New-York tribune., 1918-05-19
\ NE Of the most farreaching re.

" suits of the war has been the
enfranchisement Of English
women, but that was not so big a step
as the emancipation of Italian women,
which seems almost certain to occur
as a direct outcome Of the war.
English women had been fighting for
suffrage for many years. The war was
merely the last step in a series to
give them what they almost had before
the war began. But in Italy women
have never taken any great interest in
the suffrage question, and in general
have been willing to accept the lot
which men saw fit to give them.
Consequently the opening up of q
broader and freer life to the women of
Italy is an event much larger in scope
than the giving of the vote to English
women. 1t is a real revolution. The
war and its obligations and sacrifices
have revealed to the Italian woman her
strength. War work has shown her
that she is capable of accomplishing
great things if she is allowed to de-
velop.
When the Italian soldier returns
home from the front he will be sur
prised by the change which will have
taken place in the gentle little dark
eyed girl he left behind him.
She will no longer be the submissive
little dependent wife as before the war.
She will demand to share the RESPONSE
bilities so forcibly thrown upon her
shoulders by the exigencies of the war,
which she has SO successfully borne dur
ing her husbands absence. She will ask
her husband for an equal voice in the
disposal of the earnings Of the vari-
Gus members of the family. and she
will resist partial indulgence to the
whims of her sons and not of her
daughters.
Premier Orlando
In Favor of Vote
Premier Orlando, the leader of the
party in power in Italy. has acknowl-
edged that "the time is ripe to extend
suffrage to women" and he hopes that
the present legislature will grant it.
The present Pope in a private in
terview has expressed himself in SYM
pathy with higher education for
women, but opposed to woman suf-
frage.
The statement by the Italian Pre-
m,er, though merely a repetition of
similar declarations by political lead
crs in England, France and the United
States. recognizing the equal capacity
OF women with men for the most
strenuous tasks, assumes greater sig
nificance in reference to Italian women
than it does to the women of the other
Allied nations.
Before the war Italian women were
discouraged in every direction by Gus
tom. law and religion from participate
ing in the worldwide struggle Of
women for economic and civil inde-
pendence. For woman to engage in
business competition with men was
considered highly improper. The
home was her sphere and her husband
her protector. If unmarried, it was
the duty of woman to help take care
OF her married brothers. or sisters
children. The home was q close in
stitution. AS far as possible the hus-
oand earned all of the money. and his
great love for his family. enhanced
by his belief in the dependent inferior
ity of his wife, made him usually an
abundant provider.
The man was the master Of his fam
ily He collected and disposed of his
wife's earnings as he saw fit, he man
aged her dowry. and he decided what
was best for his family. He was en-
powered to grant her full civil rights
or to take them all away. from her
rs he chose.
Custom robbed the Italian women
OF many of the Social rights enioyed
by other European and American
women. A mother was considered dis
graced until few years before the
! war il she walked abroad without an