Henry wrote a strong leaflet on the "age of protection," and Mrs. Humphreys sent many articles to the press. A petition was widely circulated and bore thousands of names when the ladies carried it to the General Assembly in 1894. They succeeded in having a bill introduced, and were given hearings before an appropriate committee; but the Assembly adjourned without acting. In 1895, Mrs. Martha R. Stockwell was added to the committee, which again went to the Assembly with the petition; but without success, and the "age of protection" still remains 12 years. The penalty is death or imprisonment for life.
By special statute the Common Law is retained which makes 12 years the legal age for.a girl to marry.
A law to make mothers equal guardians with fathers of minor children is one to which the State association has devoted much attention, but which still waits on the future for success. At present the father is the legal guardian, and at his death may appoint one even for a child unborn. If the court appoints a guardian, the law (1894) requires that it "shall choose the father, or his testamentary appointee; then the mother if [still] unmarried, then next of kin, giving preference to the males."
The husband is expected to furnish the necessaries of life according to his condition, but if he has only his wages there is no law to punish him for non-support.
Suffrage: Kentucky was the first State in the Union to grant any form of suffrage to women by special statute, as its first School Law, passed in 1838, permitted widows in the country districts with children of school age to vote for trustees. In 1888 further extensions of School Suffrage were made and in the country districts, including fifth and sixth class cities, i. e., the smallest villages, any widow having a child of school age, and any widow or spinster having a ward of school age, may now vote for school trustees and district school taxes; also taxpaying widows and spinsters may vote for district school taxes.
In 1894 the General Assembly granted women the right to vote for members of the board of education on the same terms as men in the second-class cities, by a special clause in their charter. There are three of these—Covington, Newport and Lexington.[1]
- ↑ This Act was repealed in 1902 because more colored than white women voted in
