20. THE EDUCATION AND SOCIAL STATUS OF WOMEN IN ITALY. One of the most remarkable features of progress in Italy is the advance made in the education of women since 1880. In former centuries there were highly cultivated women, some dis tinguished as writers or artists, especially as musicians and actresses, but in modern times until 1860 the great majority of Italian women seemed condemned to ignorance, especially in the southern provinces. Women were not even taught to read and write; married or single, they were expected to take a subordinate posi tion in their own families and in society. The ancient Roman'' law was observed, which made the man the absolute master of the household, the pater-familias, whom even adult children obeyed as their supreme head. To-day educa• tion is compulsory and elementary education is given free to all children of all classes and of both sexes; the expenses are borne by the local authorities, assisted by the national gov ernment, which exercises a general supervision over elementary culture. Elementary educa tion is also imparted in private schools, au thorized by the government, and these are under the direction of lay or clerical teachers duly qualified.
Educational institutions for women are di vided into colleges and day schools; some of these are supported by the communes, some by the government. Girls can pass from ele mentary to normal schools, these being usually the highest grade passed by women. This en ables them, like men, to obtain positions as teachers in elementary schools. Women, how ever, have an advantage over men, as after their normal degree, they may enter for four years' higher training in the Institutes of Su perior Studies, where in addition to advanced literature, they are trained in several branches of science and in foreign languages, French be ing compulsory and a part of the program, and either German or English, according choice. The degree taken in these Superior Institutes enables the young women to teach in the normal and technical schools. Educa
tion may be either technical and commercial or classical. Women are admitted to all edu cational institutes and can follow the same courses of study as men; they may take a university degree, and may profess and prac tice medicine, chemistry, arts and philosophy, but a legal career is not yet open to women, even when duly qualified. In the early eighties of the last century. the first student in law, Lydia Poet, obtained her degree, but was for bidden to make use of it. The Tribunals, which are a part of the Government Department of Justice, objected to women-pleaders; hence legal training is of use only in a lawyer's office, not in courts of justice. Later a woman lawyer, Teresa Labriola, obtained permission to lecture in the University of Rome, where an other learned and brilliant woman, Maria Mon tessori, M.D. (q.v.), had a chair of anthropol ogy In the University of Naples, Professor Ogliarolo was helped in his work and teaching of chemistry by his wife.
Technical, commercial and professional schools prepare girls either for teaching in such departments or for becoming bookkeepers, cashiers, dressmakers, laceworkers, etc. It was at last recognized that woman should un dertake her share of work and contribute to the support of herself and her family. In Italy the woman question is much nearer so lution on the economic than on the moral side; it is not usual to prepare for a profession a girl, who has or will have private means suffi cient to relieve her from the necessity for work; hence woman's education is not the same for all classes of society. Young girls of aristocracy of birth or wealth leave the con vents or colleges where they have been edu cated with a fair equipment of general informa tion; many of them acquire an equivalent edu cation at home by private tuition; but such an education being uncontrolled by any sort of examination, and conferring no degree, does not enable its recipients to follow any career, should she some day need to work.