Page:The Feminist Movement - Snowden - 1912.djvu/128

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
120
THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT

residential qualification for candidates, to be alternative with the present electoral qualification, and so to widen the area of selection of candidates by bringing in married women. Women may not vote nor be elected to the City of London Council. The number of women in England and Wales who, on March 1, 1912, occupied seats as elected persons of the various local governing bodies was 3 on County Councils, 17 on Town Councils, 9 on Metropolitan Borough Councils, 5 on Urban District Councils, 145 on Rural District Councils (acting also as Poor Law Guardians for the Unions in which their districts lie), 1175 Poor Law Guardians who are elected as such (1320 counting the Rural District Councillors), and a large number of Parish Councillors.

By the Qualifications of Women's Act of 1907, the right to stand for all those public bodies for which they may vote was extended to Scottish women. Previous to this Act they could only sit on Parish Councils and School Boards. Marriage is no disqualification for the woman candidate in Scotland, though she can neither vote nor qualify as a candidate on the same property as her husband.

In Ireland, women are not eligible as County Councillors, but they may stand for Rural and Urban District Councils, provided