall, president—later Mrs. C. Townley—and Miss Lily Laverock, secretary. The two societies organized a large deputation to wait upon the Attorney General and solicit better property laws for women, equal guardianship of children for mothers, the right taken away from fathers to dispose of their guardianship by will and other equally needed laws. They also memorialized the Legislature for the full Provincial suffrage for women. On Feb. 15, 1913, fifty women in the Province presented a petition of 10,000 names to the Premier, asking that suffrage on equal terms with men be given to women and on the 19th he answered that as a matter of Government policy it was impossible.
The agitation increased and continued until the full enfranchisement of women in the three great Provinces to the eastbrought the question to a climax. Even then, however, it was not allowed to be settled by the Legislature, as it had been in those Provinces, but on April 14, 1916, Premier Bowser stated that the Elections Act, which provided for allowing a vote to soldiers over 18, would include women and would be submitted to a referendum of the electors. This was done by the Legislature, which met May 31, and the election took place September 15. The amendment was carried by an immense majority in every district, about two to one, and later this was increased by the large favorable majority of the absent soldiers, who were entitled to vote. It went into effect March 1, 1917. The area of Canadian territory in which women were now enfranchised extended from Ontario to the Pacific Ocean. In 1919 Mrs. Ralph Smith, widow of the Minister of Finance, was elected to the Legislature and in 1921 she was made Speaker, the first instance on record.
The struggle for woman suffrage in Canada was now centered in the Province of Ontario, where it began in 1883, and it was largely carried on during much of the time by the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association, which had been incorporated in 1889. Dr. Augusta Stowe Gullen became its president in 1903, after the death of her mother, Dr. Emily Howard Stowe, and held it until 1911. While its principal object was the Dominion or National franchise for all women it was for years at the head of the effort for the Provincial suffrage in Ontario. In 1905, in connection with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, it organized a very representative deputation to wait upon the Premier to ask that the Municipal vote possessed by widows and spinsters be extended to married women. He said that 'neither he nor any other statesman had placed woman where she was; that the Infinite was at work and woman being a part of the Divine plan her place was assigned by a greater power.' In 1906 a deputation from the association, headed by Dr. Stowe Gullen, with Dr. Margaret Gordon and Mrs. Flora McDonald Denison as speakers, called on the Mayor and Council of Toronto and asked them to pass a resolution for the extension of this Municipal franchise. They did so and sent it by this deputation to the Legislature. As a result a bill for it was introduced and after a day's fun and sarcasm in the House it was defeated by 69 to 2.
In 1907 the Dominion Association at its annual meeting changed its name to the Canadian Suffrage Association. In 1908 it decided not to memorialize the Government but to make greater efforts to organize and for this purpose Mrs. Denison, vice-president and official organizer, visited Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. On March 24, 1909, the association sent a deputation of 1,000 of its members to the House of Parliament to ask for full suffrage for the women of Ontario. Dr. Stowe Gullen presented with a strong argument a petition which represented 100,000 names and many important organizations, among them the Women's University Clubs, Women Teachers' Association, Medical Alumnae of the University of Toronto, Progressive Club, Trades and Labor Council, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Dominion Temperance Association. There were prominent men and women speakers. Sir James Whitney, the Premier, answered adversely. The crowds were so great that Cabinet ministers could not gain admittance but all this demonstration resulted in no action. Allan Studholme, Labor member from East Hamilton, introduced a bill for woman suffrage, which was defeated.
In 1910 all the members throughout the Province were written to or interviewed by suffragists, but the woman suffrage bill of the labor members was defeated. Through the efforts of Mrs. Denison, Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst and Mrs. Philip Snowden of England came to Toronto and lectured in Massey Hall to immense audiences. Dr. Gordon attended the annual meeting of the National Council of Women in Halifax and presented a motion that "the Council place itself on record in favor of the enfranchisement of women." This was seconded by Dr. Rachel Todd in behalf of the Medical Alumnae, University of Toronto. After much discussion it was carried and this large and influential organization was brought into the movement. The Local Council of Toronto adopted a resolution to the same effect.
In 1911 the association organized another deputation to wait upon the Premier March 4, who were introduced by William Munns, the secretary. The bill introduced by Mr. Studholme, seconded by W. Proudfoot, Liberal from Center Huron after three days' discussion was lost. Before the Provincial electionsthe association sent a letter to all candidates and twenty-five answered that they would vote for woman suffrage if elected. In June Dr. Stowe Gullen resigned the presidency and Mrs. Denison was chosen in her place and Mrs. William Munns was elected secretary. Mrs. Denison, who was an ardent suffragist, an indefatigable worker and a fine organizer, edited a page in the TorontoSunday Worldeach week devoted to woman suffrage, which was of immeasurable value. She represented the association at the meetings of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Copenhagen in 1906 and in Budapest in 1913. This last year she organized a delegation and went with them to take part in the suffrage parade in Washington, D. C., March 3.
In 1912 three suffrage bills were introduced. A resolution was moved by Mr. Marshall, Liberal, from Lincoln, seconded by Mr. Bowman, Liberal whip, but no bill was passed. Bills were presented every year only to be voted down by the Conservative Government. N. W. Rowell, the Liberal leader, pledged the support of his party in a non-partisan measure but in vain.
In 1912 Mrs. Denison secured for a deputation an interview with Sir Robert L. Borden, Prime Minister of Canada, to ask that the Dominion Parliament should grant a national franchise to women. He stated the difficulties in the way, as the Election Act provided that the Provincial lists of voters were in force for the election of the members of the Dominion Parliament and if the Provinces did not first grant the suffrage to women the cost and work would be required of preparing new lists of the women voters. He said that each Province must enfranchise its women before the Federal Government could act and no Province had done so at this time.
In 1914 Dr. Gordon, president of the Toronto Suffrage Society, organized an influential deputation from its members which asked the city council to submit to the voters at the approaching local election the question of extending to married women the Municipal franchise now possessed by widows and spinsters simply to ascertain their opinion. This was done and the measure was carried by a majority of 13,713. During 1914, 1915 and 1916 Dr. Gordon sent a letter to the councils of the other cities, towns, villages and rural communities asking them to hold a referendumor to pass a resolution in favor of this extension and send it to the Government. The letters were followed by a successful campaign in the municipalities by the society. As a result 33 referenda were held, all giving favorable majorities, and about 160 other municipal governments memorialized the Ontario Legislature in favor. Dr. Gullen published an open letter describing these efforts. They had no effect on the Legislature nor did it make any concessions to the women even in the way of much needed better laws, for which they petitioned.
At the annual meeting of the Canadian Suffrage Association, October 30 Mrs. Denison resigned the presidency and Dr. Gordon was elected. On the 31st the members put on record the work of its beloved founder and one of the originators of the National Council of Women by presenting a bronze bust of Dr. Emily Howard Stowe to the city of Toronto. It was officially received by the Mayor and placed in the main corridor of Municipal Hall, the first memorial of this kind to any woman in Canada.
This year the National Council of Women took a firm stand and urged that each Province fully enfranchise its women and asked the Dominion Parliament to grant the Federal vote to women. In 1915 the Ontario society sent another deputation to the Legislature to ask for the Municipal franchise and reminded the Premier, Sir William Hearst, of the favorable verdict that had been given by the voters. He answered that "it had not been proved that the influence of women for good would be increased by the possession of the franchise." When asked if he would submit the question of their full suffrage to the voters of the Province he replied that this would mean only a vote by the men and he was most desirous to ascertain the wishes of the women! No attention was paid to either request. In 1916 the association again went to the Legislature with a petition but Mr. Studholme's bill was defeated. This year came the complete enfranchisement of women in all the Provinces between Ontario and the Pacific Ocean. The women of Canada had given their full share of the work and sacrifices demanded by the war for two years but in the Province of Ontario not the slightest recognition had been shown of their right to a voice in the Government.
The franchise societies and the W. C. T. U. canvassed thewhole Province, circulating a monster petition for the full Provincial franchise. A group of women in Toronto organized an Anti-Suffrage Association and called a public meeting at which the suffragists were denounced for "pressing their claims when all the thought and effort of the Government should be given to the demands of the war." Up to 1917 neither the Liberal nor Conservative party had shown the least favor to woman suffrage but now the former, which was out of power, made it a plank of its platform and its leader, N. W. Rowell, on February 20 at the opening of Parliament moved an amendment to the speech from the throne providing for the full enfranchisement of women in Ontario. It was declared out of order by Premier Hearst. A few days later J. W. Johnson of Belleville, a private member, introduced a bill for woman suffrage. On February 27 this bill was indorsed for the Conservative Government by Premier Hearst, who said: "Having taken our women into partnership with us in our tremendous task I ask, 'Can we justly deny them a share in the government of the country, the right to have a say about the making of the laws they have been so heroically trying to defend?' My answer is, 'I think not.'"
Thus without discussion this act of justice for which women had petitioned since 1903 was granted by a single word. Mr. Rowell and the Liberals united with the Conservatives and the bill was passed Feb. 27, 1917. Although passed by a Union Government it was largely due to the incessant efforts of the Liberal members in the past.
While in Quebec and a few of the small Provinces the suffrage was still withheld from women it now so largely prevailed that their national enfranchisement by the Dominion Parliament seemed the next inevitable step. During 1917 Sir Robert Borden made a visit to England and the war front. Although it was estimated that in some of the Provinces one man in every fourteen had enlisted, he returned fully convinced that "conscription" would be necessary and this would require a referendum to the voters. Quebec would vote solidly against it, as would certain elements in the other Provinces. A Fusion party was formed in the Parliament and under tremendous pressure a War Time Election Act was passed in September. It disfranchised duringthe war Doukhobors and Mennonites, conscientious objectors, those born in enemy countries not naturalized before 1902 and some others. It enfranchised certain women in all the Provinces and Yukon and the Northwest Territories, which send a member to the Parliament, in the following words: "Every female who, being a British subject and qualified as to age, race and residence as required of a male, is the wife, widow, mother, sister or daughter of any person, male or female, living or dead, who is serving or has served without Canada in any of the military forces, or within or without in any of the naval forces of Canada or Great Britain in the present war...."
It was estimated that this Act would enable about 600,000 women to vote when the question of "conscription" was submitted and leave about 1,000,000 unable to do so although having the Provincial franchise. It raised a storm of protest from those who were not included and who doubted that this arbitrary action would result in securing conscription. Sir Robert Borden had no doubts but based his faith on the belief that those women having relatives in the war would vote to compel other men to go and he said at the time: "We are now verging on the point at which women must be entitled to the same voice in directing the affairs of this country as men, and as far as I am concerned I commit myself absolutely to that proposition, but in working it out it is necessary to take into account certain considerations." With this concession the women had to be satisfied. The general campaign came on in November 1917, with "conscription" the issue on which the Government appealed for return to power. The election took place in December and the Union Government carried the four Western Provinces, Ontario and New Brunswick, receiving almost the full vote of the women. The Opposition carried Quebec, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
During the campaign the Premier several times pledged himself and his Government to equal suffrage for women and it was generally recognized that if they were re-elected this pledge would be redeemed at an early date. This action was urged by the Labor members. On Feb. 15, 1918, the Government announced the extension of the full suffrage to the women of Canada as a part of its policy and its consideration of the measure at theapproaching session of Parliament. Later the War Cabinet invited all of the large organizations of women in the Dominion to send representatives to a conference with the Government in Ottawa on March 1. There was a very large response and the delegates were welcomed by the Governor General, the Duke of Devonshire, with a tribute to the conduct of women during the war. The President of the Privy Council, N. W. Rowell, outlined the work of the Conference and the confidence felt by the Government in the continued assistance of women. They were assured by various members of the Government of the desire for their suggestions on all matters connected with the carrying on of the war. The conference lasted for a week and the women submitted their recommendations, the first of which was that women should be permitted to take a fuller share in the responsibilities of government. All of these were respectfully and cordially received by the members of the Cabinet.
The Parliament opened on March 18. The Duke of Devonshire read the speech from the throne to galleries crowded with women and said in the course of it: "A bill for extending the franchise to women, with suitable provisions respecting naturalization, will be submitted and commended to your consideration."
Sir Robert Borden introduced the bill March 21 and an extended discussion took place in the House on the 23rd. There was no real opposition, although the members from Quebec were not friendly, saying that it was not wanted there by men or women. Sir Wilfred Laurier favored woman suffrage but thought it should be conferred only by the Provinces. The Premier spoke at length in moving the second reading. It passed without division and again on the third reading April 12, 1918, when the full Parliamentary or Federal suffrage was conferred on every woman who fulfilled the following conditions: (1) Is a British subject; (2) is of the full age of 21 years or upwards; (3) possesses the qualifications which would entitle a male person to vote at a Dominion election in the Province in which the woman is seeking to vote, provided that a married woman or a daughter living at home with her parents shall be deemed to have any necessary property or income qualifications if her husband or either of her parents is so qualified. A woman is bannedif married to an enemy alien. This Act superseded the War Time Election Act.[218]The following year this Parliament passed an Act enabling a wife to retain her nationality.[219]
In New Brunswick in 1908, led by Mrs. Fiske, Mrs. Hathaway and Miss Peters, the suffragists memorialized the Legislature to extend the full suffrage to women but a bill for this purpose was defeated. In 1909 a bill to give it to taxpaying widows and spinsters passed the Upper House and after much discussion in the Lower House was postponed. In 1915 married women were included in the Municipal franchise possessed by widows and spinsters. These efforts were continued from year to year and finally after the Dominion franchise had been conferred, the Elections Act was amended by the Legislative Assembly on April 17, 1919, to confer complete universal suffrage on women.
On May 20, 1919, the Council of Yukon Territory amended its Election Law to read: "In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires, words importing the masculine gender include females and the words 'voter' and 'elector' include both men and women ... and under it women shall have the same rights and privileges as men."
Bills to give the full suffrage to women in Nova Scotia were many times defeated. In 1916, when all the western provinces were enfranchising their women, the Lower House of the Legislature passed a bill for it and later rescinded it on the excuse that it was not desired by the women. This put them on their mettle and they took action to convince the lawmakers that they did want it. The suffrage society was re-organized and a resolution was adopted by the executive board of the Local Council of Women and sent to every member of the Legislature. A joint independent committee was created with Mrs. Charles Archibald chairman and suffrage groups were formed within many organizations of women. All the members of the Government were interviewed and many promised support and the two Governmentnewspapers were favorable. Before the committee had time to put in a bill one was drafted by Supreme Court Justice Russell and introduced by R. H. Graham. The women filled the galleries at its second reading and it passed without opposition and was referred to the Law Amendments Committee, of which the Attorney General was chairman. It gave a public hearing and the women crowded the Assembly Chamber upstairs and downstairs and nine short speeches were made by women. The Premier and Attorney General said it was the best organized hearing and best presented case that had come before a House Committee in twenty-five years. The Bill was left with the committee with the assurance that it would be well cared for—and then it was postponed indefinitely! The excuse was that there had been no demand from the country districts! By another year, however, it was too late for such tactics and when Lieutenant Governor McCallum Grant opened the Legislature with the speech from the throne on Feb. 21, 1918, he announced that the electoral franchise would be given to women. The amended Franchise Act went through the Lower House without opposition; had its second reading in the Senate April 29 and the third May 3, and received the royal assent May 23. This added the State suffrage to the Federal, which had been conferred the preceding month.
Widows and spinsters in the Province of Quebec had Municipal and School suffrage from 1892. In 1903 in the city council of Montreal an amendment to the charter was moved to take it away. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union held several large public meetings to oppose such action addressed by prominent men. The press published articles and letters of protest and it was voted down. In 1910 the first suffrage society was formed in Montreal with Mrs. Bullock president. In 1914 a deputation of Montreal women presented a petition to the Premier, Sir Lorner Guoin, asking that women might sit on school boards and that the Municipal franchise be extended to married women. No action was taken. After the Federal Suffrage was granted in 1918 by the Dominion Parliament, which included the women of Quebec, a bill was introduced in its Legislature to grant them the Provincial franchise, which was voted down. Similar bills were defeated in 1918 and 1920 and Quebec remains the only Province inCanada where women do not possess the State franchise in addition to the National.
When the Provinces of Canada united in a Confederation Newfoundland was the only one that declined to enter it and remained independent. Therefore, when the Dominion suffrage was conferred by the Parliament in 1918 it did not include the women of this island. This was keenly felt by many of them and they made efforts to have its Legislature grant them the Provincial franchise but without success. In 1921 the Woman Suffrage League determined to make an organized effort and collected a petition of 10,000 names, representing every district, and presented it to the Legislature. From the first the Premier, Sir Richard Anderson Squires, was hostile and this was the case with most of the Cabinet, but Minister of Marine Coaker showed a friendly spirit; Minister of Justice Warren introduced the bill and Mr. Jennings, chairman of the Board of Public Works, agreed to bring it up for action. After the sending of many deputations to the Executive Members of the Government the women were astonished at being told one day that these members had held a meeting and it had been arranged that the Premier himself should introduce the bill as a Government measure. Seven went with Mr. Jennings by pre-arrangement to the Premier's office and meeting Mr. Coaker he said: "Your bill goes through all right, the Premier has his orders." Some provisions had been attached to the bill—non-eligibility to office, no voting power until the next general election and an age limit of 30 years. The Premier promised to have the Government reduce this to 25 and they were compelled to agree. Then he impressed upon them that the bill would go through as a Government measure, declaring: "I will pass it this session, whether the House closes in one month or three—what I say goes!"
Some time afterwards the women read in an account of the House proceedings that the Premier had said in answer to a question that the bill was not a Government measure. An official letter was at once sent from the Woman Suffrage League, reminding him of his promise, to which he made no answer.They obtained an interview with him at which he treated them very discourteously and denied all responsibility for the bill after its second reading. They could get no satisfaction from any member of the Government. The bill was not reported from the committee for weeks and when at last brought before the House in August it was turned over to a Select Committee of five, three of them pronounced anti-suffragists, and was not heard of again.
At the present time South Africa has the distinction of being the only English-speaking nation that has not enfranchised its women. There seems to have been some agitation for a vote by the Boer women in early days but a "movement" for it was definitely begun in 1895, when at the annual conference of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Cape Colony at Kimberley, woman suffrage was made one of their official departments of work. In 1902 a Woman's Enfranchisement League was formed in Durban, Natal, and in a few years one in Cape Town, Cape Colony, followed by others in seven or eight towns. In 1904 M. L. Neithling moved in the Legislative Council of Cape Colony a resolution to enfranchise widows and spinsters with the required property and educational qualifications, which was discussed but not voted on. In 1907 Dr. Viljoen presented one to extend the suffrage to women on the same terms as to men. The division showed 24 in favor of it, twelve from each party.
In 1909 the Enfranchisement Leagues of Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria united in sending four delegates to the International Woman Suffrage Alliance meeting in London. This year representatives of Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal and Orange Free State met in a national convention to prepare a constitution for the Union of South Africa and the suffrage leagues sent a numerously signed petition asking that it include the franchise of women. This was rejected and they were told to "await a more convenient season." The women were much aroused and early in 1910 the Women's Citizen Club of Cape Town and the Women's Reform Club of Johannesburg were formed. In the summer of 1911 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, accompanied by Dr. Aletta Jacobs, president of the National Association of The Netherlands, made a tour of 4,000 miles in South Africa, remaining 76 days. They were present when the delegates from eleven suffrage societies met and organized the Women's Enfranchisement Association of the Union of South Africa and it soon had twenty-two branches. The visits of the international president with the suffragists of the different localities gave them much courage and inspiration and thenceforth she was in close touch with them, conferring and advising.
The new association presented a monster petition to the Parliament in 1912 and Mr. Andrews of the Transvaal introduced a woman suffrage bill, which after two days' debate was defeated by 70 to 30 votes. In 1914 Mr. Wyndham's bill did not reach a vote. In 1917 Mr. Rockey's was defeated by 63 to 28. In 1918 a woman suffrage clause in the new Electoral Bill was defeated by 54 to 39. All this time the splendid service and sacrifice of the women during the long years of the war was being lauded, while St. Paul's definition of their "sphere" was being quoted as a reason for not giving them the suffrage.
In January, 1919, a conference took place in Cape Town and it was decided that the three suffrage associations unite immediately and form a standing committee of their parliamentary secretaries through which intensive work could be done with the Parliament. On April 1 Mr. Wyndham introduced the following motion: "In the opinion of this House the sex qualification for the exercise of the parliamentary franchise should be removed." It simply affirmed the principle but was strenuously debated without regard to party lines and finally carried by a vote of 44 to 42. No further action was taken. Mrs. Laura Ruxton, parliamentary secretary, attended the convention of the Government Party to present the question, addressed it and the resolution to put a woman suffrage plank in the platform was carried by 72 to 58. The Unionist, Labor and South African parties accepted it, the Nationalist Party alone refusing it. At a banquet in Bloemfontaine Premier Botha appealed to the Parliament, saying that in view of the great services of women during the war the men would be compelled to give them the franchise. He died soonafterwards and petitions from the most representative citizens then began to pour in upon his successor, General Smuts.
In 1920 Daniel McLaren Brown presented a resolution that in the opinion of this House the time has arrived when the right of voting for members of Parliament and the Provincial Councils should be extended to women. After a two days' debate it passed on May 3 by 66 ayes, 39 noes, a majority of 27 as against two a year before. Mr. Brown then introduced a bill conferring this right. A deputation of 500 women carried an immense petition for it to the Parliament and it passed first reading by 66 to 47. Although Premier Smuts had supported it as "a great and necessary reform" and promised it every chance he declined to make it a Government measure or give any facilities for second reading. Mr. Brown and his House Committee and the Hon. Secretary, Mr. Mullineux, worked valiantly for the bill but it got no further, although eight of the Cabinet ministers were in favor of it and the Government Party had endorsed it. It is the almost insurmountable objection to the colored vote which is the chief factor in preventing women's enfranchisement.
The Parliament of Rhodesia gave full State suffrage to women in April, 1919, and that of the British East African Protectorate in July, 1919. In both this carried eligibility to office and a woman was elected to the Parliament of Rhodesia in 1920. In several of the States women have the Municipal franchise and have been elected to the city council.
There has been remarkable progress in the enfranchisement of women in India, although it has been for the most part since 1920, with which this volume of the History closes. The Women's Indian Association ranks with other women's organizations in the British Dominions and has branches throughout the country. There are many political reform organizations and almost without exception they are willing to include women in any rights obtained. Increased opportunities for their education have been opened and there are hundreds of women university graduates. In several cities the limited municipal vote that men have is shared by women and they are eligible to the council. In 1917Great Britain announced that self-government would be given to the people of India and the Women's Indian Association and other agencies began a strenuous campaign to have women included. In 1918 the Women's Indian Association had suffrage resolutions introduced in many provincial conferences and national congresses of men and they were usually passed by large majorities. The British Parliament sent a committee to India to collect evidence as to the amount of franchise that should be included in the proposed Government Bill and distinguished men and women appeared before it in behalf of women, among them Mrs. Annie Besant, president of the National Home Rule League of India, which was strongly in favor of woman suffrage. Contrary to all the evidence the committee reported against it. Mass meetings of women in India were held in protest. In 1919 eminent women and men were sent to London to present the case to Parliament. They were cordially greeted by the British suffragists and given every possible assistance. A petition was sent to the Government of India Committee by the Women Citizen's Union of the British Dominions, where in all but South Africa women were now fully enfranchised.
All were in vain and woman suffrage was not included in the India Reform Bill but the question was left to the decision of the governing bodies that had been created. The women then had to begin campaigns throughout India, mass meetings, petitions, even processions and lobbying. In May, 1921, the Madras Presidency, one of the largest divisions of the country, gave the complete franchise to women and it was followed soon afterwards by the great Bombay Presidency, whose Legislative Council voted for it by 52 to 25, and by that of Burmah. Each State has its Legislative Council and a number of these have given the vote to women. The movement is active for it throughout India.