Woman Around the World

And everywhere woman's voice rises, demanding her political right — indeed, her social right. In Lebanon, the women engaged in the women's movement held a meeting, to be followed by another, in which they discussed the question of inheritance and the injustice that befalls woman in it; and they resolved to ask the government to consider a law that had been submitted to it guaranteeing woman's complete equality with man in this matter.

Polygamy

Woman's voice rises loudly in this quarter. In Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, a demonstration of 20,000 women went out into the street, demanding an end to polygamy and to child marriage.

In Singapore

The women engaged in the women's movement met, and the secretary of the general women's council cried out among them, saying: our first aim is to strive against polygamy, and against a man's marrying a second woman before he has divorced the first. We are striving with all our strength to lift this injustice from us.

On Land and Sea

The most important women's event of the past month came from Pakistan: woman has entered all branches of military service exactly like man. The first women's battalion donned sailors' dress and went down to the Pakistani destroyer Jhelum to train aboard her. The women's land battalions have likewise begun training in the carrying of arms and in marksmanship under the supervision of army officers. The ranks of young Pakistani women in sailors' and soldiers' dress appear as splendid as can be. And Mrs. Liaquat Ali Khan has visited the women's camps, saluting and encouraging.

National Guard

In Egypt, more than a thousand girls have donned the dress of the National Guard and marched in the streets of Cairo with rapid-firing rifles and machine guns on their shoulders. Woman's role in the National Guard is the medical services, nursing, and the guarding of hospital trains for the wounded and of field hospitals. As for enlistment in all its branches, it may come soon. A hundred applications a day reach the command from mothers and wives wishing to join the National Guard, but the responsible authorities think it best to confine themselves for the present to students of the schools and universities.

Almost Soldiers

In Iraq, troops of Girl Guides took part in the military parade, while other troops of them stood at the corners carrying baskets of flowers, clapping and cheering; troops of Syrian Girl Guides had earlier taken part in the military review.

The Governments

In Egypt it was the government itself that drew up a draft law limiting polygamy and the incidence of divorce, providing that the husband who wishes to divorce his wife must obtain special leave from a competent judge, who examines the husband's financial condition and his circumstances, and whether they permit him to marry a second time. The draft law also entitles the wife who is divorced without cause to claim compensation. This draft law is under study, and the responsible authorities hold that divorce built on rashness and haste threatens the life of the Egyptian family with danger.

And in India

The government has likewise drawn up a draft law giving woman the right to judge and to sit on the bench exactly like man; the members of the legislative assembly are studying this law with a view to discussing and passing it...

In the British Parliament

Mrs. Jennie Lee, wife of the British minister Bevan, was counted the youngest woman member of the British Parliament. She had been her husband's secretary; then they married. She entered Parliament at the age of 23, and she and her husband are the only married couple both sitting as members in the House of Commons. Mrs. Bevan has distinguished herself in the field of domestic politics; she is, besides, an able journalist who holds the post of editor-in-chief of the newspaper Tribune. The two member-spouses are visiting Egypt today...

A Medal

The United Nations has awarded a medal to the widow of Rama Rau, India's former ambassador to it, for her unceasing defense of women's rights in India.

Humanitarian Work

The United Nations presented its annual report for 1953, and from the work of eight of its specialized agencies it appeared that the World Health Organization safeguarded the health of 26 million children and mothers against malaria and tuberculosis in all parts of the world.

A Statistic

The number of women graduates of Cairo University alone reached 1,625 young women, some of them from the faculties of commerce, law, letters, agriculture, and veterinary medicine. As for the faculty of science, it remained forbidden to the sweet sex, which was unable to enter its doors until this year.

Democracy and Motherhood

The wife of Dr. Jamali, the Prime Minister of Iraq, works as a teacher at Queen Aliya College in Baghdad; and lately, upon an illness that struck one of her children, she donated her salary to be spent on projects for the care of children with disabilities.

And Finally

What shall I say of woman's social activity, when it abounds in every Arab country? In Syria the Mabarra held its annual meeting and elected a new administrative board... The Ministry of Health saw the great efforts being made by the Social Services Association and resolved to grant it a large sum of money, in encouragement and in recognition of its efforts; most of the other associations have likewise shown tangible activity.

In Egypt the ideal mother for 1954 was elected, and Mrs. Nahida Sirri won — and Egypt's mother for this year is the mother of three daughters and has notable social activity. Anwar al-Sadat visited the Women's Union and distributed clothing and sweets to 100 poor children in the Union's care. The Red Crescent, moreover, is drawing up vast projects it is striving to carry out: a higher school for nurses, with a course of study of one year, after which the nurse takes the post of head nurse in the hospitals; then the project of founding a blood bank — the women in charge presented a lengthy report on it to the responsible authorities, after two members of the Red Crescent returned from Europe and found the application of the idea both necessary and possible; then the opening of the new branches in Maadi and Giza. And what more shall I mention of Beirut, Amman, Ramallah, Jerusalem, Aleppo, Baghdad, and Tripoli — in each of them activity, and entertainments that gather from the rich to give to the needy...

It is woman's giving, tender hand...