Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-11-26
TAKING FEMINISM TO THE ORIENT
BY Frsderic J. Haskin

Washington, Nov. 2s.A plan tol
maintain seven colleges for women IN
the Far East by American support,
and especially by having each OF these
oriental colleges adopted by an Amer
lean women's college In now. under
way. A good deal OF money has al
ready been raised, and drives in all
parts OF the country are planned for
this winter. A Washington drive was
recently held under the patronage oi
women OF high position In official 40
ciety.
This plan represents an attempt on
the part Of western women 10 carry
the movement for education and equal
rights for women into that part Of
the world where masculine dornina-
ton is most complete. In the Orient
higher education for women was =
thing unbeard Of until n few years
ago. In addition TO their seclusion. an
almost hopeless handicap TO higher
education for the women OF India and
/ China is found IN the early marriage
customs of these countries. In India
| 10 per cent OF the girls become moth
ers by the time they have reached
| 10 years OF age, and 50 per cont q
them are mothers under rs years oi
age. ~ is 20 be remembered too, thai
this IL in country where high caste
women cannot be treated by mal'
physicians, and where women doctors
lare almost unknown outside Of mis-
sion stations. What the East Indial
women have suffered I'm consequenc
need not be dwelt upon here, nor 4
tit surprising under these conditions
that but / per cent of 1ndih's l65,
100000 women can read.
Chinese Women IllIterate.
In China more than 30 per cent o
the women are illiterate. In Japal
conditions are brighter, but unlike tn
men who go from the middle schOc
to college and often from college {
university, the japanese girls educo
ton often stops with the middle schoc
or even earlier. This is not surprisin
when it is recalled that the Japanes
government'supports 33 institutions {
i, learning Of university grade for me
students and but one institution {
college grade for all the girls Of Japai
Until recent years the small schoo
maintained by church mission board
I were the only educational provisi0
g which was made for the girls OF n
Orient. They began about 50 yea
,, ago. at about the time Vnssar COLES
n was started, and az that time the boar'
= were weak and insigniflcnt organic
r tions themselves While the resul
g OF the schools established by the mi
/. sion boards have been encouraging
n the extreme. yet the individual boar
h were never able financially to esta
8 lish colleges and high grade medic
d schools. They had not the money
equip nor to run them. The missi
d boards realized the folly Of tryi
!? 10 run poor sectarian schools, wh
by uniting their efforts they might 9
ID tablish strong union Christian q
leges and give the girls Of the Orie
70 the same educational advantages {
le American girls enjoy. Accordingly I
le leading church boards OF Engiar
America, and Canada united. in 10
's and established the first OF these hig
% grade Union Colleges at Madri
Is india.
ss The success which attended q
Madras venture led TO the organizatit
d of committee for the purpose OF =
curing cooperation among the woT
r ems church mission boards Of {
T. United States and Canada In thu
,d work along educational lines for {
NJ women Of China. India and Japa
or From these boards a joint commit
on the Union Christian Colleges
IN the Women Of the Orient was forrn'
4 Seven colleges were accepted to be {
beneflciaries Of the co-operati
al boards, but before their inal accel
"a ancc Miss Pendleton. wellsley's pr
dent. at the invitation Of the comm
tee. went to China and Japan a