The Cordova daily times., 1922-05-25
WOMEN IN FAVOR LAW
 FOR EQUALITY


 homie independence is promised for the wives of Great Britain within the next few months. A royal commission appointed by the Lord Chancellor now is considering the ways and means of placing legislation on the statute books which will make women, in every sense of the word, the equal of men.
 The law at present in Great Britain gives women all the privileges of men, but few of the responsibilities. With in the last few weeks cases in the law courts have proved that although they have the equal franchise rights and the same qualification as men to be members of public bodies, from seat in the House of Commons down to the humble Urban District Council, yet on the question of a debt they are a nonentity; their husbands are held legally responsible.
 Take a purely hypothetical case. Lady Astor, the wife of Lord Astor and a member of the British House of Commons, representing constitu- ency of 10000 very responsible men and very intelligent women, is en- titled to vote on their behalf in the highest session in the land, but should she in moment of alteration hurl a brickbat through the window Of Buckingham Palace as a reprisal for some imaginary grievance it would be Gher husband, Waldorf, second Wis count Astor, who would be arraigned before the courts of law to make rep aration.
 The women of Great Britain do not consider this fair. If they are going fifty-fifty on privileges they want to go fifty-fifty on responsibility. They now are moving heaven and earth" to get repealed the old laws, many of which date from the time Of King Canute Lady Astor is their champion. Already she has a bill put forward in her name to abolish the legal in- equalities of women. That followed the famous Peel case in which hus- band and his wife were jointly charged with fraud, and the case against the wife failed because in law it was pre- sumed that she must have been CO., creed bv her husband.
 INADEQUAcY DISCOVERED
 After the bill was presented, how ever. other famous cases came be- fore the courts, and it was dlscoV- cred that the present law made the. husband responsible for his Wlfe's debts. Therefore Lady Astor's Dill was discovered to be inadequate; nevertheless, it served as demon stration, and the commission now IS /, seeking to remedy all these defects and straighten out the old law so that it will apply equally and unequivocal- 1y to man and woman alike.
 q have little hope of the bill being passed during the present session. said Mrs. Hubback, Parliamentary Secretary to the National Union ot Societies for Equal Citizenship to the International News Correspondent. Already they are overstocked, leg islatiyelv speaking, beyond their ca pacity. The measure we are partlcu- larly anxious to see through is based on the suggestion that the most vital | grievance still suffered by wife IS that unless she has private means or a profession she is still economically dependent on her husband.
 The measure will provide that the amount of income allowed woman by her husband should be set down | by law and not left to the casual gen. erosity of the husband In addition, she will be a responsible entity, and | her husband will not be responsible in any degree for any torts which she might incur damages. It is absurd | to talk of responsibility for any lebts ! or damages of any kind as long as married owman has no income of her own with which to pay them. x
 NATIONALITY IS QUESTION
 Moreover, there is the question of a woman's nationality. Why should a woman lose her nationality simply be- cause she marries a man of a race different to her own? To remedy this evil, however, the law would have to be international In Australia wo- man has the right to retain her own nationality and demand the protection of her own government whatever the nationality of her husband might be.