United States of America. Great Britain is one of the very few great nations of the world where women may not practise law after having properly qualified; but no doubt it will be put down, amongst other similar things, as evidence of the national lack of a sense of humour! In January, 1913, by an overwhelming majority, the Council of the English Bar rejected a proposal to admit women.
The opposition of the Church to the ordination of the woman preacher is of the same sort, but differently cloaked. In this case the sacred teachings are summoned to the aid of the prejudiced ones, and the dead hand is made to strangle the living thought. This is particularly true of the Roman Catholic Church and the Established Churches of England and Scotland, in whose pulpits no woman is permitted to speak to the congregation. It is less true of the Nonconformist Churches, which permit women to preach sermons, as lay persons, on occasion. The Unitarian Church has one properly ordained woman minister in Dr Gertrud von Petzold, and the Congregational Church recognises the Rev. Hattie Baker. The Society of Friends makes no distinction between its men and women in the matter of public speech on sacred themes, nor do the Theosophists, Christian Scientists, and the promoters of
