More of This Feature • General • Mosaic Law, Ancient India • Roman Law • Christian Law • Northern Europe Law • English Law • Husband and Wife • Criminal Law • Education • Professions • Nursing and Medicine • Government and Politics • Women Practicing Law • Women as Clergy • Women's Rights Agitation • Woman Suffrage   • Woman Suffrage 1865-1906 • Woman Suffrage 1906-1910 • Woman Suffrage Societies • Woman Suffrage New Zealand and Australia • Woman Suffrage America • Woman Suffrage Europe • Woman Suffrage International • Sources

Related Resources • Index to Etexts on Women's History • Rulers, Queens, Heads of State • Politics

Note that this entry is a product of its time, and should be read in that context. Footnotes have been omitted to make the text easier to follow. Also note that scanning and editing may have introduced a few errors into the transcription. Because of these errors, if you need to use this information in an academic paper, please consult the original, available at many libraries.

This continues the entry under "Women" in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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Women in England may fill some of the highest positions in the state. A woman may be a queen, or a regent, and as queen regnant has, by I Mary, sess. 3, c. I, as full rights as a king. Among the public offices a woman may hold are those of county, borough, parish and rural or urban district councillor, overseer, guardian of the poor, churchwarden and sexton. In 1908 Mrs Garrett Anderson was elected mayor of Aldeburgh, the first case of a woman holding that position. Women have also been nominated as members of Royal Commissions (e.g. those on the Poor Law and, Divorce). A woman cannot serve on a jury, but may, if married, be one of a ?jury of matrons? empanelled to determine the condition of a female prisoner on a writ de ventre inspiciendo. She can vote (if unmarried or a widow) in county council, municipal, poor law and other local elections. The granting of the parliamentary franchise to women was, however, still withheld in 1910. The history of the movement for women's suffrage is told below. It may be remarked that, with or without the possession of a vote on their own account, politics in England have in modern times been very considerably influenced by the work of women as speakers, canvassers and organizers. The great Conservative auxiliary political organization, the Primrose League, owes its main success to women, and the Women's Liberal Federation, on the opposite side, has done much for the Liberal party. The Women's Liberal Unionist Association, which came into being in 1886 at the time of the Irish Home Rule Bill, also played an active part in defence of the Unionist cause.

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More of this article: General | Mosaic Law, Ancient India | Roman Law | Christian Law  | Northern Europe Law | English Law | Husband and Wife | Criminal Law | Education | Professions | Nursing and Medicine | Government and Politics | Women Practicing Law | Women as Clergy | Women's Rights Agitation | Woman Suffrage | Woman Suffrage 1865-1906 | Woman Suffrage 1906-1910 | Woman Suffrage Societies | Woman Suffrage New Zealand and Australia | Woman Suffrage America | Woman Suffrage Europe | Woman Suffrage International | Sources

<Index to Etexts on Women's History>

Part of a collection of etexts on women's history produced by Jone Johnson Lewis. Editing and formatting © 1999-2003 Jone Johnson Lewis.