Page:The case for women's suffrage.djvu/101

 old. The Acts of Parliament dealing with married women's property and the rights of mothers in relation to the custody and control of their children, were carried at a time when reforms affecting women were easier to win than they are to-day. Had not the exertions of a devoted band of reformers secured these changes in the law about a score of years ago, it would have been found increasingly difficult to get them made. The male electorate is much larger than it used to be, and Parliament is so busy attending to the demands of enfranchised men, that it has neither time nor thought to spare for the needs of unenfranchised women. It is, however, possible that many of the specific injustices of which women have to complain to-day, will, in the course of time, be removed by a Parliament responsible only to men. The real danger is that new forms of injustice will spring up. The women of this generation are threatened by a serious interference with their industrial and social liberty. The Factory Acts as they exist to-day, contain special restrictions affecting female labour only. These restrictions were imposed with the intention of protecting women workers from the unfair exploitation of their labour. The way chosen was, many of us think, not the best way. It is more just to women, and in every way more reasonable that factory legislation should apply to men and women alike without distinction of sex. The further extension of the principle of making special regulations for women workers which do not apply to men workers must be resisted, at least until such time as women themselves are