WOMAN'S SPHERE

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1752, 17 May 1913, Page 4

WOMAN'S SPHERE

The views on woman's sphere in the. world so well expressed by Miss M. E. Richmond at the meeting of the Richmond Freo Kindergarten Union on Wednesday comc as a refreshing change from the so-called "advanced" ideas which have become popular with people of_a certain type of mind obsessed with the foolish id'ja that tho work which nature has specially fitted women to do is futile and commonplace. Such a colourless and altogether uninspiring conception of woman's mission betrays a pitiful lack of imagination, just as the masculine inclinations of some women show a depressing want of originality. Women, as a sex, cannot successfully compete with man in his own sphere; naturo has mado that impossible. In her own place in creation, however, she must always stand pre-eminent. And it is only narrowness of vision which would prompt her to cast aside the fact of her sex "as if it were an indignity and a disability," to quote Miss Richmond's imprcssivo words, instead of a "splendid opportunity." If the "monstrous regiment of women moving along unwomanly lines" would, as Miss Richmond suggests, turn their worse than wasted energies into their proper channels, above all to the betterment of homo life, they would do some real good for the nation, and at thesame time develop their finest qualities. Tho ideal state would be that in which tho men and women would each make the highest use of the special qualities with which nature has endowed them, not as rivals, but as co-work-ers in their separate spheres for tho general good. Miss Richmond certainly put her finger on a weakness in our education system when she pointed out that a masculine standard is put before tho girls instead of the true ideals of A modern writer states that "nothing that a girl can learn at school can be compared in importance to a thorough grasp of t)ie fact that her first and most urgent duties must always ba within the family circle, and that the welfare of tho future citizens of tho race is the province of social endeavour which falls naturally to her share." This is very true, and our education system might very well be readjusted, so far as the girls arc concerned, to give some more adequate expression to such an ideal than its most enthusiastic admirer can claim that it docs at the present time.