SHALL WOMEN WORK ?

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 846, 18 June 1910, Page 11

SHALL WOMEN WORK ?

The suggestion of Mr. John Burns, -president of the Local Government Hoard, that women's earning powei should bo limited by Act of Parliament, brings forth a strong article from Elizabeth .Robins in the "Fortnightly *' on the question: "Shall "Women Work?" Many will be inclined to think that the question has been decided in the affirmative onco and for all by the pressure of modern life; but, says the writer, nothing in this world is iiually settled that is I not v settled for the good of the v world. ' First of all she dismisses the theory I that •woman's physical weakness unfits her I

for work. ■ "She is tho drudge of the world," she says. , "She sweats over all the 'cooking stoves of Christendom. She is a pit lassie in the north; she is an agricultural labourer in tho south; she makes bricks and bicycles in the Midlands. In Germany she is still bnrhessod alongside a dumb beast ami drags a loaded cart. . . . Whether it is good for her is quite another matter. "As to the essential good or evil of the work, the old curse upon it jvas really levelled against overwork or against work under evil conditions. Nobody in all the labour world has worked harder than the great artists—except the self-made millionaires. Why do such people mork?. Because , their work interests them, fascinates them, makes all so-called recreation a labour and a penance. . . . One of tho things we must pity the poor.for is (hat in them tho jov of work has been killed so early. By Nature we* nil, men, women, and children alike—all who are born healthy and live, unperverted—have a sense of joy in making something. The sick, tho,olil, the sweated—they are the ones who shrink. Not to have'to work? Why, it is the. ideal of tho superannuated servant—the poor soul who, though giving up 'service' cannot givo up the servile mind. /.Vor tho masters of the world to have to givo up , work is humiliation; it is acceptance of defeat! "But this thing that is so prized by thu freest and most, gifted amongst men is not good, some say, for women; or good only in modified, sternly restricted form—liko certain poisons. It is bad, they say, for women to work on the same terms as. men. Instead of giving better opportunities for wage-earning, they would see tho poor woman (above all the ppor married woman) legislated out of such liberty as she now possesses. "You might Miink," she adds, "that poor mothers went out to work, as a person might go to a publichouse, for recreation or oblivion." ■ ( But though Elizabeth Robins is a leuder in the woman's franchise party, she knows that there is no place so dear to women as.home; nothing so absorbing and interesting as children. There is not one mother in a thousand who would rather go to work in a shon or mill or factory than stay with her children. But when the iiuestion. of semi-starvation or plenty depends upon her. working abroad or staying at home, sho goea to the factory, and leaves her litllo ones to the cars of a grandmother or an older brother or sister. Sho is merely obeying the maternal instinct to do the best she can lor her children. Another point that is overlooked by those who insist that woman's' place i's tit homo with lv.-r children is that some women have no children. Docs the childless widow, the bereaved mother, the incorrigible maiden deserve no consideration?. And may not the mother who=e children have grown up and left her to find a field for her activities '< Tho writer looks to the vote as"tho means of establishing woman's economic independence, and, moreover, she insists that the antagonistic attitude of so many of the modern women will alter when she Is recogniMd as being man's equal. "Women are still a little surprised and excited lo find they can do things," she says. "Give them'time, when the doors of the professions, instead of being so jealously guarded—or opened, if ,i,t all such iv little crack that you must push and squeeze if you've to get through— when the doors are flung wide, only some women will r.o through them. And thoso who will walk in orderly-wise, , not pressinc nlid overstraining. The need for that ivill be no more." Don't let prejudice or misrepresentation affect you on the hot water bottlo question. Wβ are headquarters for Indiarubber hot water bottles, and not being connected rcifch any rubbed' syndicate are in a position to sell tho very best quality from Gs. Cd. each. Shaw's Medical Hall, .Manners Street, and tho Cecil Buildings, Lambton Quay.—Advt. PERFECT lIAIR PADS. The most perfect hair pads for present fashions ■ arc tho "Belgravia." They are made of pure hair throughout, and can be adapted to 'all styles of hairdressing. They aro the lightest and coolest lo wear, and are obtainable in all shades of brown and grey, l'rice, Is. Ask tc seo them at Kirkcaldie and Stains, Te Aro House, and leading drapers everywhere. Tako no substitute. Every pad bears the maker's name. A. M. Hendy, Hair..Specialist, Duw.'diiL—Advt, i