HC Deb 10 March 1959 vol 601 cc93-4W

(1) 15 territories could accept the Convention

Montserrat, Grenada, St. Kitts, Virgin Islands, British Honduras, Tanganyika, Gambia, Sarawak, Mauritius, Jamaica, Turks Islands and the Cayman Islands (subject to the introduction of the new constitutions now under consideration), Trinidad, Antigua and St. Lucia.

(2) 12 territories could accept Articles I and II but not Article III

Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malta, Bermuda, Dominica, St. Vincent, Barbados, British Guiana, Seychelles, Falkland Islands, Tonga. Two common reasons are the absence of equal pay and the non-eligibility of women for jury service. There are also marriage bars or other measures of discrimination in branches of the Civil Service.

(3) 3 territories could not accept Article I (or Articles I and II)

In Nigeria there are no votes for women in the Northern Region. Sierra Leone has different qualifications for male and female electors. In Kenya there is no vote for Arab women and different qualifications for African men and women.

(4) 6 territories could not accept any Article

In Zanzibar women have no vote, are ineligible for election and there is no equal pay. In the Bahamas women have no vote, may not sit in the legislature and are not eligible for jury service. In Uganda women are excluded from voting in elections for the Lukiko and certain District Councils and there is no prospect of African opinion accepting their appointment to important public offices. In Aden women may not vote in Legislative Council elections and in other respects their position is closely affected by Muslim practices (the purdah system is still fairly rigid). In Fiji women are ineligible to vote and to be elected. Neither may they do jury service or act as court assessors and there is no equal pay for certain categories of public servants. Cyprus could not at the moment accept any of the three articles. Women may not vote in municipal elections nor stand for election as councillors. There are also certain restrictions on the appointment of married women to the public service.

(5) 6 territories (North Borneo, New Hebrides, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Solomon Islands, Somaliland Protectorate, St. Helena) have not sufficiently developed institutions for the Convention to apply to them although there is no actual legal objection.