ENGLISHWOMEN'S RIGHTS, FROM A FRENCH POINT OF VIEW.*
IT is always amusing, and sometimes instructive, to see our- selves as seen through foreign spectacles, and the author of The Equality of the Sexes in England had a pair of very good, if somewhat roseate-hued glasses, when he studied the question of woman's rights in this country. His book is the result of a good deal of labour, it is sympathetic in tendency and judicial in tone,—a combination of qualities which are more often found in our Gallic neighbours than we are generally disposed to allow. There is a good deal, of course, in it that is what we consider very Frenchy, and M. Mix Remo, though he does not blunder quite as often as some of his countrymen, manages to make one or two bad blunders over the names and titles of some of our distinguished persons ; but then, that is the fault of our stupid system of titles, and the bewildering practice of our statesmen and generals and lawyers in changing their names when they sink into the Upper House. It is pardonable enough to describe Mr. Chamberlain, when President of the Local Government Board, as "le Home Secretary ;" but it is queer to hear Mr. Bright called "Sir J. Bright." Cambridge women may be displeased to hear of "Helena Gladstone au Newham College ;" and we do not know what a Scotchman will think of the phrase, —"Dana la Grande Bretagne senle sans compter l'Ecosse."
The book is written in a rather jerky series of short paragraphs, with sometimes no more apparent connection between them than the paragraphs of a society newspaper that begin with an apropos. But the paragraphs are pointed, and often epigrammatic. The opening sentence is quite Aristophanic,—" It is woman who in the history of humanity has made us shed most blood and most ink." French law on the subject of women is neatly sum- marised by a sentence from Paul Bert,—" The code does not dis- tinguish woman from man except when it aims a blow at her." The author is penetrated with the sense of the superiority of England on the subject of woman's rights. He admires the admission of women to School Boards, to Boards of Guardians, and to the medical profession, and the Married Women's Property Acts. He is heartily in favour of woman's suffrage, on which he makes the questionable remark,—" It is a curious thing that people are afraid of women being too Conservative, and yet • L'Egaliti des Sexes en Angleterre. Par Felix Remo. Paris: Nouvelle Revue.. it is precisely from the Conservatives that comes the chief Opposition to it in Parliament." Yet when he crosses the Channel, he himself defends the very same inconsistency as that on which he remarks here :—" Restriction. I am obliged, though with deep regret, to allow that this great result [i.e., woman's suffrage], so ardently desired, so strictly just, could not be applied in our country without reserve. Woman's suffrage in France in its present state, above all in the country, would mean the triumph of the reaction and the clergy, and will be impossible so long as the priest does not remain loyally in his church and give up all interference in politics." But immediately afterwards he remarks,—" Women will put the Church above philosophy as long as philosophy oppresses them and denies them their rights." In fact, he tacitly admits that the difficulties of women's suffrage are identical in both countries ; that whether it be due to Nature or to training, women are too easily led by men, and especially by the men who have most time and opportunity to lead them, for it to be safe to entrust them with the destiny of the country by giving them votes for Parliament. In subordinate spheres and with well- defined duties, and especially in matters of administration like School Boards or Boards of Guardians, where the two sexes are equally concerned as objects of care, women are not merely valuable but indispensable.
In regard to the education of women, M. Mix Remo sums up the argument for the higher education of women rather neatly, "Make women instead of making dolls," though he rather spoils the effect by adding, in the true Gallic strain, " Preparez lea meres an lieu de preparer lea recrues d'adultere." On the subject of women's work and women's wages he is "thorough," and his discussion on the way to extend their employment and raise their wages is extremely good, and is full of facts about women's work in England which will be new even to most English people. He recognises that there are many kinds of work—e.g., cigar-making—which require dexterity of manipula- tion, in which women are not merely the equals but the superiors of men, yet in which they nevertheless receive less wages. The reason he assigns is doubtless 'the true one,—too large a supply of women, and want of union amongst those who offer them- selves. As he points out, even in such matters as the inspection of factories and workshops, Acts of Parliament would be useless were it not for Trade-Unions, as no single worker would dare to complain of the master on whose good-will his bread depended. It is rather surprising to learn that there are already so many Unions of working women in London. The first founded was that of the bookbinders, so long ago as 1874, and since then there have been founded the carpet- makers, the shirt.makers, the sewing-machiners, the tailoresses, with two branches, the dressmakers, cashiers, and book-keepers. There can be little doubt that the only way to improve the position of working women, as that of men, is to extend the principles and practice of Trade-Unionism, as it is only by com- bination that the poor can make themselves strong enough to deal with their employers on equal terms. It is impossible to dis- cover any other solution of one of the great problems of the age, —the necessity of finding employment for the yearly increasing superfluity of women who cannot find a career in matrimony, and who at present are driven to evil courses by the difficulty of getting adequate pay. Our French author thinks the diffi- culty will increase, because he thinks that the tendency of the substitution of sedentary for active occupations among men, will be to cause a reversion to the practice of Mahommedans ; but the theory is very Frenchy, and expressed in very Frenchy lan- guage, and is hardly founded on experience in England, where even Mr. Matthew Arnold allows that conduct is more con- sidered than in France.
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