squalification Removal Act for the United Kingdom
went some way but not the whole way towards the fulfilment of the
pledge given by the Coalition Government of Mr. Lloyd George in
December, 1918, "to remove existing inequalities in the law as between
men and women." A much more complete bill had been introduced by the
Labour Party early in the session, which passed through all its stages
in the House of Commons notwithstanding Government opposition but was
defeated in the House of Lords and the Government changeling
substituted. This Act, though it did not give women the parliamentary
vote on the same terms as men nor admit them to the civil service on
equal terms, and though the clause specifically conferring on them
eligibility to the House of Lords was cut out, contained,
nevertheless, important provisions in the direction of equality. It
allowed them to sit on juries, be Justices of the Peace, sworn in as
police officers, enter the legal profession and made it possible for
the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge to admit women to membership
and degrees on equal terms with men.

The only important advance in education after 1900 was the throwing
open to women by the Governing Body of Trinity College, Dublin, of
degrees, membership and all privileges pertaining thereto in 1903. All
the universities in the United Kingdom, with the exception of Oxford
and Cambridge, have been for many years open to women and in November,
1919, a Royal Commission was appointed to enquire into their financial
resources and into the administration and application of these
resources. On the commission, Miss Penrose of Somerville College,
Oxford, and Miss B. A. Clough of Newnham College, Cambridge, the
women's colleges, were appointed as members. An Act of Parliament
later enabled both universities to grant membership, degrees and all
privileges to women. Oxford availed itself of these powers without
delay. Cambridge in December, 1920, refused to do so by a large vote,
but it will ultimately have to open its doors.

FOOTNOTES:

[215] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Millicent
Garrett Fawcett, J.P., LL.D., who has been prominently connected with
the movement for women's suffrage in Great Britain for nearly fifty
years and was President of the National Association from 1904, when it
was re-organized, until after the victory was won in 1918.

[216] Accompanying this chapter was a complete list of laws in the
interest of