The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1921-12-15

legislatures inquire innocenuy in what
way women are bound unfairly by
their statutes, the feminists are ready :
with a report showing concisely the /
states legal attitude toward women.
FLORIDA, Mississippi, Louisiana, and
Alabama are the four states which SO
far have been studied These states
We're taken first because the state
legislatures were to meet there. Now,
the woman's party workers are going
on to collect evidence on nine more
states where the legislatures convene
early in the coming year.
This is a part of the campaign to
get each state to pass a blanket bill
removing all legal disabilities OF wo-
men. Wisconsin is, so far, the only
state TO adopt such measure.
Last spring, in nine weeks cam
paign, Wisconsin put through a bill
which gave the women of the state
the same rights and privileges before
the law as the men hold. The bill in
structed the courts to take the words
he, his, him, and similar words lndl-
eating the masculine gender in 'he
state laws TO include also the feminine
equivalents. One exception to this
was provided: the laws are not to be
deny to females the special protec-
ton and privileges which they now
enjoy for the general welfare" This
refers, in part, to the laws protect
ing women in industry.
Wisconsin made this sweeping
change without much ado. But when
the proposal came to the four south
ern legislatures that met little later,
it was given a chilling reception.
Louisiana, it is true, did take action
to the extene of repeating nine speci-
fic determinations against women. AS
one result all political and civil Of
fices in the state are now open to Wo-
men. Another reform achieved by
Louisiana compels a husband to OBJ
tain consent of his wife before he can
sell or mortgage the home. The rest
of the family property remains under
control of the husband as before. But
the wife is assured that the roof over
her head will not be sold without any
reference to her wishes or interests.
Louisiana agreed to nine changes,
but the radical idea of absolute legal
equality for women was turned down
flatly. The other three state legisla-
lures to which the measure was sub
nlitted also rejected it. And yet, the
feminists point out, these states, pro-
gressive in many ways, are far behind
some other states in their legal treat
ment of women.
Marriage in Mississippi
The surveys of the state laws show
ed many cases where the old comon
law holds. For instance. a wife in
Mississippi was refused the right to
sue for damages for the alienation of
her husbands affections. The laws of
the state give the husband control OF
the wife's personal property, and the
court held that in these circumstances
il the wife won the suit, the erring
husband would benefit by 1t as he
could appropriate the money.
In this state, which is not the most
backward of the 4S, woman practical
ly leases herself out to her husband
tor life. In return for her services she
receives her board and keep. But she
cannot require her husband to pay
her anything. She has no right to any
part of the family income and she has
no interest in her husbands property
unless he dies and leaves it.
Thus, when woman was injured by
fall on an exposed gas pipe, the wife
received damages for her personal in
jury, but the husband was allowed by
the court to collect the amount award
cd as the loss of her services in the
home.
According the report from Florida,
the women of that state are under the
domination of the old English common
law TO q greater extent than perhaps
any other state in the union. Accord
ing TO the common law a married wo-
man could make no contract of any
kind This, the report shows is true
in Florida today with a few exceptions.
Unless her husband has been pro-
nounced insane and has been insane
for year, a married woman may not
rent, mortgage of sell even property
given or willed to her without his
consent. If the husband Is a criminal
he still has control over his wife's
property.
A husband in this state may do as
he likes with proceeds from his wife 5
separate property and she many not
sue him even to secure an accounting
of what he has done with her money
The report points out that a courts
decision extended the husbands au
thority even to the ownership of his
wife's clothes. And in another case d
court ruled that a married woman aid
not have the right TO hire domestic
servants.
In this day when so many married
women prefer work in an office OF
shop TO work in a kitchen it is in
teresting to note that in Alabama Jhe
husband generally has authority, back
ed up by law, to say whether or moi
his wife may work outside the home
To quote a court decision the husband
is entitled to wife's services to the ex
tent that is still in this respect mere
Iy servant" So a court in 1914 de
cided that if outside work would inter
fere with her domestic duties a hus
band could legally prevent his wife
from entering paid employment.
So many women have business ex
perience before marriage that tht
home standards have been ADVANCING
more rapidly than the laws. The mod
ern woman knows the unit of labor
which earned a dollar in the store O
office and she compares that with he
work about the house. She figure!
that she is putting her share into ;
business partnership and that what
ever is saved or acquired is in par