are employed as assistants or directors. Furthermore, India possesses 11 medical colleges, which in 1892 contained 261 women students.1 At the University of Edinburgh, during 1896, 188 women students matriculated; of these 176 were enrolled in the faculty of arts, 3 in the faculty of science, 6 in the faculty of medicine, and 3 in that of music. Moreover, there were 54 nonmatriculates who paid the 5-shilling entrance fee-the majority for attendance on the music classes-while 68 women medical students were attending the extra-mural lectures with a view to graduation in medicine. In this connection it is interesting to note that the first woman-Miss Martha Thomas-who competed for a scholarship in the department of arts at the University of Durham was successful. From Mexico comes the statement that "Miss Columba Rivera has been licensed as a practicing physician, and appointed to the women's ward of San Andres Hospital. She is the first woman in Mexico to obtain such a position, after having studied medicine for four years and passed her examinations with great credit." In Cuba the University of Havana has been open to women for fifteen years. In 1887 the degree of Ph. D. was given to a woman, and in 1889 Laura Carvajal received an M. D. degree and has distinguished herself as an oculist. Several Cuban women are pharmacists.3. Law. The "femme-avocat" of European countries is discussed by Dr. Louis Frank, of the faculty of law of Bologna, who is advocate at the court of Brussels. From this source important data were gathered for the statement concerning women in the legal profession in the Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1894–95, and reference is made to that chapter for information regarding women law students in foreign countries. A statement may be made that while liberal careers are open to women abroad, the profession of advocate is generally inaccessible to them. Roman law forbade women to act in a court of justice for the benefit of others, although she might do so for her own benefit. The law, according to Justinian, forbade any woman to hold office, to be a judge, or in any way to qualify herself for any socalled virile position. Laws and customs did not permit either women or slaves to fill "des offices viriles." When in Italy and Belgium efforts were made to enter the legal profession the refusals were based upon Roman laws. Canonical laws reiterated the same objections as were presented in the ancient Roman laws, while the common law dwelt upon the incapacity of woman to fulfill the functions of an advocate. Philippe de Beaumanoir lays stress upon the old Roman laws against woman as advocate, while M. Boutillier cites as incapacitated from such position "minors, deaf, blind, ecclesiastics, sergeants, and women." In France, in 1327, an ordinance of February 13 considered the advocate a publie official equally with the judge and procurator, but did not authorize women to hold such position, women not being admitted to plead in any jurisdiction; in the seventeenth century the president of the council at Metz admitted that women were capable of being admitted to plead.5 As early as 1807—in fact, under the old régime-there were women who plead for themselves in France. The European law courts have invariably refused women authority to act as advocate, and in so doing they have based such refusal upon Roman and canonical laws; they have thought only of Gaius, Tertullian, St. Jerome, Tiraquellus, Two women doctors have been specially honored by the India Office. Dr. Margaret Marion Traill Christie, M. D., and Dr. Alice M. Corthven, M. B., have been appointed to look after the hospitals for native women in Bombay, specially in connection with the bubonic plague. Dr. Alice Corthven at present holds the office of demonstrator of physiology at the London School of Medicine for Women. 2 In the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women every student sent to the university during the year 1896-97 has passed a record probably unprecedented in the annals of any other school. Five women received caps at the graduation ceremony, and were enthusiastically greeted by their fellowstudents and the audience. 3 La Femme-Avocat, pp. 123–124. 4 Essai sur la condition politique de la femme, par Louis Frank. Paris, 1892, pp. 282-301. M. Mathieu Augeard, Arrests notables de différents tribunaux du Royaume, tome 1, p. 362. Luther, and Bossuet,' forgetting that there has been a march of improvement within the last few hundred years. The few women in Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland who have fitted themselves for the position of lawyer have had much to contend with, and whenever they have songht official sanction to fill public positions a refusal has been the general outcome of such demand. Yet there are said to be 37 of the United States which admit women to the bar, and permission to plead before the United States Supreme Court is assured. In the German-speaking countries conditions differ as to women lawyers. In Germany, women not being admitted regularly to university studies can not claim registration as lawyers; in Austria the law faculties are closed to them; in Switzerland, however, where there is no federal legislation regarding the legal profession, there are cantonal regulations; 2 in Neuchâtel women are permitted to plead before the tribunals; in Geneva and Zurich only citizens3 have had the liberty to practice as lawyers, but since July 3, 1896, enactments have taken place which permit (in Zurich canton) any person to practice law who has the "capacité civile de contracter;" women, however, must have the consent of their husbands. In Appenzell, R. E., Mlle. Graf (doctor of law of the University of Berne in 1895) practices her profession in that Canton. The admission of women to university privileges in Hungary (decree of November 18, 1895) will eventually bring them into the legal profession. In 1888 Mile. Popelin, who had followed the course in law in one of the universities of Belgium, endeavored to enter upon a career as lawyer, but the courts decided against her. In the early nineties this subject was again discussed, but (although in 1893 the court of appeals at Brussels decided, by vote of 3 to 2, that the profession of advocate might be opened to women) it was decided at the general assembly of lawyers of that city (on April 30, 1894) "qu'il n'y avait pas lieu de rendre accessible aux femmes la profession d'avocat." In the Netherlands the admission of women to the courses in the universities naturally leads to a discussion of her opportunities for a legal career. The decree of September 13, 1838, in regard to regulations for lawyers, modified by decrees of December 5, 1844, of December 17, 1875, and of June 1, 1879, did not touch upon the subject of woman's admission to the bar, but it is generally conceded that if she receives the degree of LL. D. (docteur-en-droit) she will be permitted to follow that profession. The decision of the court of appeals in Turin, November 14, 1883, and of the court of cassation of the same city, April 18, 1884, which forbade a woman following the profession of advocate, has not yet been changed. When the subject came up for discussion in other cities of the Kingdom of Italy, it was decided that there was no occasion for a change of opinion. No difficulty was found in Roumania in giving Mlle. Sarmisa D. Bilcesco (doctor of law of the faculté of Paris) admission to the bar in Bucharest. The council of the order of advocates decided the matter unanimously and without discussion on June 26, 1891. Mlle. H. Popovitz, licentiate in law, of Bucharest, is the second woman lawyer in Roumania.7 In Russia there has been no special call for a decision regarding women in the legal profession. Generally speaking, women are excluded from university courses, and in 1876 they were forbidden to enter upon the profession of law. However, a Russian governmental commission of 1897 discussed the subject of the imperial ukase of 1876 and decided that women should be authorized in justice to exercise the profes Essai sur la condition politique de la femme, par Louis Frank, pp. 299-301. 5 Opinion of M. Aug. Philips, one of the most eminent la yers of Holland. 'Ibid., p. 120. sion of "agent d'affaires assermenté." In the Grand Duchy of Finland the lawyer's profession is absolutely free to all, and, although the Government has taken no special action regarding the position of women in this profession, there were 14 young women studying law at the university in Helsingfors in 1897. In 1895 Fröken Signe Silen appeared before the tribunals in a law case, and she has also plead before the Finnish senate. In the Viborg district Fröken Anna Akesson defended a case in the "Häradshöfding" or district court, as authorized by the magistrates of that district. In Denmark a law of 1868 gave women the power to defend their own cause before courts and tribunals, but unless it was a question of honor or life in their own family they were not permitted to plead before the supreme court. A royal decree of June 25, 1875, admitted women to university privileges, and women who had passed the examen artium were allowed to go up for the complete juridical examination, which, however, gave them no right to hold public office (nomination publique). A royal decree of May 12, 1882, permitted women to pass an "incomplete" examination in law, but with no authorization to fill a lawyer's position. Notwithstanding the adverse attitude of the Danish authorities toward women in the legal profession, Mlle. Nanna Berg, having passed the juridical examination, has several times endeavored to practice before the courts, but so far without success. In Norway and Sweden women are allowed to act as advocates. Admitted in the former country to university privileges in 1884, a woman claimed admission to the bar (after due examination) in 1890. In 1895 the Storthing at Christiana unanimously permitted women to have the same privileges of legal practice as are accorded to men. In Sweden university privileges were accorded to women in 1870, and it has generally been conceded that she had the right to plead in provincial courts.3 The success of a woman law student at Upsala and the favorable attitude of the rector of that university toward women who desired to practice before all courts, led to discussions of the subject. After the pros and cons were duly considered, a committee of the Riksdag placed the matter so clearly before the senate that on April 24, 1897, by acclamation, woman's position was made such that she can study, teach, and practice law--an important beginning for still more widely extended powers, which will come in due time.1 From India comes information of the success of Miss Cornelia Sobraji, who took the degree of B. C. L. at Oxford about three years ago as a barrister, not only in the native but in British courts. At first she only practiced in the former, but in July, 1896, she was intrusted with the defense in a murder case, tried at Poona, in a British court. As usual in such trials, where all the witnesses are natives, much false evidence was offered. Miss Sobraji, who had faith in her client's innocence, conducted the case with great ability and secured a verdict of acquittal after the jury had deliberated twenty minutes. It is stated that the lady barrister received many congratulations on the result of her forensic ability." In Canada Miss Clara Brett Martin received notification in December, 1896, that she might present herself on February 2, 1897, to be admitted to the Ontario bar. Miss Martin, who is the first lady to select this profession in Canada, purposes making an especial study of law as it relates to woman, concerning her individual responsibilities, her estates, her children, her citizenship. Her efforts are described in the Canadian Home Journal: It is six years since Miss Martin, having taken her B. A. degree, notified the benchers of her desire to enter as a law student. The leading senators took nine months to consider the matter and then 'notified the young lady that they had not La Femme-Avocat, pp. 115-120. 2 Ibid., pp. 97-99. Angaænde Kvinders Adgang til Ansættlse i offentlige Stillinger, 1896. 4 La Femme Avocat, par Louis Frank, pp. 100-105. 5 Die Frauenbewegung, Iten März 1897; Deutsche Hausfrauenzeitung, den 2ten Mai 1897, and La Femme-Avocat, p. 97. the power to grant her request, since the regulations did not admit the enrollment of wonien. Nothing daunted, Miss Martin began working among the members of the Ontario parliament, and succeeded so far that in 1892 a bill permitting benchers to admit women was brought in and carried by a majority of 1. Next came the difficulty of finding a firm that would take her as articled clerk. That was accomplished in 1893, when she entered the office of Messrs. Mulock, Miller, Crowther & Montgomery. But the bill of 1892 permitted women to practice as solicitors only, which would limit their work and prevent them from pleading before a judge in high or county courts. Miss Martin desired full barristership. The legislature being again approached, a majority of 37 authorized the benchers to call women to the bar as full-fledged barristers. Miss Martin was ready, but the benchers were not. They postponed, discussed, and argued behind closed doors. Miss Martin enlisted the active service of many sympathizers, and her case came up seven times during the last six months of the year and was at last decided as above stated. WOMEN IN INDUSTRIAL WORK. The efforts which have been made by women to enter upon practical occupations, or to so train themselves that when necessity offered they could compete with men in the industrial world, have led to the establishment of schools intended more especially for practical rather than intellectual avocations. A presentation of the subject of technical and industrial study has been made by Marion Mulhall,' from the English standpoint, and by Professor Joynes,2 from the American point of view. These statements, dealing with schools on the continent, are prefaced by a short résumé of the general condition of women in the industrial world, as viewed by Helen Campbell.3 Mrs. Campbell states that The history of women as wage-earners, though actually comprised within the limits of a few centuries, would, if given in full, mean a summary of the whole history of working humanity. The position of working women all over the civilized world is still affected not only by the traditions, but the direct inheritance from the past, and thus the nature of that inheritance must be understood before passing to any detailed consideration of the subject under its various divisions. It is the conditions underlying history, and rooted and grounded in the facts of human life itself, which we must know, since from the beginning life and work have been practically synonymous, and, in the nature of things, remain so. Up to the time of the civil war, aside from factory employments, the trades open to women were limited, and the majority of their occupations were still carried on at home, or with but few in numbers, as in dressmaking establishments, millinery, and the like. With the new conditions brought about at this time and the vast number of women thrown upon their own resources came the flocking into trades for which there had been no training and which had been considered as the exclusive property of men. A surplus of untrained workers at once appeared, and this and general financial depression brought the wage to its lowest terms; but when this had in part ended, the trades still remained open. At the close of the war some hundred were regarded as practicable. Ten years later the number had more than doubled, and to-day we find over four hundred occupations, while, as new inventions arise, the number of possibilities in this direction steadily increases. The gain of women in trades in 1880 over the census of 1870 was 64 per cent, the total percentage of women workers for the whole country being 49. The ten years just ended show a still larger percentage, and many of the trades which a decade since still hesitated to admit women are now open. Those regarded as most peculiarly the province of men received many feminine recruits. * * So far as opportunity is concerned, it is the United States only that offers a practically unlimited field to women workers, to whom some four hundred trades and occupations are now open. Comparison with other countries is, however, essential if we would judge fairly of conditions as a whole, and thus we turn first to that other English-speaking race and the English worker at home. In 1861 the returns gave for England and Wales 1,024,277 women at work. Twenty years later the number had doubled, half a million being found in London alone. This does * 料 1 Extracts from "Girls' Technical Schools on the Continent," in Contemporary Review, July, 1896, PP, 136-143. 2 See accompanying report by Edward S. Joynes. *Extracts from "Women-Wage Earners: Their Past, their Present, and their Future," in Arena, January, February, May, 1893. not include all, since, as Mr. Charles Booth notes in his recent Labor and Life of the People, many employed women do not return their employments. Outside of the cities, where the needle is almost the sole refuge of the unskilled worker, every industry is invaded. A recent report as to English nail and chain workers shows hours and general conditions to be almost intolerable, while the wage averages 8 pence a day. In the mines, despite steady action concerning them, women are working by hundreds for the same rate. In short, from every quarter comes in repeated testimony that the majority of working English women are struggling for a livelihood; that a pound a week is a fortune, and that the majority live on a wage below subsistence point. Statistics presented in 1892 show that out of 19,352,000 artisans in France there are 4,415,000 women who receive in wages or dividends nearly $500,000,000 a year. Their wage is much less in proportion to the work they do than that of men, yet they draw 35 per cent of the entire sum spent in wages. In Paris alone over 8,000 women are doing business on an independent footing, and of 3,858 suits judged in 1892 by the Workingman's Council, 1,674 concerned women. * * * Passing to Germany, a good two-thirds of the women are at work in field or shop or home, the proportion of women in agriculture being larger than in any other country of Europe. It may be said that till recently legislation in Prussia has been in behalf of child workers, and women have been practically ignored; but factory legislation is minute and extended, and the questions involved in the labor of women, and its bearing on health, longevity, etc., are now coming under consideration. In Silesia, as early as 1868, women were excluded from the salt mines, and the Labor Congress of 1889 brought about many changes of the laws on this point for Belgium and Germany. In Italy, in which country industrial education is now receiving much attention, the labor of women, continuous, severe, and underpaid as it is known to be, finds small mention save among special students of social questions. Russia has practically no data from which judgment can be formed. This subject has been treated quite in extenso of late years by different writers on sociological questions; but it is only to our purpose to-day to refer to conditions in the industrial world, and to call attention to what may be considered as the next phase of the subject, i. e., the technical and industrial schools for girls on the Continent, which, treated by different writers, give indications how industrial occupations are filled. Marion Mulhall says:' The technical instruction of girls has simultaneously taken a front rank in the municipal cares and duties of almost every town and city in such a manner as to astonish any woman who feels sufficient interest in female work to induce her to study the systems in their various stages. Thirty years ago the schools alluded to were unknown; to-day they are counted by the hundred in all the kingdoms of central Europe. Formerly the public authorities paid little heed to the instruction of girls beyond seeing to their moral and religious training and teaching them needlework. It is now admitted on all sides that girls should also be taught to earn their bread in an honorable and suitable occupation, and, above all, that they should be well trained in domestic economy. * * There are two kinds of schools in Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, and Hungary-the head schools and the hand schools. They are both under the same roof, and the pupils attend for three hours at one of the schools and three hours at the other; in other words, half the day is given to ordinary education and half to whatever trade or profession the girl has chosen in which to earn her bread. When a girl leaves these schools she is able to command a fair salary, thus avoiding the dangers of apprenticeship in the ateliers. These schools are found so useful that in most cities and towns two-thirds of the expenditure is defrayed out of municipal funds and onethird by the national treasury, the fees charged being only nominal. First come Les Écoles Ménagères, or housekeeping schools; secondly, Ecoles Professionnelles des Jeunes Filles, or handwork schools for girls. The handwork school for girls at Amsterdam is not only the oldest, but also one of the finest of the kind in Europe. It was founded by private subscription in 1865, and is lodged in a fine building close to the botanical garden. It is intended for the daughters of the bourgeoisie, or shopkeepers, but any girl over 12 years of age is admitted if she can pass the preliminary examination in reading, writing, arithmetic, and drawing. A small fee is charged and the course is one of three years, the principal classes being for drawing, leather work, wood carving, dressmaking, millinery, plain needlework, artificial flowers, and lace. New occupations, such as typewriting, telegraphy, etc., are constantly added. There are more than two hundred girls, all Extracts from "Girls' Technical Schools on the Continent," by Marion Mulhall, Contemporary Review, July, 1896, pp. 136–143. |