and occasionally as presidents of women's colleges. Many of the
higher educational institutions employed women deans to supervise
and advise the women students. Salaries for these positions were
seldom above $3,000 or $4,000, but occasionally the dean of women
held the rank of full professor and received a corresponding salary.
Many smaller cities employed women as superintendents of schools,
but in 1921 only one or two of the larger cities had engaged women
in this position. An increasing number of women were employed in
private schools either as teachers or principals, and often private
schools were owned and managed by women. Since 1900 particular
problems in education have been emphasized and women specialists
developed in such fields as manual training, recreation, kindergarten,
physical education, vocational training, and the education of the
blind, feeble-minded or subnormal.
Immediately following the World War an acute shortage of
teachers occurred, due to the large numbers drawn off into better^
paid positions. This exodus amounted almost to an " invisible
strike " for higher wages and became so serious that schools in
many places either closed entirely or were open for only half-day
sessions. A movement was started to establish a minimum salary
of $1,500 a year in order again to attract women to the profession,
but the wave of economy which spread over the legislative bodies in
1921 greatly impeded the efforts to raise the standard of teaching
and to secure better educational facilities.
Social Work. Since 1900 a remarkable increase occurred in the
numbers of women engaged in various forms of social service.
Women have of course been the traditional bearers of charity and
have long been connected with correctional work. But this was
largely in the form of volunteer service. With the greater develop-
ment of paid service, and the desire to treat causes rather than effects,
there developed a wide field of work and a large number of workers.
Social service was classified by the National Social Workers' Ex-
change as follows : (i) Social case work, dealing with individuals, as
church visiting, family case work, medical social service, probation,
protective and prison work, public health nursing and visiting, school
visiting, and employment exchange work, both public and private
(2) Social group work, including community-centre work, Ameri-
canization boys' and girls' club work, playground and recreation
work. (3) Social reform work dealing with people as a mass as
housing reform legislation, anti-tuberculosis work, and the promo-
tion of child hygiene. (4) Social research, comprising special in-
vestigations, research and statistical work including surveys and
exhibits. No fewer than 14 schools for the training of social workers
had been established by 1921 and the demand for women with proper
training usually exceeded the supply.
Civil Service. -Extensive opportunities for women are to be
found in civil service positions offered by city, state, and Federal
1042
governments. In 1920 about 200 cities, II states and the Federal
Government had adopted the competitive civil service plan. The
number of women employed in the civil service throughout the coun-
try could not be accurately ascertained but a conservative estimate
of those in the Federal service in 1920 placed the number at about
50,000 in the District of Columbia alone. During the first half of
the year 1919, examinations were held for 260 different types of
service with positions varying from that of charwoman at $240 a
year to a Federal Trade Commissioner at $10,000.
The plan of the classified civil service aims, on the whole, to give
equal opportunity to both sexes. But in practice women are often
discriminated against by the custom of excluding them from certain
types of service and also by permitting the heads of departments to
determine the sex qualifications both for examinations and for ap-
pointments. In the Federal Government service, where women were
admitted by statute in 1870 at the discretion of the head of the
department, the custom of giving preference to men had been so
powerful that in the civil service examinations held between Jan. I
and July I 1919 women were excluded from over 64% of the posi-
tions in scientific and professional services, from 86% of the posi-
.tions in the manufacturing and mechanical services and from 75 %
in the medical services. In the work of collecting information from
original sources only 4 out of 16 different kinds of positions were open
to women. Even the Federal Bureau of Efficiency and the Federal
Board for Vocational Education closed its examinations to women.
This policy of discrimination was deeply affected by the shortage
of labour during the World War, and the situation was partly rem-
edied when the Civil Service Commission, after an investigation
by the women's bureau of the Department of Labor, opened all
examinations to both sexes, but with the reservation that heads of
departments may specify which sex was desired. This latter provi-
sion will need to be modified before equal opportunity is completely
secured. There also exists in the Federal service serious discrimina-
tion against women in the matter of salary levels and in the classi-
fication of grades. During the first two months of 1919, for instance,
over 86 % of all women appointed received salaries ranging between
$900 and $1,300 a year, while only 36% of the men received these
salaries. The number of women receiving probational and temporary
appointments, in this same period, was about twice as great as the
number of men in the same classes. But efforts to remedy this situa-
tion are increasingly successful.
Positions most commonly open to women include those of ste-
nographer, secretary, librarian, statistician, editorial and clerical
worker. Many departments, however, require women with expert
technical training such as biologists, bacteriologists, chemists,
dietitians, linguists, draftsmen, doctors, nurses, directors for play-
grounds and recreation centres, and specialists in social welfare
such as child hygienists and factory inspectors. Public institutions
also offer opportunities for women in such positions as matrons,
supervisors, inspectors and in the more technical positions as physi-
cians or psychologists. Tenure of office based upon merit, often
with a pension upon retirement, is probably one of the most alluring
features in civil service work.
General. The entrance of women into many other professions
was given a special impetus during the war, including journalism,
advertising, commercial art and banking, where women were em-
ployed both as clerks and as officers and directors. Architecture,
interior decoration, landscape gardening and motion-picture work
attracted an increasing number of women. I n motion-pictures women
were not only actresses but also title editors, research workers,
readers and occasionally directors or even producers. The ex-
ceptionally large salaries of $25,000 and $50,000 were occasionally
reported, and a rare motion-picture director or a play broker was
said to earn $100,000 a year. It is apparent that women have en-
tered a very large number of professions exclusively held by men in
earlier years, and their success indicates that they are certain to re-
main and to carry important responsibilities. (I. O. A.)
WOMEN, LEGAL STATUS OF (see 28.784*). (i) UNITED
KINGDOM. The position of women in England was almost
revolutionized between 1910 and 1921. Very little actual change
in the law took place between 1882 and 1918, but beneath the
surface inevitable changes were impending, and the World War
brought about the outward change as probably nothing else
could have done. The parliamentary suffrage (see WOMAN
SUFFRAGE) was granted in the early summer of 1918 to all women
over 30 years of age whether single, married or widows; 1 and in
Dec. 1919 they were declared eligible for any office.
1 By the Representation of the People Act (1918) all the old
franchises were swept away. There are now three qualifications
for women as parliamentary electors under the Act: residential,
university, and as the wife of a local government elector. In her
own right a woman may qualify by residence in the electoral area
and may in addition have one or more university votes. As'the
wife of a local government elector she may also have a parliamentary
vote, but she may not vote more than once in the same election
nor for more than one ordinary constituency in a general election.
WOMEN, LEGAL STATUS OF
It may be taken as a general proposition that from the be-
ginning of the year 1920 onwards there has been no difference in
the legal position of men and women on account of their sex
throughout the United Kingdom, and since that time no woman
has been under any civil disqualification by reason of sex or
marriage. As far as property was concerned, even under the old
law, the non-married woman, whether spinster or widow, held
her property on the same terms as a man. She could buy and sell,
go to law and make her will just as a man could. The married
woman's position before the year 1882 was far different. It is
well stated by one who, though born in the United States, became
one of England's greatest lawyers, thus: " A married woman is
absolutely incompetent to enter into contracts, and has in the
contemplation of law no separate existence. She cannot make a
valid purchase on her own account even for necessaries, and
when credit is given to her there is no remedy but an appeal to her
honor " (Benjamin on Sales, 3rd ed., p. 32). All this has com-
pletely disappeared. The Married Woman's Property Act 1882
was a great step in advance, and the last remnant of the medieval
doctrine that for every purpose husband and wife were one per-
son (and that person the husband) disappeared in 1920 when they
were made capable of stealing from one another except when
living together. A married woman is now as capable of dealing
with her own property as a man is.
Married women (and of course all spinsters and widows) can
now make their wills and dispose of their property as they wish.
In England neither the husband nor the children have a right to
any part of it except in the absence of a will. In Scotland the
children have a legal share, on which they can insist on their
parent's death. A married woman is not obliged to ask her hus-
band's leave to make a will, nor need she make him executor or
leave him any part of her property, unless she wishes to do so.
Among wealthy people the married woman's position as to prop-
erty is of ten controlled by her marriage settlement. The provisions
are almost invariably the same, viz. that the capital of the prop-
erty is in the hands of trustees and the income goes to the wife, who
cannot anticipate it. On the death of the wife the husband
sometimes has the income for his life. If there are children the
capital is divided among them, generally in equal shares. If
there are no children or other descendants of the wife the property
goes back to the wife's relations, unless she disposes of it by will
as she can generally do.
It is, however, an irony that even in 1921, in respect of her
motherhood and the custody of her own children, the woman was
still inferior to man (see 14.514), and also as to inheritance she
was still not in such a good position as her husband or brother.
In case she does not make a will all her property except her land
goes to her husband, whereas if he dies intestate she only gets a
third of his property, or half if he has no children (see 14.568 and
In addition she has one university vote at a general election. To
qualify as a local government elector she must have (a) attained the
age of 21, be resident in the area on the last day of the qualifying
period (Jan. 15 or July 15), have occupied some land or premises in
the area for the whole of the qualifying period, or in the alternative
(ft) must have attained the age of 30 and be the wife of a man who
is entitled to be registered as a local government elector in respect
of the premises in which they both reside. To qualify as a parlia-
mentary elector she must have attained the age of 30 and must be
entitled to be registered as a local government elector in respect of ,
the occupation in the electoral area of land or premises of the yearly i
value of not less than 5, or of a dwelling house, however small the :
value, or be the wife of a husband entitled to be so registered. This
means that the husband must own land or premises in the area of the
yearly value of not less than 5. In all the above cases the women
must not be under any legal incapacity. A peeress in her own right
can be an elector and also a peeress by marriage. There are certain
offices, chiefly in Scotland, which if conferred on a woman would
incapacitate her as a voter. She must not be a lunatic, an alien or a
convict. The wife of a person serving in military or naval forces of
the Crown, who would if he were not so serving be entitledjo be
, is not disqualified. The wife of a " con-
registered as an elector,
scientious objector " is not disqualified.
In the case of a university vote the woman elector must be 3
years of age, and fulfil the same local conditions as a man elector,
or have passed the final examination and kept the period of resirlenc
necessary to qualify a man at the time when the university did not
grant degrees to women.
* These figures indicate the volume and page number of the previous article.
WOMEN, LEGAL STATUS OF
14.714). A very elaborate bill was in 1921 before Parliament
intended to give her an equal share with her brothers in her par-
ents' landed property.
The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act, 1919, provides that no
person (whether man or woman) shall be disqualified by sex or
marriage from the exercise of any public function, or from being
appointed to or holding any civil or judicial office or post or from
entering or assuming or carrying on any civil profession or vocation
or for admission to any incorporated society (whether incorporated
by Royal Charter or otherwise), and a person shall not be exempted
by sex or marriage from liability to serve as a juror. The word
" person " in English law includes woman as well as man. The Act
further provides (a) that His Majesty may by order in Council
authorize the admission of women to the Civil Service, and reserve
to men any branch of, or posts in, the Civil Service in H.M. pos-
sessions overseas or in any foreign country; (b) that any judge or
other person before whom a case is heard may in his discretion on
application (in both civil and criminal cases) by either party or at
his own instance make an order that the jury be composed of men
or women only, or may on her application exempt a woman from
service on a jury by reason of the nature of the evidence or issues
to be tried. Rules of Court have been made as to summoning jurors,
exempting women who are for medical reasons unfit to attend and
as to procedure. Section 2 provides for the admission of women as
solicitors. Section 3 enables any university to admit women to
membership or any degree notwithstanding any statute or charter
of such university. The Act overrides all previous statutes, orders
in council, royal charters or other provisions inconsistent with it,
and applies to the whole United Kingdom. 1
It will be observed that the qualification to hold office only applies
to civil life. Military and ecclesiastical offices are not open to women.
On the passing of the Act Viscountess Astor was almost immediately
elected to the House of Commons and took her seat as a member, and
women were appointed justices of the peace and began to serve on
juries. The contrast between the position of women in 1921 and 50
years earlier is certainly very striking. The unmarried woman, both
spinster and widow, was equally disqualified formerly from public
functions and offices, but she was in the same legal position as a man
for the purposes of contract and wrong-doing. In criminal law the
married woman as well as the single one has now the same position
, as a man with some trifling exceptions. The recent Larceny Act,
which codifies the law, finally makes it possible for the wife as well as
the husband to steal from one another when they are living apart,
or deserting, or intending to desert the other. Up to the last-men-
; tioned date the medieval conception that the husband and wife were
one person made it impossible for them to steal from each other,
just as it formerly made it impossible for one of them to give or
convey property to the other. All this is now abolished and, with
. the exceptions presently stated, a woman, even when married, must
. be treated in law as a man. This is not however the case with
military or ecclesiastical law. A woman is not liable to serve in the
forces of the Crown, and she cannot in the Church of England or the
Church of Rome be a priest or hold such ecclesiastical offices as are
1 held by men. She is also subject to her husband in ecclesiastical
' law, and they are regarded for many purposes as one person. She
is also by the law of marriage regarded as under the authority of her
husband. Her duty is obedience in all things not sinful. The
husband has a right to her custody and control. She must live in the
bouse he appoints and sleep with him if he wishes it. She has no
emedy except to leave him, and if she does so for such a reason he
s not bound to support her. He cannot however legally prevent
icr from leaving him (Jackson v. Jackson 1891). She cannot get
lamages from him for imprisonment (Tinkley v. Tinkley 1908).
The wife can obtain a maintenance order from a magistrate
f she separates from her husband on the ground of his assault on
icr, or his desertion. Orders made abroad can now be enforced in
England, and, if made in England, can be enforced against the
.usband abroad. Maintenance for the children can also be obtained
:p to los. per child (Married Woman Maintenance Act 1920).
In England until the Act of 1874 (36 and 37 Viet. c. 12) the father
/as the sole guardian of the children of any marriage and was en-
itled to the sole custody and control of them. The mother had no
:gal rights whatever. By an Act of Charles II. (1660) the father
'as given the sole right to appoint a guardian or guardians of his
hildren to act after the father's death so long as they are under
nty-one. By the Guardianship of Infants Act (1886) the mother,
urviving, is the guardian of each child either alone, when no
clian has been appointed by the father, or jointly with the
dian appointed by him. The mother may also appoint a
dian to act after her own and the father's death. Subject to
: confirmation by the Court she may also appoint a guardian to
: with the guardians appointed by the father. By Section 5 the
Vomen who wish to be solicitors should apply to the Incorporated
' Society, Chancery Lane, W. C. 2, or barristers to the Benches
he Temple, E. C., or Gray's Inn or Lincoln's Inn, W. C. Nurses
1 midwiyes are under the Ministry of Health. There are penalties
using either title without registration.
1043
Court may make such order as it thinks fit regarding the custody of
the child and the right of access thereto by either parent " having
regard (a) to the welfare of the child, (6) the conduct of the parents,
and (c) the wishes as well of the father as of the mother." This statute
however has been interpreted by the judges to mean that where the
father's wishes and the mbther's were opposed the father's wishes
must prevail. By the Guardianship of Infants bill (1921) the above
Act would be wholly repealed. The father and mother in future and
for all purposes would be joint guardians, and have joint custody, and
have " equal authority, rights and responsibility with regard to every
legitimate child, any former rule of law or equity to the contrary
notwithstanding." The father and mother would be jointly and
severally liable for the maintenance and education of the child ac-
cording to his or her means on the application of either the father
or mother or any other person acting as next friend. Their executors
would also be liable. .
There is an old saying that lawyers are divided into two classes:
those who think man is made for the law and those who think the law
was made for man. It is the first class that makes the law unpopular;
but it should be remembered that when husband and wife quarrel
about their children the task of the judge is a very difficult one.
The most difficult case is where they differ in religion. It has been
laid down (Agar-Ellis case 1878) that the child must be brought up
in the religion of the father. In this case he was a Roman Catholic
and had not been guilty of misbehaviour. It was decided that the
children must not be brought up by their mother on the ground
that she might make them Protestants; if the father had been a
Protestant' and the mother a Roman Catholic she would have
been deprived of her children on the same grounds. It was further
laid down that no promise by the father before marriage as to the
education of his children can be enforced after marriage, as he has a
right to alter his mind. The last named decision might well be re-
versed by statute. In the case of property the husband's agreement
before marriage can be enforced, and it seems unjust not to enforce
his agreement as to the children. But in cases where the father and
mother are of different religions and no promise has been given, it
makes the judge's task a difficult one. Hard cases make bad law,
and the difficulty lies, not with the judges, but in the real tragedy of
these disagreements. (R. TH.)
(2) UNITED STATES. Although the legal emancipation of
women was far advanced in the United States at the end of the
igth century, three things were yet incomplete: (i) full recogni-
tion and securing of the individual interests of women in the
domestic relations, which were often left unsecured legally be-
cause of survival of doctrines or institutions coming down from a
state of society in which all women were dependents, and were
normally under a sort of guardianship; (2) full logical develop-
ment of the legal capacity of married women and doing away with
the remnants of their common-law disabilities, already long
abrogated for the most part in the United States, but surviving
here and there in curious local anomalies; (3) legal taking ac-
count of the facts of women's physical constitution in their rela-
tion to wages and hours and conditions of labour in industry, and
securing of the social interest in the individual life of women by
adequately protecting them in these connexions.
With the progressive breaking down of the legal conception of
the household as an entity ruled from within by a head, and as an
agency of social control, it becomes necessary to give legal recog-
nition and protection to individual interests of women in the do-
mestic relations, which at common law were supposed to be se-
cured through the internal economy of the household, or were
left unsecured in view of a paramount social interest in the house-
hold as a social institution. Summarily, these may be put as
parental interests interests of women in the relation of parent
and child, and marital interests interests of women in the rela-
tion of husband and wife.
Parent and Child. At common law the father was entitled to the
custody of his minor child and the mother had a right to custody
only after the father's death. In form this still stands in the books as
law, but in substance there has been a complete change within a
generation. Equity long ago refused to give effect to the father's
common-law right of custody as against the interest of the child, and
by taking the equitable doctrine of regard for the interest of the
child over into the law, the courts have been able to put father and
mother upon an equality for practical purposes in almost all juris-
dictions. Yet the common-law doctrine remains theoretically in
force in the absence of legislation, and legislation halts. One de-
cision as late as 1905 holds that as between father and mother, the
former has a legal right to control the religious training of the
children. (Hernandez v. Thomas, 50 Florida Reports, $22, 536.)
Husband and Wife. Marital interests of women include claims
against the world at large growing out of the relation of husband and
1044
WOMEN POLICE
wife, and claims of wives against husbands because of that relation.
As interests of personality a wife has claims to the society of her