Portugal is smaller than Spain; its finances are in better condition; therefore the compulsory education law (introduced in 1896) is better enforced. As yet there are no public high schools for girls; but there are a number of private schools that prepare girls for the university entrance examinations (Abiturientenexamen). The universities admit women. Women doctors practice in the larger cities. The women laborers are engaged chiefly in the textile industry; their wages are about two thirds of those of the men.
THE LATIN-AMERICAN REPUBLICS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA[96]
The condition prevailing in Mexico and Central America is one of patriarchal family life, the husband being the “master” of the wife. There are large families of ten or twelve children. The life of most of the women without property consists of “endless routine and domestic tyranny”; the life of the property-owning women is one of frivolous coquetry and indolence. There is no higher education for women; there are no high ideals. The education of girls is generally regarded as unnecessary.
There are public elementary schools for girls,—with women teachers. The higher education of girls is carried on by convent schools, and comprises domestic science, sewing, dancing, and singing. In the Mexican public high schools for girls, modern subjects and literature are taught; the work is chiefly memorizing. Technical schools for girls are unknown. Women do not attend the universities. Women teachers in Mexico are paid good salaries,—250 francs ($50) a month.
Women are engaged in commerce only in their own business establishments; and then in small retail businesses. The rest of the workingwomen are engaged in agriculture, domestic service, washing, and sewing. Their wages are from 40 to 50 per cent lower than those of men. The legal status of women is similar to that of the French women. In Mexico only does the wife control her earnings. Divorce is not recognized by law, though separation is. By means of foreign teachers the initiative of the people has been slightly aroused. It will take long for this stimulus to reach the majority of the people.
SOUTH AMERICA[97]
In South America there are the same “patriarchal” forms of family life, the same external restrictions for woman. She must have an escort on the streets, even though the escort be only a small boy.
Just as in Central America, the occupations of the women of the lower and middle class are agriculture, domestic service, washing, sewing, and retail business. But woman’s educational opportunities in South America are greater, although through public opinion everything possible is done to prevent women from desiring an education and admission to a liberal calling. Elementary education is compulsory (often in coeducational schools). Secondary education is in the hands of convents. In Brazil, Chili, Venezuela, Argentine Republic, Paraguay, and Colombia, the universities have been opened to women. As yet there are no women preachers or lawyers, although several women have studied law. Women practice as physicians, obstetrics still being their special field.
The beginnings of a woman’s rights movement exist in Chili. The Chilean women learn readily and willingly. They have proved their worth in business and in the liberal callings. They have competed successfully for government positions; they have founded trade-unions and coöperative societies; many women are tramway conductors, etc. In all the South American republics women have distinguished themselves as poets and authors. In the Argentine Republic there is a Federation of Woman’s Clubs, which, in 1901, joined the International Council of Women.