The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-04-10

and is barred from earning her own liv- ing through having the care of young children
 2 A wife who devotes her whole time to housekeeping and the care of the children shall have a claim upon her hus- band during his life, upon his estate after death, for a sum calculated on a scale not exceeding the wages of a house. keeper in her station of life, provided she | has not received any other personal al- | lowance..f.. | 3. The divorce law shall be amended so 1! as to allow either husband or wife to ob- tain a divorce on the ground of unfaith- fulness alone.
 4. Fathers and mothers shall be joint guardians of their children.
 D. The ancient right of wives to dover shall be resored and wives shall be put in moral equal position in cases of in- testacy.
 G. No woman otherwise qualified shall be excluded by sex or marriage from exercising the parliamentary franchise Other interesting sections deal with the age of marriage of girls, the prevention Of immortality the need for more adequate educational opportunities for girls. mu nicipaj supply of milk for infants and young children and the establishment of
 
 eating houses.
 "The idea in introducing these bills into parliament said Lady McLaren, lis sim ply to bring these questions forward and to provide basis for discussion. (Which do I think the most vital re- form? That is difficult to say when so much is vital. But this question of moth CTS being joint guardians of their chill dren Is specially important. The fact that inc father is now sola pl1a rdia n riyes unjust men enormous power over their wives; they can put such pressure on them through the children. Then, on the question of inheritance. I believe that England Is the only European country where the widow has no legal claim on her husbands estate: he can, If he chooses, leaves her absolutely penniless
 q should like to point out,' continued Lady McLaren. thai the suggesti ns for creches and playrooms are not social~ istic. as some people imagine, but rather cooperative. No woman can satisfactorily look after four or five children, or even after one baby. if she has to do also all the work of the house, all the scrubbing, sewing, washing, all the shopping, and so on. In Berlin and Paris my views are successfully carried out
 "Cf course, she can let the baby play in | the gutter, but that is not looking after 1t properly. The creches would be safe place. where she could leave the little | one, not necessarily for whole day-un- less. of course, she was working for a | living-but for two or three hours, while she get through her other work. Now you see mothers dragging babies about everywhere, and 1t Is bad for them and the children, too.
 "l5'Ir am quite against separating chill dren from their mothers. I am not at all one of those people who think some one else can always do better for the child than its own mother A baby needs love quite as much as 1t needs milk. What l want to see Is enough help given to the mother SC that she can really do her duty | adequately, and not as is so often the | case now, feel her children a continued drag upon her. T believe" said Lady McLaren, If the proposal were carried into law giving the | mother with young children a right to a proportion of her husbands earnings, it | would make 1t easier for her to stay at home. But as to women in general-all | the evidence is tending to show that the men, even if they would, cannot support | the women. In Germany 5000, 900 won / are working for living; in France s2 / r cent of the women are earning. It was different in former times, when women produced so much in the home; now they | do hardly anything but clear away dirt and that Is not productive work | s"In making these proposals" said Leg McLaren in conclusion, what we are ask | ing for is change in the law. We fully | recognize that men are generally much better than the law. But 1t is where love ends that law begins, and after all, law ought to stand for equal justice. It was a characteristic feature of ali our women's meetings the reluctance that was manifest to impose penalties on men: the feeling was always in favor of some plan for deterence rather than punish ment
 "Women are putting forward this char acter-and women in many other countries are working on similar lnes-to show what their needs are. We want to draw mans attention to them, because we believe they are willing to do women justics, once they understand