Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/962

 fuse divorce but provide for the custody and maintenance of children and equitable division of property.

The father is the legal guardian of the children. At his death the mother becomes the guardian, if a suitable person, but if she remarries the guardianship passes to the second husband.

The husband is expected to furnish a suitable support for the family, but no punishment is prescribed for a failure to do this.

No law existed for the protection of girls until 1890 when the age was made 14 years. In 1895 it was raised to 16 years. The penalty is first degree (under 14), imprisonment not less than ten years; second degree (under 16), not less than five years. In both cases the girl must have been "of previous chaste character."


 * The first Territorial Legislature (1890) granted School Suffrage to the extent of a vote for trustees.

Women may hold all school offices. Eleven of the twenty-three counties have women superintendents. They are not eligible to State offices but are not prohibited by law from any county offices. One woman is registrar of deeds and one is deputy U. S. marshal. There are at the present time about one hundred women notaries public.

No Profession Or Occupation is legally forbidden to women. Ten hours is made a legal working day.

All educational institutions are open alike to both sexes. In the public schools there are 914 men and 1,268 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men 1s $31.93; of the women, $26.20.

Thirty Federated Clubs in Oklahoma, with over 700 members, are taking up successfully a great variety. of public work. Guthrie contains eight of these, with a membership of more than one hundred, and the library committee has succeeded in starting a library, which has now seven hundred volumes.