WOMEN'S WORK AFTER THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 308, 17 September 1918, Page 2

WOMEN'S WORK AFTER THE WAR

WOMEN 'TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION I MEETING. A general meeting of the Wellington Women Teachers' Association was field in tho Education Board's rooms in Mercer Street last evening, when a paper was read by Mrs. Harverson, entitled "Women's Work after the War." Miss Coad, M.A., presided. In dealing with her subject, Mrs. Harverson said that we ivero going through a critical phase of tho world's development. All thinking people realised that tho old order of things was changing, while pessimists held that our civilisation was going under, as past civilisations had done. This.rise and fall of nations had come to be looked upon as the natural order of things, but natural order meant cause and effect, and il' we could find out tho cause of the fall of past civilisations wo could surely save our own. In this civilisation we had grappled with material things, but had ignored the spiritual. We had failed to remove the burden from tho many, and had allowed millions to be oxploited for tho advantage of the few. Our children were diseased through tho lust of their fathers, and asylums, hospitals, and homes were filled to overflowing becauso of man's sexual sins. When we considered humanity as it was to-day, after tens of thousands of years upon this globe,-we could not hut admit that the result of a rulo by one half tho human raco, based on a doctrino of physical forco and culminating in this heartbreaking war, was an appalling proof ot; man's failure and incompetence. We differed, howevor, in one important respect from preceding civilisations—and therein lay our hope of salvation—in that we stood at the beginning of the end not of our civilisation, hut of the reign of physical force, and it was woman who was. going to save the world from decay. The Bpeaker outlined the degraded position women held in past civilisations, and showed how this tended to the decay of nations, as the children inherited the qualities of both parents, and the inanity of the mothers more than outweighed the intellect of the fathers. A famous American biologist recently proved that it was the woman of the niatriarohate period who laid the foundations of the arts of peace and of civilised life, who organised a political system and guided and controlled it for a period of time which even when men had dispossessed them had loft\an ineffaceable impress. Christ refused to accept the double standard of morality for man, and advocated higher education for woman. Ho reproved Martha for occupying jierself with domostic duties instead of following the example \of Mary, who had chosen the bettor part by cultivating, her mind and spirit. J here wub, no indefiniteuess about Christ s teaching of absolute freedom in the development of women, but tho churches had not followed His teaching. It was Minted .out how the leaders of the woman's movement in England wore 10ceived with abuse and subjected to n|l manner of bodily ill-treatment. Only exceptional men had been able to see that the woman's it'ovemeiifc was not a matter i of votes at all, out was really a groat evolutionary development for the wnolo human race. Woman must lead the human family. Woman had to teach that rulo- did not mean brute force. Woman had also to teach herself that her preference for an easy life of dependence upon man was not a wonianiv attribute, but a quality that had been acquired during ages ot subJe °Coming to the part played hy teachers, the spenker, said that they held a position of enormous responsibility. Their influenco was second only to that of the mother, and in the great upheaval of our worn-out systems much thought and study of every new problem was necessary in order to J;eep abreast of the times. Thore was no room in the teaching profession for reactionaries. Women teachers should take especial pains to impress upon the minds of their pupils the supreme importance of woman as ar. individual in the scheme of life. When \vo attempted to limit a woman's development ot brain and body we insulted the Migh»y Architect who endowed all, women with a brain that was sexless and a spirituality that held the race m direct touoh with Divinity. It was on woman that the responsibility for the future vested. The care of the race was her business, but this did' not consist merely of bringing children into the world and nursing and clothing them until they wore able'to do it themselves./1 ho care of the raco meant the food, the clothos, the schools. ' tho social and political systems, and the laws, it meant the whole of life, lo fit Jior for such a tremondous responsibility, woman must have unlimited scope for the development of her power. \\ ho dared to, narrow her dowa to "woman s sphere," bounded by tho Geinlan kitchen, children, and church, was'emulating Airs. Partington's effort to stay the Atlantic with a broom. But before woman could play her part in afterwar problemß she must claim the right to bo treated as an individual; she must be froo. At present she was hampered by the artificial limitations set by public opinion, by ln.iv, by religion, and by tradition, and 110 ono could set her froe but. herself. _ Tho speaker advocated banishing all sex differentiation in education, < in social privilege, in politics, and in labour. After the war many women would have to be the bread-winners of tho families, and tliey must demand equal pav for equal work. Any woman who asked for loss or was content to receive less was tacitly admitting man's right to bo dishonest. She must stand for a pure democracy, where equality of equality of niorsu stn-ndflrdj and equality of opportunity were to lie the birthright of every man, woman, and child. It was an honour to be a woman living at snrh a momentous crisis of humanity, but to be worthy nf tho hotiour women must be big and fine in their ideals: they must bo loyal to womanhood and lo the race. The ace of physical forco was dying, and the age of' poaco was being ushered in on the great .wings of the world-wide woman's movement.

Miss Una Garter will hold the usual weekly ?as cooking demonstration at the Gas Company to-morrow at 3 p.m. The subject this week will be "Scones, Cakes, and Pastry."