roposed
legislative restrictions from which men are exempt, and which
exercise a powerful influence on the market for their labor. For
the coming session we have the proposal further to limit their
hours of paid labor in factories, and to place other restrictions
on their labor in shops; also a proposition to place married
women on the footing of half-timers. Without here expressing any
opinion as to the wisdom of these proposals, we urge that members
of the House of Commons would be more capable of dealing with
them in a just and appreciative spirit if they were responsible
for their votes to the persons whose interests are directly
concerned and whose liberties they are asked to curtail; and,
further, that it is a grave question how far it is safe to trust
the industrial interests of women, as a class, to the
irresponsible control of the men who have manifested to
individuals and to sections of working women the spirit indicated
by the examples we have cited.

In the same speech you spoke of a state of the law in which the
balance is generally cast too much against women and too much in
favor of men. Since you directed your attention to this matter,
you have not been able either to introduce or to assist others
who have introduced measures to ameliorate the state of the law
respecting women, and such proposals have been unable to win
consideration from parliament. Your memorialists cannot believe
that this neglect has arisen from want of a desire on your part
to deal with the grievances under which you have admitted that
your countrywomen suffer; they are therefore led to the
conclusion that you have been unable to take into consideration
the affairs of an unrepresented class, owing to the preoccupation
of parliament with the concerns of those to whom it is directly
responsible.

You stated that "the question was, to devise a method of enabling
women to exercise a sensible influence, without undertaking
personal functions and exposing themselves to personal
obligations inconsistent with the fundamental particulars of
their condition as women," and that the objection to the personal
attendance of women at elections was in your mind an objection of
the greatest force. They respectfully submit that the exercise of
the municipal fra