Evening star., 1921-10-16
WOMEN TO DEMAND
A BILL OF RIGHTS
Propose Amendment to the Constitution
Placing Them on Equality With
Men in All Legal Matters.

tney are to go to a convent ETC.,
! A woman in that state canont accept
| gift or take an inheritance without
her husbands consent. There Is
law. however. which allows a wom-
ture husband before marriage as to
the control of property. etc, after
| marriage. 1t is an old law coming
down from the Napoleonic code. sell
dom called into play But there was
recent case where a man, himself
a lawyer and familiar with the code.
entered into a contract with the
to pay all the bills. AS it happened,
the woman had considerable wealth.
The marriage did not turn out hap
PLY, and the man moved away, but
remained in the state. He ran up
bills, and under the contract, the wife
judgment was rendered against her
without her having been notified. She
did not reside with her husband, and
it was held that the notices could only
go to her husbands residence.
Husband Paid for Injuries.
In Mississippi a woman is discrim-
mated against in many similar ways.
If woman is injured. for instance.
and damages are collected, they are
paid to the husband, if the woman be
married.
In Massachusetts the state consti-
tuition is an obstacle to a woman's
serving in the state legislature. It
specifically provides that only men
may be elected to the legislature.
The state constitution of Colorado
provides that no woman may serve
on jury.
Out in California a married woman
does not really own the money she
earns; she cannot will property so
amassed. There is the case of prom
inent woman sculptor who not long
since made a large sum from mural
decorations. She has children and de-
sires to leave will giving them this
money Her husband has no objec-
ton. but under the California law. she
cannot legally make such Will.
Another California woman. physi-
clan, has saved $4,000 out Of her
earnings, and she has found it i'm
possible to make a will leaving this
money to her children because of the
law saying that her husband shall
control her earnings.
These are only scattered instances
of the inequalities Of the law in deal
ing with men and women. There are
very many others, and they are be-
ing carefully collated by the women
who are pushing for the woman's bill
of rights.
May Keep Her Own Name.
One right the women have in this
country. which Is rarely assumed,
however. That is. when a woman
marries she may elect whether she
shall bear her husbands name or the
name Of her own family. This is
relic of the customs in England, from
which country came most of the laws.
In England If a woman of noble
she keeps her own name.
But the choice of domicile and resi-
dence is left to the man, the wife
having nothing to say-legally. Dur
ing the last political campaign
women in the District Of Columbia
desiring to vote in their homes states
endeavored to register and vote by
mail in those cases where the state
laws permit. Some of them, however,
found that they were ineligible to
vote in their old home states be-
cause they had married while here
men from other states or from the
District of Columbia. One former
Massachusetts woman had sad ex-
perience. She went home and regis
tered and sought to vote, and then
up because she was about to vote il
legally. She had married man from
Kentucky, and her legal residence, 1t
was held, was in Kentucky.
American women who marry for
elgners lose their nationality under
the existing laws. This Is q matter,
too, which the women are desirous
of rectifying.
Out in Michigan there recently hap
pened an incident which would indi-
cate that the law sometimes works
to the benefit of the wife, although it
may be legal discrimination against
her as a citizen. A woman was
caught "bootlegging' and convicted.
but the penalty was inflicted upon
her husband. although he had no part
in the bootlegging business: