Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-14
BY MARY AGNES HAMILTON, M. P.
u TATEMENTs about women. nult

- TATEMENTS about women multi
farious and various as they are,
have this in common: there are
- so many women that none OF the
things said about them can
really be tested scientifically or checked.
The little fact that women are half
in Britain at the moment rather more
than half-the human race, means that,
at worst some woman can always be
produced to justify any sweeping gen.
eralization made about "the sex"
Nevertheless, after an election which
was described in advance, very freely,
both In the press and on the platform
as the "women's election" few among
those so fluent in prophecy before the
event are ready to analyze it now from
that point of view. True, here and
there, one meets naive journalist who
commits himself to the view that
women did not vote for candidates of
their own Sex"--although any member
of Parliament elected was bound to
have been chosen by the votes Of both
sexes, unless the women voted en- bloc
for him or her. No serious person be-
lieveS now that they did anything OF
the kind.
OF course, it passes the wit of man
to dissect the votes, once they are cast.
There Is no machinery in the hands
Of returning officer, counter or Scruti-
nize which enables any human being
to tell us how, In fact, the woman In
any given constituency did vote. OF
we'll over 1,700 candidates 615 have
been returned; of under 70 woman can
didates, II. On the face of it, that
candidate of unspecified sex was one
in three. the chance for a woman can
didate was only one in five.
Parties Guard Rights.
But before that arithmetic can be
allowed to pass, much more careful
analysis OF constituencies is required.
In Britain the control Of the national
party organizations over the local Sc
bye election Is being fought, very slight.
Local parties have matters well in their
own hands, and guard their rights jeal-
ously. There is effective democracy on
this point-they can choose whom they
like; the candidate Is not required to
be a resident of the place he or she
seeks to represent, and, even before
1929, shelf she is She-could as the
case of Miss Jennie Lee proves, be be-
low the age at which she would be
qualified to vote.
All that can be said is that. broadly
speaking, constituencies in which sue
cess Is thought to be possible still de-
mand rather higher qualifications of
one sort or another-it may be intel
lectual, 1t may be financial-of a wom-
an than they do of a man. Further,
relatively large proportion of woman
candidates, of all three parties, was to
be found in constituencies in which the
local executive was glad to get hold of
some one prepared to win spurs by TAX
ing on what is called a propaganda
night"
Seven Women Come Back.
For these reasons 1t is not possible
to infer much about the mentality of
the electorate, whether male or female,
from the fact that in 1929 there are
IA women M. P.'s as against 10 at the
dissolution. OF the eight sitting woman
members who contested in May, seven
have come back. Mrs. Philipson (Tofy)
and Mrs Dalton Dabor) did not run;
Mrs. Runciman NiberaD lost her seat.
The veteran seven have been joined by
seven recruits, five of whom belong to
the Labor party. One is an Independ-
ent and one is a Liberal. Thus, out of
the IA women, nine now belong TO the
Labor party and will sit behind the
government front bench.
The May election was, Of course, the