WOMEN DEFENDERS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 165, 15 July 1942, Page 4

WOMEN DEFENDERS

THE thought of women occupying position* In the armed forces, except a B 1138 been , unwe lcome to many men, and 2h«TnnrtvaM 8 u J?® declsiof i J n It is not surprising that the innovation has been long delayed. Now It is announced that wemen * r ®J" b ® enlisted for service with anti-aircraft and coastal batteries, re th ,® 3 uns but wlll control instruments IndiafifPv g f Unners ' T J® ' m P° rtan t point Is that in case of action P to come under enemy flre, In the same manner as the men at the guns. For a number cf women this possibility will not act d?«Hk* e »h!i r ?h« a t * n , incGntl^ e - These, like the majority of men, dislike the thought of coming under flre, but they dislike more heartily fc' 110 # 1 °f.honf, civilian target* without the opportunity of hitting K en # th V bllu waa ra «* n « in Britain many a woman felt that !LT°^ ld L av better to he subjected to bombing bb a member of an * !£ ry than t0 b ® compelled to sit passively in a shelter perhaps In an adjacent street. It would be no different In New Zealand* The entry of women into artillery units will give rise to some problems w , b f will be overcome here as they have been In Britain. Meanwhile the leading thought for many women will be tint SfhJnmi 1 ," npre f® d l m 1 d (though, doubS no the last to become, In a very real sense, defenders of New Zealand.