WOMEN AND THE WAR REGULATIONS BILL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2809, 29 June 1916, Page 3

WOMEN AND THE WAR REGULATIONS BILL

ITS POSSIBILITIES

A WOMAN'S POINT OF VIEW

(By Matron X-r—.)

A matter which is engaging the earnest attention of a number of women of the community is the War Regulations Bill, which is now before Parliament, and to which strenuous objection is taken in regard to certain of its clauses. 'This Bill proposes to empower the Gov-ernor-in.Council to make by regulations such .provisions as, having regard to tho exigencies of the persent war or tho conditions created thereby, he thinks advisable for all or. any of several purposes, among theni being the clauses to which exception is taken., Clause 5 proposes to make provision for the suppression of prostitution or .for-'.'the prevention of venereal disease, and Clause 3 provides for-the regulation of the . sale of intoxi-, editing liquor to women—the last two words being ones which it is demaudeft should be deleted.

Aa will be seen' from the foregoing* 1 the power given to the Governor-in-Conn- : eil is exceedingly .wideband by means [ this Bill it would be possible to reiritiio-; duce the most objectionable features ■o.tf thp C.D. Acts. . " 'j ■ One of the powers given to the poligrv in the C.D. Acts was that of being . ao/.t» to arrest any woman on suspicion. Qurfce apart from all the other provisions,' of the . Acts, this alone would merit /the condemnation of all women who uraiorgtoodwhat' it would lead to, -nor*,3lß they likely to tolerate .any attempt, to reintroduce this power in the War Regulations Bill. Such a provision strides at. the fundaments) rights of womemi as citizens,. whether they be worthy" or. : nn-, worthy members of the community..; By it any woman who happened to falj under the suspicions of the police, wJiejther Bhe wero of the proscribed class:oir not," could be'arrested and subjected to the most humiliating experiences, 'police are riot' infallible in .their : nor are tliey, equally! with others of their fellow-citizens in: other .'walks, oi*. life, tbove temptation. Such a provision .would open the way to very j. grave abuses of power on their part,- attl while the great majority .-of- them are [honour, hble men, doing their duty, tal.ly and .well, there are others possibly <Ui. whom fuch power would open up innumerable opportunities for blackmail. . -Viist as we find blackmailers in every of society, so is it possible to find ;t'hem in this. It is not so much, upo6£ the girl or woman of good social stawling that suspicion is so likely '■ to fall, but upon the girl who works in the. factories, the shops, the offices, or who works as a domestic servant. Girls walkinri out with young men would be liablo (n unpleasant experiences became of -.tins regulation. Such-.has been tho eijjerienco in other countries where it has been in force, and ~m it would very i lately" prove to be in this were the reg7,ilntion ' allowed. . ' Another flagrant injustice -that wonl'l bo associated with: this particular regulation—an injustice tli.it id'a. very..old one—is the fact that while, tlie woman ia arrested, men. who. 'Jiave . 'b'een her accomplices in sin.'whoareefrhially guilty, since men are absolutely fcoe agents, and very often havo-'no't the inducements to fall that i women have at ; times, 'are allowed <Tr at least have be.4.1 in the past, to so fret. It was'netier*.meant, if there be such a thing aej justice, that (hero shouid.be two-standards of morality:'one- for mon and a (jotally different one for women; but because women havot to their fatal undoing l ac/xuiesced so long.' in' this, pernicious habit of thought, theyare to-day paying the, arid have, atways paid the price in i»uined health, in mental • and moral misftry, and in the. fact that'.-they. sometim<is see their, cliil-. drcn handicapped at tlyj very beginning •

of lifo because of the taints which were the re&iilt of their husband's "wild bats." Doctors and nurses in hospitals could, if they chose, unfold. heart-break-ing stories of the health and happiness of women utterly ruined, through this cause;, and through no other—most certainly not through their own fault.

. Some people have preached the doctrine that the prostitute is a necessary evil— that, were it not for her. then it would not '"bo safe for good women to walk tho streets. If that wero so—and one refuses utterly to believe it—then it . would seem as thpugh these women had their necessary place in society, and for that reason should be honoured,as much aa everyone else, who is necessary. To despise them for the use wo make of them is simply the supreme immorality. However, one prefers to believe that men are worthy of respect, and that she is not a necessary ayil. /■ Wherever regulation has.been tried, or wherever it has been in force, it has i'ailed to reduce the vice, or to reduce 'the figures for venereal diseases. Before (the enactment of the C.D. Acts in England, venereal disease in the Services (Naval and Military) were steadily decreasing, owing to the attempts which were being made to give the men better conditions and to raise their morals by. temperance and religious efforts. Under the full operations, of those Acts the diseases increased, although the only justification for their existence, even from i a material point of view, was that , they would reduce disease. Abolitionists of regulation have always . said that not only were these Acts wrong morally, but that they were unscientific and futile. Experience has shown this to be true.

Since the abolition of the Acts more serious efforts have been made throughput the Services to cducato the men on the subject of thesei diseases, and also to inculcate principles "of self-control. It lias been found that no regulation system can prevent prostitution, and every attempt that has been made to reduce it by compulsion ; has onty increased it clandestinely. A false sease of security was encouraged, as the mothods followed in the C;D.' Acts only increased the disease, , because; whatever the authorities may have intended, men-under the sj-stem were led to beliove that.it was not tho vioe in itself which was an evil to be fought, but only the disease. They believed that they were not expected to be chaste, but only to keep well. If the Government would establish free clinics all over the country, if they would appoint ihen and women doctors to lecture to inen, women, and adolescents on the care and control of the body, and if the liquor question were only grappled with in a courageous way, a great deal would be established in the work of combating this evil and its attendant soourges./To talk of providing regulations for tho sale of intoxicating liquor to women in the face of_w'hat Ve see of men in our. streets every day, of tho week- is simply absurd. Control the salo of liquor to-both men and women, and half the battle will be won in the'matter of what is known as the social evil.

The : Seventh Commandment was not ordered exclusively for women, and it should be'remembered that at tho scien. tific. congress which was held at-Brussels in 1002, at which all the most learned and most scientific doctors and professors from every nation were present,'.the following. resolution was passed unanimous, ly: "That it was necessary,above everything to teach young men that not only are chastity and continence not injuri, ous, but also that these. virtues are most desirable from the medical point of viow." ' ■

The Churches, if they will only come down from their somewhat academic attitude, can do much in this work of improving public _ morals, and if parents taught, their children lessons of selfcontrol, of self-respeot, of reverence for their bodies, ,if they taught their sons - something,of the terrible dangers that lie in-wait for, those who allow thoir passions the mastery; and if they would gut rid of tho blasphemy (for it is nothing less) of. thinking and teaching that tho wonderful ordinances of God are indelicate, then we would make groat strides in getting rid of this most terrible scourge that sometimes seeni3 to .ride the world without hindrance. ■ ' .