...In fact only yesterday I came across a little poem which said that there is no place in which a woman is not and ought not to be . The poet said: -
They talk about a woman’s sphere
As though it had a limit
There’s not a place in earth or heaven
There is not a task to mankind given
There is not a whisper “Yes” or “No”
There is not a life pr death or birth
That has a feather weight of worth,
Without a woman in it.
If she can be everywhere, I do not see why she cannot be in this Council. I am told however that she is not in one particular place. A clergyman, addressing a large audience of women in America, remarked, all of a sudden in the course of the sermon, while the ladies were conversing, that there was one place where women were not to be found and that was Heaven. When the women looked aghast he quoted the following passage from the Bible as his authority;
“Then there was silence in Heaven for one moment”.
There may be no silence where there are women. But silence is not a virtue which this House needs encourage. We are accused of recording many silent votes for government. Women may relive us in this matter.
Women are everywhere. We cannot get on without them and if we do not yield to them now of our own choice, we may have to do so out of necessity later on. Women have a right to rule this land along with men. The old saying is that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. If any great Kings ruled and misruled Empires women ruled and misruled great Kings. As a councillor women had a great past and have a great future. So let us have women i this House and they will be able to persuade is to do what is best for this country. I hope that the House will not raise any difficulties in the matter of enfranchising women both as voters and as persons entitled to sit in this House.
Mr. V Ramadas Pantulu. Council of State Sept 1925