Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/730

* WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE. 622 WOMEN. Woman suffragists are not active on the Con- tinent, but women possess different degrees of voting power. In France, women teachers vote for members of boards of education, and since 1S9S women in commerce vote for judges of tri- bunals of commerce. The Code Napoleon is not favorable to women. In Sweden women enjoy liberal laws and vote in all elections except those for representatives; indirectly they vote for members of the House of Lords. In Norway ■women have school suffrage. Russian women, as householders, vote for all elective officers and on local matters. They also manage their own property. In Finland w-omen have voted for election officers. In Siberia women have mu- nicipal suffrage. Women property-o-v^Tiers vote by prox>' on certain questions in Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein, Brunswick, and Saxony, and also in Bohemia, Moravia (in municipal mat- ters), and Austria-Hungary. In Croatia and Dalmatia they vote in person at local elections. Widows in Italy with property vote by proxy for members of Parliament. Women taxpayers of Belgium, Luxemburg, and Rumania have mu- nicipal suffrage by proxy. The Social-Democrats at the convention of 1890 and 1891 declared for full sex equality, and in 1892 they allowed women to choose delegates, thus recognizing them as integral factors in the party. In 1888, at the suggestion of Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony, the International Council was called to celebrate the twentieth birthday of the National Woman's Suffrage Association. Dele- gates came not as individuals, but as members of associations. National councils were formed in different countries, and at the meeting in Chicago in 1893, 17 had been organized, in- cluding Persia, Australia, Greece, and Austria. A meeting was held in London in 1899. In for- eign countries the movement is tentative. Bibliography. Histori/ of ^yo>nan's Suffrage. bv Susan B. Anthony et al. (vol. i. 1881; vol. ii. 1882; vol. iii. 188G; vol. iv. 1902); Files of Woman's Journal: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eighty Years and More (New York, 1898) ; Marj' Putnam .Jacobi. Common fii-nse Applied to Woman's Suffrage (New York, 1894) ; Theodore Stanton, Woman Question in Europe (ib., 1884) ; Lecky, Democracy and Liherty, eh. x. (ib., 1896) ; Stopes, British Free Women (ib., 1894) ; Plons and Bart els, Das Weib (Leipzig, 1887) ; Bueeher, Die Frauenfrage im Mittelnltcr (Tiibingen, 1882). WOMAN'S VETERAN RELIEF TJNION. A patriotic society that admits to membership mothers, wives, widows, sisters, daughters, and granddaughters of soldiers, sailors, or marines of the Union Army who are eligible to the Union Veteran l^nion (q.v.), of which organization it is an auxiliary society similar to the Woman's Itclicf Corps. WOMB. See Uterus. WOMBAT (from u-omhach, icomhach, the Australian name). One of the Australian mar- supials of the phalanger family and genus Phas- colomys, resembling in form a miniature bear or large blunt-nosed woodchuck. the best known species of which is Phaseolomys mmbiit. It is ■two or three feet long, plump, with a thick coat of long, grayish brown, coarse, woolly hair; the head large, flat, broad, ■with small eyes and ears, the upper lip cleft; the feet plantigrade; the tail very short. The incisors are two in each jaw, long, and chisel-like; they are hollow at the base, and continue to grow as they are worn awa.v; there are no canine teeth; and the molars are five on each side in both jaws ; there is a wide gap between the incisors and the molars. DENTITION" OF THE WOMBAT. It is nocturnal in its habits, slow in its motions; feeds on vegetable substances, and digs up roots with its claws ; makes its abode in holes among rocks, or in burrows dug by itself. It produces three or four young at a birth. It is a creature of little intelligence, but gentle, and easily do- mesticated to a certain extent. Its flesh is pre- ferred to that of any other quadruped of Aus- tralia, as it is generally fat, and in flavor re- sembles pork. The hair,y-nosed wombat (Phas- eolomys latifrons) is easily recognized b,v the silky fur. hairy muffle, and greater curvature of the incisors. The third species (Phaseolomys platyrhinus) is yellowish brown and the largest of the group. Wombat remains have been found in rceent bone-eaves in Australia. See Plate of Phalangers. WOMBWELL, woom'wel. A coal-mining town in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 4% miles southeast of Barnslev (Map: England, E 3). Population, in 1901', 13,252. WOMEN. In law. women have always enjoyed certain privileges and immunities and been under certain disabilities which are a curious inter- mingling of the ideas of protection and of sub- jection to man. Under the common law mar- riage changed the legal status of a wom.an com- pletely, but modern statutes generally have abolished most of the disabilities of coverture. ( See Husband and Wife. ) To-day, in most States, botli married women (feme covert) and spinsters enjoy jiractically equal property rights with men. This is true also of the right to enter into bind- ing obligations or contracts. Women are liable for both their crimes and torts. Statutes some- times make certain distinctions in their favor, as. for example, women are usually exempt from civil arrest. They have not been generally ac- corded the privilege of exercising the elective franchise, but enjoy freedom from jury duty and military service. They may sue and be sued in all States. Consult Blackstone's Commentaries ; Parsons on Contracts; Hu.sband and Wh'e, and ant lioril irs there referred to. WOMEN, EmTATlON or. .mong Oriental nations generally little or no attention is paid to the education of women. The Chinese women of the wealthier classes may receive some literary train- ing, but it is given privately. Intellectual ability and learning in women are esteemed, but not com- monly striven for. In India, on the contrary, ex- ccjiting among the Parsis (q.v,), it is thought