An International Congress has been sitting in London this week
which claims to represent more than a million women all over the world. The range of subjects has been very great, extending from the right of women to havo the vote, to the best way to obtain good servants; and the speeches, especially upon education, have been marked by much sense and felicity of expression, the latter virtue being specially apparent in the speeches of the American delegates. There has, however, been little debate in the true sense, and almost no originality. We seem to have heard all the ideas before. So far as we can perceive, the great wishes of the Congress are that women should have perfect freedom to enter the professions, that they should be admitted into all Universities, that they should be freely employed as inspectors, and that, in fact, as regards all gainful occupation the" barrier of sex " should be thrown down. With all those wishes we heartily agree, for, though we doubt whether more work outside the home will make women happier, we are sure that if they like to try it, they have the right. With the other demand for perfect " equality " with men we cannot sympathise, for the simple reason that they are not equal.
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