HAPPIER MARRIAGES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 173, 9 August 1937, Page 7

HAPPIER MARRIAGES

Swedish Plan for Perfect Partnership YOUNG COUPLE'S HELP We Swedish women believe that mar- | riage means perfect partnership (writes Madame Sandler, wife of 'Sweden's Foreign Minister, in an English paper) . Wo do not allow woman a special place in the home or insist that man's ideas and interest must be entirely outside it. Truly, we older people were more or less content to remain at hoipe after niar riage, but the younger generation have grown up with the fieljef . that there i? no happiness in - a marriago where either party seeks to. impose its will upon the other. Eariy jnarri'ages are > popular in Sweden;; somotimes tho young couples . are little more -than students. If a girl has be6n in a good job prior to her marriage, she feels that she Would be extremely f oolish to give it up, until at any rate she felt quite Assurred of her neW positiori. For lnstahce, her marriage might not turn out as happily as she anticipated; what would happen thobf There might be considerable difaculty in getting baek to her old pOst. With both husband and wife working and earning they can save more and later have a befcter home. Swedish men do not feel thatthey are ldk? manly because their wives ha- a career independppt of and possibly quite as successful and lucrative as their own. . They beljeve that wives are just as much entitled as they are to achievo their own sUcdess. But, of courie, a young man is always glad when he is able td keep his wife comf ortably at hoJne, in caSOs Where she does not care very much about continuing in her work. It is good to sce thcse young couples not only making their way but enjoying happy married life. There is, however, one trouble fof which wa are seeking a remedy. Our birth-rate is deciining because the young people do not wish to marry and have families nnless they feel that . these babies are going to inherit the best. « Swedish; girls make good mbthbrS. Itis because they would ndt neglect their babies that, when they have a career, they postpohe motherhood uiitU they liave saved sufficient either to abahdon their work oi; to provide proper care and attention. Because the older people have ihe welfare of the new generation so mucb at heart a Government Committee has been formfed. The work of this Committee is to devise all manner of means for helping young couples. Better facilities will include homes planned to house families with a mini-. mum of labour. Blocks of fiats to be eirected will contain nurseries, where babies' can be lef t during the day. Competent nurses in charge will pr.ovide skiUed attention. The committee will consider i y aspect, sd that the very highest standard of facilities can be provided at the lowest cost. Members of tho Committee vyill bear in mind the fact that wives are intend ed to be the companidns of their husbands in every sense of the term, not merely housekeepers and mothers. It is charming to see young people who havo been married for quite a number of years taking just as vital an interest in each other as they did ih premarriage days. In Sweden such marriages are in tho , gCneral qrder of tbings. Not only is it perfectly true to say of our women that they help their husbands in their work, but also that ohr men seek the advice of their WomenfOlk oven in State aifairs. Thia is the reason that education receives such great considerdtion in Sweden. There are only ten women in our Parliament, an extremely small porcentago, of course, but not proof that ohr women do not take & great interest in national aifairs. Swedish women work very haid for their country, but being on such companionable and equdl tdrins with the men they know that mile meriibers of Parliament will help them to gain their ideals. Ohr women are working for more solidairity among women themselves. As in other coUntrids, it is r&tbfer more difflCult to drganisO women. M6n hive mofe of ihe "PArty' ' Spint. , - As I have said, women '» work is refiected in the Swedish education al system. The most remarkable aspect of this is the system of adult education. I do not think any other country in • ihe wbrid has a similar orgAnisation. 1 Mdnthly pfennies pdid iiitd the Centrftl 9ureaa by men and wombn alike have provided a milljon krdaea a ybhr. This enables tho organiser to provide the fihest teachers and lecturers for these study circlbs. They arb attendbd by ribh hhd \ or alike, and one may see the proi'essional man listening to a leeture Seated beside afi agriculture! worker, who, after his eight hours of manual toil, wishes to know more about classic drama. '