The feminists, however, pursued their cam paign with increasing vigor and persistence. They invaded not only innumerable trades and handicrafts, but also universities and colleges, carrying off degrees and honors in science, law, classics, medicine, mathematics, philosophy, art, music, literature and political economy. They opened women's medical colleges, hospitals and educational institutions. They founded great political organizations numbering many thou sands of members; they held gigantic parades and demonstrations; and terrorized legislatures and statesmen by actual display of physical violence. Women were elected to education, municipal and trade union boards; to adminis trative positions on public works, and appointed as government inspectors, as police officers, and even as sheriffs. A woman scientist discovered radium; women have gained certificates as ships' pilots and aeronauts; women travelers have explored Africa and Asia; a woman rode on horseback across the continent of Australia, while in France women practise at the bar. In the United States the first woman has entered Congress. Most of this remarkable expansion of feminine activity has taken place within the period of a generation, though the hardy pioneers who laid the foundations of the "'era of woman" did not live to see the completion of their work. If the amazing results obtained up to the summer of 1914 forced the conclusion that women, given the needful opportunities, were but little behind men in productive — if not creative — energy, the course of the Euro pean War must have removed the last doubts that still lingered in the minds of anti-feminists. It is no exaggeration to say that the war gave woman the greatest opportunity in history to display her mettle and capacity. There are, however, two widely divergent views as to the ultimate consequences or effects of the war upon woman's life. In all the belligerent countries — though to a less degree in America — the war has imposed a heavy burden upon the women. In the European countries women have replaced men in almost every sphere of activity. In the munitions factory, in the workshop, on the street and on the land, women are performing the most arduous tasks such as had never fallen to their lot. It is be lieved by not a few that this violent experience must alter the nature of those women; that those who have learned to be well paid for their labors will gain economic independence, become hardened, and lose their womanly at tributes. Such a contingency, it need hardly be said, would be an unspeakable disaster. On the other hand, it is expected that the physical exertion involved will produce a stronger, healthier race. Doctors have observed a con siderable decrease of nervous disorders among women in general, while the women of the wealthier classes were said to have "forgotten their ills by from one-third to one-half." This was said to be due to the numerous war activities to which women devoted themselves, in Red Cross work, etc. One physician in New York stated that since the war °a breath of fresh air" had come over the physical habits of all women, especially improvement in the °fashionable slouch" walk, which he attributed to the unconscious influence of the military.
Another serious problem is the question of those girls and women who took the places in offices to relieve men called to the colors. Will these drift back into private life when the men return? Already entrenched in business posi tions by the invitation and acquiescence of man, woman's position must necessarily be strength ened in the business world and her labor be come more indispensable as time passes_ It is not impossible that in America as in Europe the situation will adjust itself with a fair de gree of equity, the qualified woman holding her place and the qualified man holding his, with the unfit of both sexes automatically falling out of the ranks. In Great Britain,
less than 2,000,000 women were employed be fore the war, mainly in textile mills. In June 1918 there were over 4,500,000 women and girls employed under the Board of Trade. Their devotion to the national cause has earned them the Parliamentary vote for which they had struggled in vain for many years. The suffrage bill passed the Commons by a vote of 385 to 56.
In. France the feminist cult has never been strenuously practised; the professions did not appeal to French women. Satisfied to culti vate the domestic virtues, their highest aims were to be good housewives. During the war they proved themselves no less patriotic, self sacrificing and brave than their men. While there is no demand for the vote, the war is expected to raise the political status of women, hut, according to M. Stephane Lauzanne of the Paris Matin, "they will prefer to exercise it through their husbands and in their social life, rather than through the coarse medium of the ballot box." In Germany the feminist movement has not flourished. In her book, 'Die moderne Frauen bewegung,' Dr. Kaethe Schirmacher states that "the political training of the German man has not yet been extended to include the principles of the American Declaration of Independence . . . his respect for individual liberty has not yet been developed as in England; therefore he is much harder to win over to the cause of women's rights." She says that "Every war, every accentuation and promotion of militarism is a weakening of the forces of civilization and of woman's influence.' Despite the backward political and educa tional conditions obtaining in Russia before the war, the position of intelligent women was not without hopeful prospects. There were numer ous female doctors and teachers, many of them trained abroad. In Austria-Hungary and Italy circumstances were less encouraging, woman labor being poorly paid, while in Spain the feminists have been unable to attract much support. Farther afield, the leaven of Western influence is perceptibly operating in the Orient; female enlightenment is slowly penetrating into the harem and behind the purdah, smuggled y through the barriers of by white women doctors and missionaries. d apanese and Chinese women who have visite the United States or Great Britain cannot fail to take home with them the new gospel of free and independ ent womanhood.
As mentioned above, it is in the English speaking world that women have made the greatest strides toward the feminist goal of ab solute economic, social and political freedom. The women of the United States, especially, have played a tremendous part in the creation and development of their country, a country which Europeans, not without justice, call °the woman's paradise.>> How far is feminine in fluence in America responsible for the discon certing mixture of idealism and practical sense, the shattering of conventions and ignoring of obstacles,• that blind yet unerring faith in in dividual action, and that callous neglect of all those inhibitions which arrest wild impulses? This intellectual and spiritual activity, more over, has been communicated to millions of im migrants from all parts of the world, of diverse races and nationalities. Whether the full participation of women in what was once regarded as exclusively masculine activity will evolve a °third sex>>— as feared by the pessi mists — remains to be seen. Man has struggled, fought and bled-for religious, political and eco nomic freedom during centuries, and modern woman has emulated his example. Her insist ent demands for self-determination and self expression have gradually and inevitably forced their recognition. See DrvoacE; WOMEN IN THE INDUSTRIES ; WOMAN SUFFRAGE.