St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-02-16
GIRLS WAYS
How They Have Worked for
Freedom Without Saying
Much.
Statement Of the Condition OF
scandinavian Women by
One of Them.
They Go to the Colleges, Prac-
tiee the Professions and
Vote,
But They Didn't Get Their
Rights by an Excess Of
Talk.
"a Swedish Lady, in London Queen.

ClHuliN " 1lCIOCo III hOIOiIC a.
itself evident. We do not want to fight
with the men. We do not believe, with
John Stuart Mill, that it is the mere
SelfishneSs of man and the abuse of his
strength that have been the cause of
tile subsection OF women: but, rather.
that it is the subsection of woman that
has been the cause of the S~alfiShneSS of
man and the abuse of his strength. The
fateS of man and Woman are so closely
bound together that every act of justice,
every real benefit gained by the one
half of humanity, will, by the force of
an irresistible law of nature, also bene-
fit the other half in equal measures.
And, thinking thus. we women of
Sweden did not begin by fighting for
political rights. but by trying to widen
our education and attain more general
freedom, believing this to lie not only
the more important, but also the key to
the other. In trying to convey. shortly.
some idea how far we have come in u
work, and to what of this work we at
the present moment particularly are
directing our attention to. | will con-
slider III progress under four headings
educational, economical, social and
political.
The universities of Sweden were open
to women in 1870. Had this been done
under n restrictions W~hatever,I think
we should have preferred not to enter
at all, but we obtained at once all the
privileges enjoyed by the men, both as
regards degrees and scholarships; and
we work in perfect harmony with the
men. This concession to justice by the
men-if | can so express myself is
worthy of praise, because in Sweden the
universities, like most other educational
establishments, are free, or supported
by taxes, so that admitting the women
was a pecuniary loss instead of a gain.
What we at present are directing our
attention to most strongly is to get the
girls into the public boys schools, be-
cause, although we always work to-
gether at the universities and other
higher establishments, mixed schools"
for the children are rather an exception
than otherwise. and we most strongly
believe that reforms must be RATIONAL
must be started from the root. so to say
and before the boys have been accuS-
toned to associate with us OF the school
bench. the men will scarcely consent to
be associated with us in the riksdag.
When we have. left the universities
we cannot complain that the men treat
US badly in the professions. Our first
lady doctor, for instance, Immediately
after having qualified, was made house
surgeon at the genealogical ward in
our greatest hospital, and the demon
strator in the same subject at the uni
versity, as well as member of the Med
ical Society of Sweden. Nine. Kava-
lewskv, the distinguished mathema-
tician, who two years age won the PriX
Bordin pour les Sciences Mathema-
tiQueS in the Academy of Science in
France for a mathematical essay, is
professor at the college in Stockholm.
Our commercial colleges are nov also
open to women, and the Swedish Wom-
en- are already largely competing with
the men in the practical trades and pro-
LESSONS. In the %poStoffice they have
been employed since 1868. A Swedish
woman can now also become postmaster.
In the railway and telegraph offices they
have been employed since 1868.
Besides, in almost every office and bank
female clerks may be found, but they
are especially intrusted with the inn
portant part of cashier. Their work in
the banks has been so satisfactory that
the bank directors have been lately try
ing to get women employed in the great
national banks. A woman has also been
elected as one of the directors of the
Peoples bank in Stockholm. This sum-
mer, whilst paying a visit to my native
country, | took an EngliShman round to
see the sights of Stockholm. While
passing through a public park he was
very much struck by the sight of women
employed in cutting the grass with
scytheS. but when we passed a house
that was being built, and he saw the
women employed in carrying mortar up
and down a ladder, he Indignantly eX-
claimed, But are there then no men in
Sweden?" Yes, there ale men in
Sweden, men who understand that what
we women want is not to be protected
from the hardships of life. but to have
an equal share with the men in the
great struggle for existence, II the
same right as they to development, ln-
dependence and culture.
What we are 10Y working for in this
the great economical side of the
woman Questlon-iS equal wages with
men, because there are still many I'M
ployers who are unjust enough to pay
their female workers less than the male,
from the tot common principle not to
pay for work according TO its value, but
according to the minimum income the
worker can exist On. Our social position
is as yet unsatisfactory. A Swedish
woman is of age at twenty-one in the
eyes of the law. She has. however, ac-
cording to an old law, the right to marry
at fifteen, although the man must wait
till he is t%wenty-One. Lately very much
has been written and talked about the
marriage aye for women, and the result
has been that a motion was brought for
| ward in the riksdag this year in order to
make it Illegal for women to marry
under twenty-one. The motion tell
4l,a.~I H,4 - not cTntnr than
was expected. there being in the first
so that we can hope for success all
other year. The chief argument adj
vanced in support of this proposed law
was the strengthening of the race, but [
| cannot help thinking that such a law
would have another important effect
upon women-I mean upon that class of
women who look upon marriage as their
only profession. Knowing that they
cannot marry till they are twenty-one,
they would earlier take up a trade or
| profession, and perhaps by the time
they were of age they would be SO ab-
sofbed and delighted in their work as to
change their minds about marriage. 1t
is true, laws that so deeply encroach
| upon the liberty of the individuals are
not desirable, and in the happy future
that we like to picture to ourselves may
be quite unnecessary; but in a transi-
ton age like ours they are useful in
leading hesitating individuals on the
| right track. We have a kind of married
woman's property act. but the contract
to this effect must be made before mar
rage. We are now doing our best in
trying to get rid of this unnecessary re
striction, and to place the woman
as a property holder and as an
individual on exactly the same foot
ing as the mani mean, by a%bolishing
his guardianship owe her, as we'll as
giving her an equal share in the guard
| ianship of the children. In this respect