American Fork Citizen | 1920-01-31 | Page 7 | No Equal Suffrage Movement in France after the American Fashion

No Equal Suffrage Movement in France After the American Fashion. By MME. CLEMENCEAU-JACQUEMAIRE, in New York Times. So far as I have been able to observe, there is no equal suffrage movement in France in the sense that you in America regnrd a movement. From earliest times the women in France have always held a high position in the community. They have taken an active part in business projects, and the professions have always been open to them. They havo been prominent in literature, science, nnd art Indirectly they have exerted great influence on the political life of tho country. Consequently there has been 110 pronounced 1110vcn1c.it for equal rights in France such as has been started elsewhere. The women of France are not anxious to vote or to be elected to office. Therefore I am not of tho opinion that suffrage will gain headway in my country. Nevertheless I nm watching with great interest the progress of the women of other countries. We ndmiro your progressive-ncss progressive-ncss nnd are interested in the experiment of sending women to congress, of giving them scuts on the bench. This is, of course, in line with your advancement and liberal ideas, lint our own traditions, our social and racial conditions, are very different. I find no cause for anxiety regarding tho competition of tho sexes in business. Women who had taken men's jobs on tliu outbreak of tho war aro gladly relinquishing thum, and pence adjustment is coming without bitterness. Was it not Ellen Key who avowed that even if the suffragist was striving striv-ing to bo free she was making a mistake if she thought the voto would free her from tin? limitation of nature? Women cannot pass beyond thoso limits without interfering witli the rights of imtiiro and the potential child. Woman, of course, hns 11 right to avoid mnrriagc, and to ullow herself her-self to be turned into n third sex, provided she finds in this her greatest happiness. But when all is told, motherhood is tho central factor of existence for most women.