en, our movement has formed part of the ordinary
political life of the country.

The _Suffrage Journal_ for May contains a very carefully drawn
calculation of the number of women in the United Kingdom who will
probably receive the franchise if the wider qualifications
contained in the present Franchise bill become law. It must be
remembered that there are now 3,330,720 more houses than electors
in the British Isles. In boroughs where household suffrage already
prevails for men, the unrepresented houses should guide us to a
tolerably correct estimate of the number of women householders. We
may say that practically there are 446,000 houses in the boroughs
of England and Wales, whose inhabitant in each case being a woman,
is unrepresented. The proportion varies much in different
localities; in the city of Bath one-fourth the householders are
women. If we calculate that one house in every six in the boroughs
is occupied by a woman, we find that 349,746 is the probable number
to be enfranchised there.

For the counties there are no means of arriving at so close a
result, but by estimating the proportion of women householders to
be the same as that of women land-owners, or one in seven, we reach
the fairly approximate calculation of 390,434, in the counties. The
same method of calculation applies to Scotland and to Ireland,
where, however, the proportion of woman land-owners is one in
eight.[560]

In order to show that the desire for the suffrage was not confined
to any one rank, class or profession of women, a circular was
signed by a large number of ladies and sent to every member of both
houses of parliament. It was as follows:

SIR: We desire to call your attention to the claim of women who
are heads of households to be included in the operation of the
government Franchise bill.

Women have continuously presented this claim before parliament
and the country since the Reform bill of 1867. The introduction
of a measure declared by the government to be intended to deal
with the franchise in an exhaustive manner, renders it especially
necessary now to urge it upon the attention of parliament.

We respectfully represent that the claim of duly qualified women
for admission within the pale of the constitution is fully as
pressing as that of the agricultural laborer, and that the body
of electors who would thereby be added to the constituencies,
would be at