Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - XXI. Political and Social Progress - B. Three Great Political Questions - C. Three Great Social Questions
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Social Progress 349
and the salaries of members are the same in the two
bodies.
In local elections the number of votes each citizen
possessed was formerly regulated by his income. But
in 1918 this distinction was abolished, and now each
citizen (man or woman) has one vote, as in the general
election of members of the Riksdag.
C. THE THREE GREAT SOCIAL QUESTIONS
The Woman’s Problem. It was not only the handi-
craftsman that was crowded out by machine produc-
tion. Much of women’s work in the home was also
taken over by it. What were the unmarried daughters
in a home to do if they wanted to support themselves
and not be a burden to anyone? All women could not
marry as the proportion of adult men to adult women
in Sweden is as four to five. Want was the unmarried
woman’s lot in the early days of machine production.
She was barred from the right to learn a trade or prac-
tice a profession, and most women inherited only half
the amount of their brothers.
In 1845 the first step in establishing woman’s rights
was taken, when the Riksdag decided that the inheri-
tance of brother and sister should be equal. Another
step in her emancipation was taken when the Riksdag
decided that an unmarried woman was of age and re-
sponsible for herself at the same age as a man. The
Riksdag has also from time to time opened a way for
her to earn her support. She has been given the right
to enter trades, professions, and government service.
For a long time her highest aim was to secure the right
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