The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1920-01-31
Woman Has Advanced in Profess
sional and Industrial Life,
Says One of Them.
IS HUSBANDS REAL PARTNER
Shares With Him the Cares Of eusl-
ness, Especially In Its Financial
Aspects-Many Take Up
Legal Profession.

the Philippine Islands to the United
States, has recently been visiting WON
ems clubs In New York city, telling
what she has already told the women
of Washington. They have fine systems
of education, she says. good schools,
and a high degree of economic useful
ness. Nine. De Veyra wore, in giving
her talks, one of the beautiful gowns
of the Philippines, a, delicate pine
apple fabric, hand-wOven and hand
embroidered, shaped like a gauzy-
winged butterfly.
Things are made very easy for the
Filipino woman in many ways" she
said. 'The professional opportunities
are as good for her as for the men.
Women are already members Of the
Philippine Bar association-somet
which is impossible for the women of
Great Britain-they are in business
for themselves, and they are success,
full practicing physicians. Laws made
for our women combine the best OF
Spanish and American precedents.
Made Easy for Women.
Everything has been made much
more simple for us than for either the
American or Spanish women. Married
women hold their property in several
ty, and they are guardians of their
own children. OF the property which
accrues to married couple, the wife
Is half Administrative, and these are
vested rights which cannot be taken
from her. 1t is not unusual for the
mother of a family to have not only
a household leadership, but economic
control. M. De Veyra, who is interested
In history, tells me that before the
Spanish came we had a matriarchal
system, and this has made the Pilip-
pino women Self-respecting and val
liant.
"Of our 3141 islands, only 400 are
Inhabited, the principal ones being
Luzon, Mindanao and Visayas; yet
even in rural little Barrios you will
find some sort of woman leader. One
old woman who has had seventeen
children, thirteen having lived to grow
up and who has many grandchildren
and greatgrandchildren, still exercises
full sway over the family, and has the
last word to say In all financial affairs. |
The married children as well as 9th
ers look up to her, not only as moth |
er, but as an adviser.
"Women, when they marry go into
partnerships with their husbands.
While the men handle the workers,
the women attend to the finances, act
as cashiers, pay the workers, and over
see much of the business. They have
equality with men in everything ex-
cept in voting, which the governor gen
eral has recommended in his messages
to the legislature. When it was first
recommended the women had not
made much of an effort to gain the
vote, but this year appeals came from
fhe provinces and wOmen'S clubs and
In 1907 there were only
thirty women's clubs but now there
are BOT. A petition signed by $4,000
women was sent to the lawmakers,
who granted a joint legislative hear
ing on woman suffrage Three Filipino
spoke Two of them were prac-
ticing lawyers, and the one who was
said to have made the best speech was
Nine. Conception Calderon, widow of
the man who wrote the constitution
Of Mallolos.
Adept With Needle.
mime Calderon is a successful bust
ness woman, owning fish farm and
an embroidery enterprise. This indus
rial problem has s,not reached the
Filipino women to any great extent
except through the cigar factories and
n embroidery. There are, I believe,
i've big American embroidery firms In
he Philippines, and one Of them in :
1anila employs 1000 women. Every
hing in the underwear business, ex-
ept the weaving of cloth. is done by :
and; the hemstitching and even the
cams are sewed by hand.
"WOmen who have children and can =
OF go to the factories take the work :
ONE and are paid by the piece. have :,
eard Of one Of these workers, from a :
oman who has an embroidery bust y
ess, who can make six chemises day .
80 cents a chemise, every stitch - :.
y hand. She has saved a great deal
money besides taking care Of her "
lildren. -
"All of the pineapple cloth is made =.
? the women In their homes on hand ~
ade looms, made by an ordinary car
enter. Comparatively little OF it is
ade nowadays, for it is slow work,
i'd the women cannot afford to do It.
ny one who wishes it must give ca
eciaI order, and 1t is expensive &C
1--WE are interested in the Philip m
mes in progressive legislation, III gu
bile health 4 measures and day co
rseries, and the women have in ad
,duced ppoft-sharing plan in Bill In
and other prisons. They have is
reduced police matrons and indus It
al teachers for the insane. II
The WOmans Club Of Manila b Z ha
mber jbf the Federation of Women's tri
lbs. %. s. A., and now the women tel
J federating their own clubs" no