hree different
demands it produces one acceptable compromise. Naturally the Swiss woman's
rights movement has steadily developed in the most peaceful manner. No
literary manifesto, no declaration of principles of freedom is at the root
of this movement. It is supported by public opinion, which is gradually
being educated to the level of the demands of the movement. The woman's
rights movement began in Switzerland as late as 1880; in 1885 the Swiss
woman's club movement was started. The Federation of Women's Clubs is made
up of cantonal women's clubs in Zurich, Berne, Geneva, St. Gallen, Basel,
Lausanne, Neuchatel, and in other cities, as well as of intercantonal
clubs, such as the "Swiss Public Utility Woman's Club" (_Schweizer
Gemeinnuetziger Verein_), "la Fraternite," the "Intercantonal Committee of
Federated Women," etc. Recently a Catholic woman's league was formed.
Since 50 per cent of the Swiss women remain unmarried, the woman's rights
movement is a social necessity. In the field of education the authorities
have been favorable to women in every way. In nine cantons the elementary
schools are coeducational. There are public institutions for higher
learning for girls in all cities. In German Switzerland (Zurich,
Winterthur, St. Gallen, Berne) girls are admitted to the higher
institutions of learning for boys, or they can prepare themselves in the
girls' schools for the examination required for entrance to the
universities (_Matura_). There are 18 seminaries that admit girls only;
the seminaries in Kuessnacht, Rorschach, and Croie are coeducational.
Women teachers are not appointed in the elementary schools of the cantons
of Glarus and Appenzell-Outer-Rhodes. On the other hand in the cantons of
Geneva, Neuchatel, and Ticino 59 to 66 per cent of the teachers in the
elementary schools are women. They are given lower salaries than the men.
The canton of Zurich pays (by law) equal wages to its men and women
teachers, but the additional salary paid by the municipalities and rural
districts to the men teachers is greater than that paid to the women. In
its elementary schools the canton of Vaud employs 500 women teachers, some
of whom are married. The Swiss universities have been open to women since
the early sixties of the nineteenth century. As in France, the native
women use this right far less than foreign women, especially Russians and
Germans. The total number of women studying in the Swiss universities is
about 700.