The Woman and the Right to Vote

by Rafael Palma

We need not imitate the older nations who have been so slow in recognizing women's rights. We have neither their traditions nor their prejudices and our progress need not come by slow revolutions. We must foster all those peaceful revolutions of ideas that will result in social justice. Just as we accept the latest inventions in mechanics, industry, and art, such as the automobile, the dynamo, and the aeroplane, so must we accept the latest improvements in the social and political institutions of the most advanced countries.

Female suffrage spells justice and vindication for the modern woman and we must adopt it forthwith, without unnecessary delay and formalities. The liberty of worship which gave us religious tolerance; the popular suffrage which strengthened our collective conscience; the free public school which emancipated our masses from the tutelage of the cacique: in short, all the achievements of democracy of which we are so justly proud would not yet be beautiful realities and we would not be able to enjoy their mature fruits as we now do, if we had been compelled to feel our way and make many tentative steps instead of at once entering fully upon our social and political life. We have to move quickly and anticipate the aspirations of the feminine masses, which are as yet vague, in order to save us the agitation which otherwise is sure to come and the justice of which will have to be recognized.

When we are told that our social condition is such that we are not ready for female suffrage, and that our women are not sufficiently educated to exercise political rights, I feel like asking whether we said the same thing when we imported and implanted in our country the democratic institutions that are the base and foundation of our present society. Our traditional education was diametrically opposed to a popular system of government, yet we adopted that form of government, because we considered it better than the other, more suited to our interests and to the ideals of the century, and did not worry about whether or not we were sufficiently educated and prepared for it.

It is more than twenty years now that the free public school has opened its doors to the women, and education has extended its benefits to them in the same proportion as to the men. Many of the women educated in these schools are now wives or mothers, and yet you still ask whether the Filipina has attained to the maturity necessary for her investment with political rights. I am sure there is no idea of requiring them all to be doctors or bachelors of art before we grant them the right of suffrage.

A political education can not be acquired except by education, just as you can not learn how to swim except by swimming. The argument that the Filipina is not sufficiently prepared is a justification of the attitude of a country which never finds its colonies sufficiently prepared or educated to exercise the right of sovereignty themselves.

The other day, when I made a flight in a seaplane for the sake of the experience, I felt—I frankly admit it—some apprehension, a certain fear of the unknown, but after the first few moments were happily past, I felt perfectly comfortable and enjoyed the flight through space and the view of the magnificent landscape far below me. Ah, it is beautiful to cleave the air like a swallow and to ride upon the clouds and the winds of heaven, looking down upon the cities and human dwellings spread like a relief map upon the crystal sheet of the waters, to traverse enormous distances in a few minutes almost without noticing it, and to emulate in everything the bird and like the bird to alight suddenly, without fatigue and physical hardships. When the voyage was over, I realized that my apprehension and fear had been unfounded; that it was not more risky to fly through space on an aeroplane than to speed across country on an automobile, and I then realized the numerous advantages to be derived from the flying machine, that product of our time which is destined to revolutionize not only warfare, but also the pursuits of peace.

The same thing occurs with all new ideas and reforms of a moral and political order. They are adopted with the instinctive fear, the vague apprehension inspired by the new and unknown. There is much talk of their objectional features and dangers for the established order of things. You might think the firmament was going to crumble to pieces or the world was threatening to go out of joint. However, after the innovation has been made, it is found to be quite natural and logical, because things go on in their natural course, the heavenly bodies continue in their orbits as before and the mountain peaks do not slide down into the valleys. Courage and hope are born again in the human breast, the masses get used to the new state of affairs, and soon even the most recalcitrant would be furious if any one should propose to return to the old order of things. This has happened in our country before, and has always been and always will be the way in which progress is worked out.

We must make up our minds to overcome our scruples and fears. If in discussing the aeroplane, we were to speak of nothing but of the number of aviators who have been killed, we would never accept that invention. We must embark in one in order to prove to ourselves that our fears and apprehensions are unfounded. Sight must not be lost of the fact that suffragism is not a new thing in the world, that it is far from being an experiment and is already an established fact in some countries. Exactly the same as the aeroplane: if we desire to become acquainted with the advantages of that apparatus, we do not ask those who have never traveled in it, but those who have experimented with it, and if we wish to know the advantages of suffragism, we must not listen to those who oppose it as a matter of principle and theory, but must consult countries that have made experiments with it and have already had a chance to see its results. We must take note of the fact that suffragism is gaining in strength every day and is becoming a general movement in the countries where it has found acceptance. Exactly like the aeroplane. Would it not be perfectly ridiculous to declaim against the aeroplane on account of the accidents that are liable to occur, and would we not be stupid to refuse to follow the lead of other governments who utilize its advantages for defence or aggression in war and for rapid communication in time of peace? And is it not just as stupid and even senseless to oppose suffragism on speculative or rather hypothetical grounds, instead of being guided by the experience of other countries in this respect and accepting suffragism as part and parcel of our modern customs and institutions?

In conclusion, permit me to quote a few passages on this subject from an address which I made at an entertainment given at the Opera House in honor of Rizal by various schools for young ladies in 1913:

According to the old idea, woman's sphere of action should not extend beyond the home, beyond her domestic occupations, and she should be nothing but the glory and delight of her husband and her children. This is not right. Like man, woman is born and lives in society, and she can not and must not remain indifferent to social distress and suffering. To think otherwise would be selfishness and aberration and would leave society a prey to much suffering which only the blessed hand of woman can cure or relieve. Let woman be the glory and happiness of the home; but do not forget that she must extend her beneficent action beyond the confines of the household, that she must make the world outside the participant of the wealth of kindness and charity that bountiful Providence has lavished upon her. Just as she shares the duties of life with man within the home, so should she without it, in public life, share with man the responsibility of remedying and alleviating public distress and misfortune.