Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol4, 1920.pdf/372
In the sittings of parliament they were successful exponents of their views and the views of the parties to which they belonged. They introduced Bills in the Parliament and frequent successes rewarded their efforts. To mention only one or two: Women presented plans for the betterment of the social conditions of students; for taking over of schools and places of education by the State hitherto conducted by monasteries, convents or other church organizations; for placing girls; middle schools under State control; for converting into state institutions, reorganizing and extending, women’s technical and industrial schools and schools of domestic sciences; for establishing central refuges for Children and Children’s Homes; for introducing day instruction in apprentice schools; for prohibiting evening and Sunday instruction; and for regulating the legal position and the conditions of advancement of women teachers in national schools.
They further brought in Bills for the punishment of corruption, for the abolition of licensed houses of ill-repute, for the stern punishment of secret prostitution, for compulsory reporting and treatment of sexual diseases and for the systematic disinfection of public buildings, schools etc. and also of private dwelling houses, etc. Most of these proposals were crowned with success sometimes complete, sometimes partial.
In June, 1919, the first elections were held elections to local and municipal bodies. They took place according to the system of fixed lists of candidates, that is to say, the names of the candidates are arranged in a certain order by the political parties on lists which afterwards are not allowed to be altered. The executive committees of the parties thus have power, according to whether their viewpoint regarding women is a progressive one or not, to place women’s names in such a position on the list that they have a prospect of being elected.
Women who take no part in political activities of one party or another, or who are not organized, are excluded from the possibility of election.
If we realize that the parties are organizations, which make systematic political effort possible, that they are groups of persons who have similar or identical views on the ordering of the affairs of the state and that it is the task of the party to effectuate the principles of its program in the State and that the individual can only give due effect to his good ideas when he gathers round him organized co-workers—if we realize this, we see that behind the fixed lists of candidates there is a sound principle. It is only necessary that all parties be imbued with justice towards women.
From the elections we gather the following interesting statistics. The number of women voters was much larger than that of men voters. Of the total number of voters 2,746,641 or 54 per cent were women and only 2,302,916 or 46 per cent men. Also the duty of recording their votes was better fulfilled by the women than by the men. 90.4 per cent of men voting as against 92.6 per cent of women. The number of women organized in the ranks of the various parties varies from 20 per cent to 70 per cent according to private statistics while about 12 per cent of those elected were women.
One of the objections to bestowing the franchise on women was that they would vote conservatively. The opposite has proven to be the case. After the elections the socialist parties recorded their thanks to women for the victory, a victory which actually saved the country from convulsions for as soon as the broad masses of the people were able to take up the administration of local institutions in a proper degree they bore patiently all the horrors of post-war famine and the ever-increasing rise in prices.
The women members of local administrative bodies principally occupy themselves with problems of pauperism, housing, health, food supply, and education. They are also members of city Councils, occupy the most of deputy mayors and three are “starosty”, i. e. burgomasters of cities.
Their influence is widely felt in the communities. Through them investigations are made into the conditions in which the poor live and are housed, housing reforms are introduced, schools and baths established, care of mothers and babies organized, assistance given in household duties to women who are in ill health, courses arranged in nursing for mothers, nursemaids and servants (a thing previously non-existent)