In 1920 Daniel McLaren Brown presented a resolution that in the opinion of this House the time has arrived when the right of voting for members of Parliament and the Provincial Councils should be extended to women. After a two days' debate it passed on May 3 by 66 ayes, 39 noes, a majority of 27 as against two a year before. Mr. Brown then introduced a bill conferring this right. A deputation of 500 women carried an immense petition for it to the Parliament and it passed first reading by 66 to 47. Although Premier Smuts had supported it as "a great and necessary reform" and promised it every chance he declined to make it a Government measure or give any facilities for second reading. Mr. Brown and his House Committee and the Hon. Secretary, Mr. Mullineux, worked valiantly for the bill but it got no further, although eight of the Cabinet ministers were in favor of it and the Government Party had endorsed it. It is the almost insurmountable objection to the colored vote which is the chief factor in preventing women's enfranchisement.
The Parliament of Rhodesia gave full State suffrage to women in April, 1919, and that of the British East African Protectorate in July, 1919. In both this carried eligibility to office and a woman was elected to the Parliament of Rhodesia in 1920. In several of the States women have the Municipal franchise and have been elected to the city council.
INDIA.
There has been remarkable progress in the enfranchisement of women in India, although it has been for the most part since 1920, with which this volume of the History closes. The Women's Indian Association ranks with other women's organizations in the British Dominions and has branches throughout the country. There are many political reform organizations and almost without exception they are willing to include women in any rights obtained. Increased opportunities for their education have been opened and there are hundreds of women university graduates. In several cities the limited municipal vote that men have is shared by women and they are eligible to the council. In 1917 Great Britain announced that self-government would be given to the people of India and the Women's Indian Association and other agencies began a strenuous campaign to have women included. In 1918 the Women's Indian Association had suffrage resolutions introduced in many provincial conferences and national congresses of men and they were usually passed by large majorities. The British Parliament sent a committee to India to collect evidence as to the amount of franchise that should be included in the proposed Government Bill and distinguished men and women appeared before it in behalf of women, among them Mrs. Annie Besant, president of the National Home Rule League of India, which was strongly in favor of woman suffrage. Contrary to all the evidence the committee reported against it. Mass meetings of women in India were held in protest. In 1919 eminent women and men were sent to London to present the case to Parliament. They were cordially greeted by the British suffragists and given every possible assistance. A petition was sent to the Government of India Committee by the Women Citizen's Union of the British Dominions, where in all but South Africa women were now fully enfranchised.
All were in vain and woman suffrage was not included in the India Reform Bill but the question was left to the decision of the governing bodies that had been created. The women then had to begin campaigns throughout India, mass meetings, petitions, even processions and lobbying. In May, 1921, the Madras Presidency, one of the largest divisions of the country, gave the complete franchise to women and it was followed soon afterwards by the great Bombay Presidency, whose Legislative Council voted for it by 52 to 25, and by that of Burmah. Each State has its Legislative Council and a number of these have given the vote to women. The movement is active for it throughout India.
FOOTNOTES:
[217] See [History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, page 832.]
[218] On Dec. 6, 1921, Miss Agnes McPhail was elected to the House of Commons for Southeast Grey.
[219] This Act was heralded far and wide, as it was unprecedented. In 1920, giving as a reason that the Act had been only a war measure, it was repealed bodily by the Parliament and the old Act substituted with a few amendments that did not by any means give the privileges afforded by the new one. It was generally believed that this was done under the direct influence of England.