BONE OF CONTENTION

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1984, 14 February 1914, Page 10

BONE OF CONTENTION

LIVES of advanced women. Does the emancipation of women make' for married happiness ? asks thtj .Londbit' correspondent of the ''Australasian. The problem is too thorny to bo discussed at length, but 6.01110 interesting information, throwing light upon the matter, has recently been _ published. 11l tlio same couiicctioii," fbptiiu.sfi cir.cjps have boon discussing Mrs. We|\tworth Stanlev's address at a recent Au:Uri\l:i.an Cliurcii Congress: In this, Mrs. . Stanley protested ng!vi)i.st 'iiiis li.terat.ure' 1 ■on ssx matters which S'ufi.ragist (igitators liavi) been, distrihiiting " even.". to '" young girls'. In the sa'nio address, Mrs. Wentworth Stanley recalled that th<* . Archbishop of Melbourne, -ngaged r . medical man to giyfl. four IbqUucs • lit Melbourne Cathedral, 0112 being pn. race suicide, and nnotlicr upon infant mortality. Mrs. Stanley's . comment was thfft the possession of Parliamontgry Juul i'mfc .niado Australian' 1 wo.iitcii nheci; tliese evils, though they had had tho vote for twelve 'year?. Eng).i|Jt. feminists are so used to. quoting the Australian example., when urging til.® emancipation of women, that it has been ratljer a shock to read that the franchiso has not brought m its t.caili all the blessings womankind liad expected. Tho statistical information is of American origin, and is supplied by'' Mount Holvoake College, where Amei tcan wdmon have received higher ettll--cation since 1810. Some 6000 circulars, ww issued to the graduates, asking tlio following [jucationj,;—"'What is your pn sent profession ? How much do ynu •larn? Are v<iu married '1 How old were vou at tljp time of your weddingf What is your husbiuid's business? How mnny ehi'ldreri have you -h'ad ? How have they . been educated? What is their pretent occupation?" ■~ ' , <t . Some 3000 answers were received frorii the Mount Holyoalie College, disclosing the lamentable fact that the. present tendency is for two-thirds of them to become 'old maids. Wherea.s girls who took, degrees in the 'forties of the last century nvarrieol to the extent of 85 per eeiit., only lo in every hvindted. reinaininiz spiii^teiT,tho present mnrriage rate is 24 pe:r cent,., 76 in every hundred becoming old maids. The "sweet girl graduates" of tho 20th century ncejji to have little,desire .for lifelong companionship tvitli a hiiin. Instead, they mostly become teachers. Eighty-two.j'cr cent, of tho unhiarried grrt.diifitijft. e.t .. Mo"by liolyoalte Collego earn llreir livings by education. . , . , Nor can it lie said that .the ■e.u'ciiln-rs ■give evuleiiCD that the; niari'iflgts. jljoiii" selves aVe entirely successful. Qf hundred unions, 3.0 wore f-'uldless, whereas tlio proportion ill the married po-pulation RPDAKiIfy is only ' 1 l' pl ' 0®!".. Tlio !iirth-rate among t|iose who became mothers during the first decade of the present century was no more than |.o ohilttren per niarriago, It is t.nic that . the problem cannot be sottlpd. by stat'S' tier. " Nevertheless, the evulniieo given by tl.ia Mount Holwake graduates is popent enough to pleas? thoso who digseiit from tho super-e.iuc.ntion of ■w.'onisn, holding that the primary dutv of the sex 13 to become wives and mothers, / -7-"—™ — Jfr. and Mrs. F. D. Hcmek, who were married f.roin tho Roy&l Gait Hotel, left foi Sydney last evening, en route to Japan.