Woman in the World

The month's women's events — how many they are! Wherever you turn, to every corner of the world, you find woman surging with movement and boiling over with activity. In this new leap of hers, after the stagnation of generations, she is like a young man in the dawn of his youth.

In Lebanon, woman will enter the electoral battle in a few days; this news is set out in detail elsewhere in this issue.

In London, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was the greatest event to occupy the world. Seventy-two states sent representatives to represent them at the ceremonies, which were attended by 4 million people, half a million of whom slept on the sidewalks the night before the ceremony to make certain of seeing the procession pass; a million people also watched the ceremonies by television, and pictures of them were carried by airplane to America and shown after only 12 hours... The young Queen, 27 years of age, came out seven times onto the balcony to greet the crowds, whose cheering thundered. The most beautiful sight of the ceremony was that of the Indian delegations with their great turbans and their mustaches, and the Scottish with their kilts... And of all the prominent women who attended the ceremony, only one was presented to the Queen: the Begum Liaquat Ali Khan, who was wearing a sumptuous Pakistani dress. The Queen's crown, moreover, weighs three kilograms.

In the United States, President Eisenhower has adopted the policy of having America represented on important occasions by women. At the wedding of the Belgian Princess Josephine-Charlotte and Duke Jean, heir to the throne of the principality of Luxembourg, he charged Mrs. Perle Mesta, America's ambassador in Luxembourg, to stand in for him at the wedding ceremony; and for the coronation ceremonies of Queen Elizabeth he entrusted Mrs. Fleur Cowles with representing the United States there. Mrs. Cowles is a self-made woman who grew up in a poor family; she first studied drawing, then worked at the age of 16 as an advertising artist for the stores, then rose to be director of one of the great companies; she married the press king Gardner Cowles and joined him in running the magazine "Look." Fleur is counted among America's prominent ladies, and one of the ten women in America famed for elegance. She went to London as an official representative alongside General Marshall and the Governor of California, Earl Warren... Only one thing vexed Fleur and clouded her mood: the wearing of the hat, which she had not worn for ten years. The doctors proposed making special eyeglasses for her to wear at the ceremonies, and she refused. Alongside these two ladies, the papers speak of Mrs. Luce, whom the President has appointed ambassador of the United States in Italy.

Denmark

Woman has been permitted to succeed to the throne of the kingdom in Denmark; this was forbidden her under the country's constitution, but the Danish parliament, after meetings and deliberations, approved the amendment of the constitution. Thus, instead of the crown passing from the present King Frederik to his brother Prince Knud, it will pass to the King's daughter, Princess Margrethe, who is 13 years old. The King has three daughters, Margrethe the eldest of them, and she has today become heiress to the throne — unless her father should be blessed with a male child, in which case he would become the heir.

Paris

A committee of UNESCO experts has met and decided to carry out, during this year, a wide-ranging inquiry in France, Norway, Germany, and Yugoslavia, studying thoroughly the subject of woman's participation in political life, in order to see how sound and how successful it has proved in the countries that have adopted it, and to learn to what extent it can be extended to other countries. It appeared from a report broadcast by one of the women's organizations that 52 nations have recognized woman's political right, but that among them 22 still distinguish between man and woman in these rights: some stipulate, for instance, that the woman be the man's equal in education and in property; some forbid her to represent her country abroad; some forbid her to state her opinion in parliament when certain subjects are under discussion; and some grant her the right to vote and to hold local office.

And lastly, a women's delegation from the state of Texas in America has visited Lebanon, and the wife of the American ambassador gave a party in honor of the delegation, attended by many of the leaders of the women's movement in Lebanon. The purpose of this women's delegation's visit was to strengthen relations and good-neighborliness among the women's organizations of the various countries; the club that sent them is called the Neighbors' Club. The president of the Neighbors' Club spoke, asking Mrs. Laure Tabet that Lebanon send two girl students to be educated at the club's expense, and Mrs. Tabet replied with thanks and welcome. The president of the delegation, moreover, conferred upon the American ambassador in Lebanon the title of honorary citizen of the city of San Antonio in Texas, and promised to send him the diploma upon her return — which shows the measure of this club's influence and sway. This delegation, made up of 19 women, will travel among the countries of the Middle East to work at consolidating relations, becoming acquainted with the women's organizations, and observing how much vitality and activity there is in their renaissance.