The Dominion MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1920. HELP IN THE HOME

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 115, 9 February 1920, Page 4

The Dominion MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1920. HELP IN THE HOME

It is rather strange that with all the airing of grievances that is going on at present, comparatively little is heard from some of those who have most reason to complain. The best example in point is that of the wife and mother who is reduced to a life of drudgery at the time when she is rendering a service of supreme value to the State by rearing a family. Any one who goes about with open eyes knows that the lot of the average wife and mother in New Zealand is hard, and that the ruling conditions of home life largely explain why many girls \are disinclined to marry a.nd why many others, having married, are averse to bearing children. That the conditions of home life are too often unattractive and unsatisfactory is due, not, as a rule, to poverty, but to the extreme difficulty women experience in obtaining help when failure to obtain it means that their life becomes one of daily drudgery. As a matter of ordinary justice women are entitled to better conditions of life than most of them, whether they arepoor or reasonably well-to-do, enjoy, even in this favoured country to-day. Every instinct of chivalry, every sentiment of justice, ought to be stirred and quickened by the thought of the women who grow old and weary far too soon becausc the help to which they are so _ well entitled and which might so easily be provided is withheld. It ought rather to stimulate than retard a movement of reform that less is heard in the way of. complaint or protest from all the overburdened women in the country than is heard from _ the most prosperous industrial unions. If any other incentive is_ needed than a desire to render justice where it is due it is to be fouud in the fact that the penalty for what is at fault in the conditions of homo life does hot fall on women alone. The injustice done to women in such conditions as are common today is reflected conspicuously in a low birthrate, and no State in which such conditions rule is entitled to appeal to women to give it the population it needs to make it strong, wealthy, and secure. But the low birthrate is not the whole of tho penalty. The inspiration to all that is best and healthiest in tho life of any State is born in contented homes, and a State in which such homes arc fewer than they ought to be and might bo is weakened at the root. The result will be seen, not only in unsatisfactory vital statistics, but in a lowering of the physical stamina and mental vigour of a great part of the population.

It is with these, broad but incontestable facts in mind that the problem of bettering the lot of the average wife and mother in this country ought to he approached, it is plain enough that a comprehensive remedy is needed—a remedy so comprehensive that it will hardly be found otherwise than in action by the State—and equally plain that in appreciably improving the lot of tho average wife and mother _ the State will be repaid many times over. It will Rain th» wyjwwd

health and all-round quality as well as in tho increased numbers of children reared, and not least in the removal of the grave injustipc under which so many womcij. labour to-day. If the. problem is faced resolutely and with a due sense of its vital importance,. practical measures for its solution will bo opposed by no insuperable difficulty. The present time is tu'ne for enterprising action bccausc tho Government, as part and parcel of its immigration policy, is offering free passages from Great Britain to domestic servants. Hitherto, chiefly because the methods pursued have been haphazard, the results of importing domestic servants have been exceedingly disappointing. Even comparatively lowpaid employment in factories, shops, and offices has presented powerful counter-attractions to work in the home, and burdened wives and mothers have still been left without tho help they greatly need. It is pvi-1 dent that the whole atmosphere of j what is now callcd domestic service must be transformed if this state of affairs is to be amended. Given systematic and wcll-dircctcd efforts, the transformation ought to be quite practicable. It is necessary first of all to raise the status of those who render help in the home 'ancl make their occupation in every way as attractive as possible, and then to distribute the heln available where it is most needed. 'As a first step towards satisfying these essential conditions, the Government ought to establish hostel depots in suitable centres and organise corps of home helpcs, offering to girls and women who take up this occupation such training as is necessary, adequate pay, and a recognised standing. From the depots; home helners could p out as they were called upon to work in either town or country homes. It, should be an initial aim to afford help to women in the periods preceding and following childbirth, and tho scheme ought not to be regarded as sufficiently developed until every weman so circumstanced and in need of help is assured of obtaining it. At some times and in some cases tho homo helpers might work at more than one home in, the course of this day. though never, of course, for more than a lair working day in tho aggregate. It would be an enormous boom to many women to be able to obtain occasional relief from tb'? car°s m home and family life, with t-ha knowledge that their children were left. in competent care. These are questions ol detai'i. It is not in doubt that if corps; (if home helpers were organised an ample scope of useful work would at once appeal;. At the same time there is every reason to believe that if the scheme were organised on sound lines it would attract many girls and women of local birth as well as immigrants. The profession of the nurse U universally respected. There is no reason why that of the home helper should not command equal respect. Supported by honest pride and the spirit of service in its finest expression, nurses habitually undertake more trying and exacting duties than fall as a rule to any domestic worker. The home helper, taught to work smartly and efficiently and to apply the latest teachings of domestic science, would have every right to claim equal standing with tho nurse. Like the nurse,. she would bo giving help where it is most needed and doing work of signal value to the State. Organised and recognised as it ought to be, the profession of home helper would carry a wide appeal. To many girls, including some who refuse to consider the ruling conditions of domestic servicc, it would offer the best possible preliminary to the life of marriage and motherhood which, even under existing handicaps, offers the normal woman her best prospects of happiness and contentment. One principle the Government ought to adopt and apply unreservedly in organising corps of home. helpers is that wives and mothers in need of help ought to be afforded it entirely irrespective of their ability to pay. The need alone should be the measure of the help afforded. Not only so, but it ought to be emphasised very clearly that women whose burdens are lightened in this way are receiving no more than their just due. Women who bear children are the creditors of tho State, and in helping these women the State is only doing its duty and providing for" the welfare ot the community. Tt ought to be recognised nlso that there is no reform upon which the State may more confidently and profitably concentrate its resources. Effective measures to lighten the burdens of wives and mothers would rank with tho direct provision made for maternity patients, and the fine work of the Plunkct Society, as an invaluable contribution to the welfare of the whole population, The Government ought to be ready to deal in no timid or niggardly spirit with the problem of providing home help. All that is well spent in this way will be far more than returned.