g girls (_bayaderes_); unfortunately they are not
"virtuous women" (_honnetes femmes_), hence education among women has been
in ill repute.

A congress of women was held in Calcutta in 1906 with a woman as chairman;
this congress discussed the condition of Indian women. At the medical
congress of 1909, in Bombay, Hindoo women doctors spoke effectively. The
women doctors have formed the Association of Medical Women in India. In
Madras there is published the _Indian Ladies' Magazine_.[117]

CHINA[118]

Total population: 426,000,000.

The Chinese woman of the lower classes has the same status as the
Mohammedan woman,--ostensible freedom of movement, and hard work. The
women of the property owning classes, however, must remain in the house;
here, entertaining one another, they live and eat, apart from the men. As
woman is not considered in the Chinese worship of ancestors, her birth is
as unwished for as that of the Indian woman. Among the poor the birth of a
daughter is an economic misfortune. Who will provide for her? Hence in the
three most densely populated provinces the murder of girl babies is quite
common. In many cases mothers kill their little girls to deliver them from
the misery of later life. The father, husband, and the mother-in-law are
the masters of the Chinese woman. She can possess property only when she
is a widow (see the much more liberal provisions of the Koran).

The earnings of the Chinese wife belong to her husband. But in case of a
dispute in this matter, no court would decide in the husband's favor, for
he is supposed to be "the bread winner" of the family. Polygamy is
customary; but the Chinese may have only _one_ legitimate wife (while the
Mohammedan may have four). The concubine has the status of a _hetaera_;
she travels with the man, keeps his accounts, etc. The Chinese woman of
the property owning class lives, in contrast to the Hindoo woman, a life
filled with domestic duties. She makes all the clothes for the family;
even the most wealthy women embroider. Frequently the wife succeeds in
becoming the adviser of the husband. A widow is not despised; she can
remarry. The women of the lower classes engage in agriculture, domestic
service, the retail business, all kinds of agencies and commission
businesses, factory work (to a small extent), medical science (practiced
in a purely experimental way), and midwifery; they carry burdens and
assist in the loading and unloading of ships. Women'