"THE NEW RACE & WOMEN'S PART IN IT"

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3145, 25 July 1917, Page 3

"THE NEW RACE & WOMEN'S PART IN IT"

"The problems arising out of the abuse and wrong conception of the relation of the sexes are responsible for most of tlio ills of which humanity suffers to-day. The appalling political and economical chaos m Europe at the present day can largely be traced to the same cause," said Miss Christie, national lecturer of the Theosophical Society, in her address on "The New Kaco and Women's Part in It,"""gh r en exclusively to women. The lecturer dealt plainly and forcibly with some of these problems, and made suggestions for the lines on which the women of this generation could work to alter these conditions and bring in a briglitor era. iliss Christie based her remarks upon the two first chapters of Genesis. Theosophically interpreted, sho said, they are two accounts of the plap of "evolution. The first chapter describes the cosmic evolution of the planet on which we live, and the second the evolution of man as an individual. The story of the Garden of Eden the lecturer explained to bo the story of the separation of the sexes, though man had passed through many stages of evolution before that, and has by no means reached finality yet. To-day we are at the turning point of the sex life nf the human race. One of the most hopeful signs of the times is that women the world oyer are waking up to realise that the purity and safety of the Tace lies in their keeping. Hitherto the laws have been mado by men for men. Yet the standard of a nation is decided by the position of the women In it; for a civilisation never rises Higher than the lovel of its women. Women had fhe power to influence pub--Ifc opinion and demand the same standard of purity in men that tlio men expected from their wives. The evolution of the race required this, and such a state of affairs would result in a nobler race, now very dimly imagined. It was not generally understood in this country that one of fho chief causes underlying the suffragette movement was a desire {>f the more earnest-minded and intelligent women to legislate for the protection of women and children. Tlio women fn tlie ol(Tef countries . were,still fighting for some of "Hie privileges which many women in this country who possessed them did noF value at their true worth. lliss Christie urged her listeners to work for social purity by every means in their powers—by taking an interest and part in public affairs and by serving in whatever national or municipal capaOfty 'ivas open to them, as well as in the all important sphere of the homo.