THE BALKAN WOMAN'S PART IN THE BALKAN WAR.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1672, 12 February 1913, Page 2

THE BALKAN WOMAN'S PART IN THE BALKAN WAR.

• The Suffragette" is a weekly paper published in Loudon. It recently contained the report of. an address ■by '.Mrs.. Israel Zangwill at t'he London Pavilion. Iho speech discloses a, point of view regarding'the Balkan War which,, we believe, has not yet been appreciated. In tho ultimate analysis, according to Mrs. Zangwill, the. Balkan victory has been won because every' Turkish soldier is a 6ingle unit, whereas every married man in tho Balkan army counts, more or less, as two. Thus -Turkey has not been fighting against four allies, but really against eight!. That this is not a fantastical'explanation is shown by the part ployed, by'the Balkan women in-the war. "In tlieir native towns and villages they are doing most of tho work usually performed by men," and thus keep things going while tho men are at the front, lienco "the foal bare of the Balkan army is formed by the Balkan Women at homo." Again, "tho Balkan women-ore actively employed',iu carrying provisions and ammunition to tho forces." Indeed, among; tho Servians, asserts Mrs. Zangwill, "women form the only Army Service Corps." : Sho adds: , ' * ' r "Women aro doing the cooking, the sewing,'the washing, for'the soldiersj women aro nursing tlio wounded. Women are dying in tho fighting line. And practically all this extra strength and vine is on one side only, t'ho side of tboallies. What wonder that tho Turks havo been defeated!"

But this is' not all, "It is obvious that a pcopld all of whom aro able-bodied will bo stronger- than a people only 'half of whom aro .able-bodied"—as is the caso' with the Turks. It is not eo obvious, however, as 'Mrs, 1 Zangwill is careful to .point outi-that the'dilt'er'enco is not only in .qu'anlit)V it is also'in quality: . ' ""ino allies have not only proved tiiera-; 'selves'- unsuspectedly.-'superior ini fighting'strength, ,itlioy:iiaya also ,proved thoniselvcs Unsuspectedly- superior-in- morale. 1 . . Whon women hold tho position that they do in Turkey, it may well bo biologically ' undesirable. for the race. .... Tho wifo is,'a mere cipher in tho household.'. ... Women have as far as possible been eliminated... .Tho ; Turk .has ■ treated womanas a sort of indiscretion'on the part of the" Creator!"

The present war is a'proof of the falsity of this ideal, says Mrs. Zangwill. Hcncri she feels that; this 'war is not a triumph' of Christianity over' Mohammedanism so much as tho triumph of tho Christian position of woman oyer the Mohammedan position of woman.' "It may be said that in tho past'tho Turks havo been great fighters. That was when all the nations were also in an early stage of civilisation. . t . Certainly to-day the Turk has. shown liis inferiority. Doubtless he might win again were ho to be given an advantage great enough to .outbalaneo tho handicap of mono-sexu-ality." An instance of the mono-sexual point of view Mrs. Zangwilb finds in the case: of the Mayflower: - . "Wo are all -taught that America was founded by tho Pilgrim Fathers. This is a half-truth that.is worso than a lio.-Amori-ca was iounded by tho. Pilgrim Fathers and the Pilgrim Mothers; indeed, for my. part, I should put the Mothers first. The, Pilgrim Futhers alone might;have conquered America, but I very much doubt whether they would have colonised it. Had theso womeii been mere slaves dragged at the heels of their masters, . . . the New England that wo know would never havo arisen." .