Part 21 (2/2)

Among the peasantry, women, as a rule, marry earlier than they do among the cultivated cla.s.ses.

_The Solemnisation of Marriages._--According to the law of 1734, which remained valid until 1864, a spinster could not marry without the consent of her father, or, if he were dead, of her mother. Both parents being dead, this duty devolved upon the eldest male member of the family.

In the year 1864 (31st October) a law was enacted according to which girls, after their twenty-first year, are free to marry without the consent of either father or mother. For a marriage to be lawful the banns must be read from the pulpit on three several Sundays, and the marriage ceremony must be performed by a clergyman.

_Statutes of 1889._--In the statutes of 1889 the law on antenuptial marriage agreements was altered to the advantage of the wife. By means of antenuptial agreements a woman may now not only retain as her special property whatever she possessed before marriage, and whatever she may have, after marriage, inherited, received as a gift, or as a legacy, but she may also _reserve for herself the right of taking charge of and managing her own property and the income thereof_.

In 1908, a law was pa.s.sed enacting that no girl under the age of seventeen years should marry. How much wiser than in England.

As soon as the marriage ceremony has been performed, ”the husband becomes the natural guardian of his wife,” is responsible for her and manages _their_ property.

In spite, however, of a woman being under the legal guardians.h.i.+p of her husband, there is probably no country where women are held in more reverence and respect than in Finland. While in Germany the middle cla.s.s _Hausfrau_ takes a back seat, hardly speaking before her lord and master, and being in many cases scarcely better than a general servant (of the Jack-of-all-trades and master of none cla.s.s), doing a little cooking, seeing to the dusting and cleaning, helping make the beds, wash the children, and everlastingly producing her big basket of _Handarbeit_, the Finnish woman, although just as domesticated, is less ostentatious in her performance of such duties, and, like her sisters in England, attends to her household matters in the morning, according to a regulated plan worked out for herself; trains her servants properly, and, having set the clock going for the day, expects the machinery to work. Every decent household should be managed on some such plan, and we all know that the busier the woman the more comfortable, as a rule, she makes her home; the mere fact of her having an occupation, inspires those about her to work. Added to which, the busy woman knows order and method are the only means by which satisfactory results can possibly be obtained, and that order and method which she has acquired herself she is able to teach her less-educated domestics, or anyway inspire them with it.

Idle people are always apparently busy; but it is the business of muddle, while really busy people always have time for everything, and keep everything in its place.

Finnish ladies are thoroughly well educated. They are musical and artistic, beautiful needle-women, manage their homes well, and they have read enough to join in any discussion in which they take an interest. They are, consequently, treated by their husbands as equals, and although until 1907 they had no political rights, women were much employed in government services. They were not debarred from becoming members of the great societies. For instance, as far back as 1897, among the two hundred and twelve Fellows that composed the Geographical Society of Finland there were seventy-three women, yet in 1913 our Royal Geographical Society shrieked at the idea of woman entering their portals. The Swedish Literary Society, with thirteen hundred members, has eighty-two women on its books. The same with the philanthropic societies, music, art, etc. In fact, all doors are open to women.

Ladies have done much for the cause of temperance, and in all philanthropic movements they are busy; they have organised schools for the deaf, dumb, blind, and crippled, and look after night shelters, mothers' unions, ragged unions, rescue homes, working homes for children, benevolent societies, etc.

The pamphlet, speaking of unmarried women, also says--

_Rights of Unmarried Women enlarged._--In 1864 (on the 31st of October) _the position of unmarried women_ was improved. According to the law that was then enacted, an unmarried woman--

1. When she has reached her fifteenth year, may take charge of whatever she may earn.

2. When she has reached her twenty-first year she may manage her own property, if she chooses to do so, provided that she informs the court of her intention.

3. When she has reached her twenty-fifth year she is of age, and may manage her own property without informing the court thereof.

_Rights of Inheritance._--In the beginning of the Swedish rule our country probably conformed to the old Swedish laws and regulations, according to which women had a right to _inherit property_ only in cases where there were no male heirs.

_Legislation of Birger Jarl: Women inherited one-third._--In the middle of the thirteenth century, Finnish (as well as Swedish) women were awarded the right of inheriting _a third part_ of the property left by their parents, whereas two-thirds accrued to the male heirs. For this improvement our women were indebted to Birger Jarl, the great Swedish legislator and statesman, who bears an honoured name in our history.

Many exceptions, however, were made to this rule. Where the father was a landowner, for instance, the princ.i.p.al estate always descended to the son, whereas the daughter had to be content with some smaller estate of less value, or with part of the personal property.

_Legislation of 1734: Daughters and Sons of Town People, etc., inherit Equal Shares._--Such was the state of things for several centuries, till it was at last changed somewhat for the better when the law of 1734 came into force. This law decreed that the sons and daughters of commoners living in towns, and those of the clergy, were to inherit _equal shares_. The daughters of the n.o.bility and of all landowners in the country, however, remained in the same position as before.

_Law now in force: Daughters and Sons inherit Equal Shares._--This lasted nearly one and a half centuries, until _in all cla.s.ses of society_ the daughters received the right of inheriting _equal shares_ with the sons, which they did, according to a law enacted on 27th June 1878. _Hence Finnish women now possess the same rights of inheritance as men._ The latter, however, still in some cases have the advantage over women; _e.g._ where there is landed property to be inherited and the princ.i.p.al estate cannot be conveniently divided, then the brother or male heir is ent.i.tled to purchase the sister's part. The benefit thus accruing to the son injures the position of the daughter, in case the brother is a spendthrift or unable to pay the sum which represents her share of the paternal estate. Among the peasantry it is still customary to buy off the daughter with a small sum of money, regardless of what the true value of the estate may be, or with part of the personality, so that the male heir may have the whole of the estate.

Divorce is somewhat uncommon in Finland. Indeed, next to Belgium, that country shows the smallest number of divorced marriages; still divorce may be granted on the following grounds:--

On the plea of adultery. It is not, however, enough for the guilty party to acknowledge his or her guilt, which must be fully proved, as well as the time when, the place where, and the person with whom, it was committed.

If either husband or wife have, after the betrothal but before the marriage, committed adultery with some one else, and this is made known after marriage, the innocent party may claim a divorce, if he or she demand it.

The law is in this respect severer with women than with men; for if a husband be informed of his wife having been seduced by some one else before her betrothal with him, he has the right to claim divorce from her, but the wife has not the same right _vice versa_.

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