WOMEN IN FRANCE
Sta,—There were in France two large classes of disfranchised adults— the women and the soldiers. The chief reason, I think, for the imposi- tion of this disability was that the liberal and anti-clerical majority which had governed in France fairly consistently since about 1875 feared that the soldiers would be anti-liberal and the women "clerical.' In the case of the soldiers, events since 1940 seem to have proved Use majority right—though it should have been bornr in mind by the majority that men have little love or respect for a representative Government which uses them without allowing them representation in it. It would not be surprising if a National Assembly in France. in which women were repre- sented, had a somewhat clerical, perhaps anti-Republican, and possibly authoritarian basis.
In view of her dependent position under the civil code, the status of a French wife who exercises MC Vote will certainly be paradoxical.
No criticism of General de Gaulle's decision is implied by these re- flections; and from an Englishman, indeed, no expression of opinion
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