On This Day, 21 June 1918

Birmingham Daily Gazette 

Friday 21 June 1918

WOMEN IN POLITICS

Demand for Equal Moral Standard.

THE UNWRITTEN LAW.

An indication of the tasks still be tackled by apostles of women’s suffrage now that the vote has been obtained, was given at the annual meeting of the Birmingham Women’s Suffrage Society, held at the Queen’s Hotel, Birmingham, last evening.

The chairman, the Rev. Ivory Cripps, the new pastor of the Church the Redeemer, in congratulating the society on a satisfactory annual report, remarked that most of all women would have to fight for an equal moral standard. Recently many juries had acquitted soldiers who had murdered their faithless wives.

Government Criticised

Did this mean that women were to understand that they too might take the law into their own hands and shoot, stab, or poison their husbands? If not, in what sense could the Government regard them, when the Government provided the very facilities in certain quarters for bringing about many married men’s downfall?

But, went on the chairman, any improvement in the social and moral conditions in Britain would be useless and barren of any good results unless women took an active part in attempting to find a satisfactory solution of international problems.

Women in such affairs might probably do better than men, it was absolutely certain that they could not do worse, for no one could take the present state of Europe as a certificate of the competency of men.

Women Magistrates.

An address on similar lines was delivered by Miss Chrystal Macmillan, who spoke on the future work of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, and urged that amongst the things in which women should consistently strive for was the appointment of women magistrates.

She also urged that the health of babies and of mothers should be quickly made political questions.

In the annual report it was stated that Mrs Ring had been appointed to succeed Mrs. Osler as the society’s representative on the Executive Council.

Amongst the officers elected were Mrs. Osler (president), Mrs. Ring (secretary), and Mrs. Reid (treasurer).