CHAPTER LXXIV.
WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN OTHER COUNTRIES.
In most of the countries of the world women possess some form of suffrage, but for many reasons it is almost impossible to define exactly in what it consists. Like suffrage for men it is largely based on property, and in most cases can be used only through a proxy. Generally the woman loses the franchise by marriage and the husband may vote by right of the wife's property. In Belgium, Luxemburg, Italy and Roumania the husband votes at local elections by right of the taxes paid by the wife, and in case of a widow this right belongs to the eldest son, grandson or great grandson, or if there is none, then to the son-in-law. The Italian electoral law of 1870 gave a widow the right to vote by proxy in Parliamentary elections. All the Italian universities are open to women.
The constitution of Germany says "every German" above twenty-five years of age shall have the Parliamentary Franchise, but no woman ever has been permitted to vote under it. There are, besides, twenty-five constitutions for the different States which form the Empire. By the wording of some of them, women landed proprietors undoubtedly are entitled to take part in elections. The Prussian code declares that the rights of the two sexes are equal, if no special laws fix an exception, and it gives the Parliamentary Franchise to every one who possesses the county or burgess suffrage. The by-laws which prescribe the qualifications for the latter in some instances exclude women and in others declare that women land holders may act as electors, but only "through a proctor" (proxy). Teachers undoubtedly, as State officials, are entitled to take part in local government. Some of the provinces allow women taxpayers to vote by proxy in the rural districts. Neither the Government nor public sentiment, however, looks with favor upon women electors. It is only in recent years that a few of the most advanced have begun to agitate the question in this country, which holds a most conservative attitude towards women. They have recently been admitted to a few of the universities.
In most of the Prussian towns the property qualifications of the wife are accounted to the husband in order that he may take part in municipal elections. In Saxony women proprietors of landed estates, whether married or single, are entitled to a municipal vote but this can be exercised only by proxy, and for this purpose one of their male relatives must be invested with their property. In Saxony, Baden, Wurtemburg, Hesse, the Thuringian States and perhaps a few more, women are permitted to attend public political meetings and be members of political societies, but in all other German States they are excluded from both. They are thus prohibited from forming organizations to secure the franchise. In Westphalia since 1856, and Schleswig-Holstein since 1867, all qualified women have some form of suffrage by male proxy.
In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, since 1862, women with property have a proxy vote in municipal and provincial elections and for members of the Lower House of the Parliament, but there are many restrictions to this law. In Bohemia, since 1873, women who are large landed proprietors have a proxy vote for members of the Imperial Parliament and the local Diet.
In Russia among the peasant class the representative of the household votes. The wife, if owner of the necessary amount of property, may select her husband as proxy, but he may also delegate his vote to the wife, and it is a common thing to see her take his place at elections and at village and country meetings of all kinds. In the cities and territorial assemblies, women, married or unmarried, possessing sufficient property, may vote by male proxy for members of the municipal and county assemblies. Property-owning women of the nobility may vote by proxy in the assemblies of the nobility. Part of the universities are open to them. There are 650 women physicians in Russia.
So far as can be learned women are not eligible to office in the above-mentioned countries with a very few exceptions.
In Finland, since 1865, widows and spinsters may vote at rural elections; since 1873 those who are rate-payers may vote at municipal elections. Since 1889 women are eligible as Guardians of the Poor. In 1900 they were made eligible to all municipal offices. An influential Finnish Woman's Association with twenty branches is agitating for suffrage on the same terms as men.
In Holland there is no form of woman suffrage and the constitution of 1887 expressly prohibits it.