WOMAN’S WORLD

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3270, 31 May 1943, Page 2

WOMAN’S WORLD

ABOUT N.Z. WOMEN

ART OF CHILD MANAGING MAINLY CO-OPERATION PART TAKEN IN WAR EFFORT “ English by birth, a New Zealander by law (20 years’ residence) and an Australian by marriage,” is the way Margaret L. Macpherson, describes herself in her book, “I heard the Anzacs Singing.” Miss Macpherson, who is the wife of W. T. Albert, now New York correspondent of the Sydney Bulletin, writes in the following article of the women of Australia and New Zealand and the post-war world.

Although New Zealand is a fourdays’ journey away from Australia geographically, and a good; deal further politically, the two countries are generally linked together in the mind of the average American. This is a pity, for they are so different that they are almost opposite.

Australia is a vast continent—roughly, the size of the United States. New Zealand is small —approximating the size of Great Britain. A great proportion of the land surface of Australia consists of exhausted desert, for this is the oldest continent in the world. New Zealand, which geologists tell us is a comparatively, recent product of volcanic activity, is extremely fertile.

With these basic differences m mind, it is easy to understand that the two countries have produced a very different’type of woman. It is exactly 25 years since the “Susan B. Anthony Act” gave American women the vote. It is exactly 50 years since it was granted' to New Zealand women. In that charming little country, two generations of women have had complete political freedom, with the result that amongst New Zealand women to-day there is almost no feminism. Women, there, never question their status; they, take it for granted that they are the mates and equals of men. . Special Field For Women

They do believe, however, that woman has a specialised field in which to play her part—the field which nature has allotted to her. The arts of the home are cultivated and cherished. Babycraft is an art which women are supposed to learn and understand. It is carefully taught to every “citizeness’ in the Government clinics which are established' in every town and village. These clinics are called “Plunket Rooms.” They are not for sick babies; they are for the well —the idea being to keep the children so by natural methods. And they are not a charity; they are not for the poor. They are for everybody, and all are expected to avail themselves of the teaching and service given there. Now, if there is any gift, any teaching, which the New Zealand woman has to give to the world of to-mor-row, it is this art of child management. Some people have contended that New Zealand’s low infant mortality rate is due to the sparse settlement of the country. Not so. Holland, with an enormous population m proportion to its diminutive dimensions, ran New Zealand very close, prior to the war. No, the thing is not a matter of accident; it is the result of womanly love and skill, carefully and systematically applied. It is, surely, the queen of skills.

And this womanly care is something* that stands by a child all its life. The life-expectancy of the New Zealanders is the highest in the world. A new record, which bears upon the same subject, has just been established. New Zealand soldiers • in camp have a remarkably low percentage of admissions to hospital—2.6 per <thousand. In an integrated world, a. world in which good will prevail and special skills were internationally shared and 'taught, her knowledge of child culture would be the New Zealand women’s supreme contribution to the world of to-morrow. The womenfolk of Australia are much nearer to the American standard. Australia has i s feminists, its women engineers, architects, executives, lawyers, doctors. Ls women are more spectacular, better-dressed (I mean, they have more chic), more sociable, broader-minded, and I think they are prettier. They do not, particularly, regard the home as women s executive sphere. In their warmer clima e, household skills are not so important; life goes on chiefly out of doors. They have not yet acquired the widespread organising ability of the American woman; they have no club life. But they copy America. Social Legislation Whereas New Zealand led the

world with her social legislation (before 1870 she had State savings banks, State hospitals, State education for natives and white alike; before 1900 she had old-age pensions, votes for women. State coal mines, State fire and accident insurance, State finance for farming development; by 1936 she had a compulsory 40-hour 5-day week for hey workers—abandoned, of course for the duration of the war—State housing, factories and a.,State medical service with free dental attention for all school children) —whereas, I say, New Zealand led the world, Australia follows America,

New Zealand is co-operative in its general system; Australia is competitive. New Zealand is, to a remarkable degree, considering that she has had no revolutions or putsches and that all has been enacted democratically, socialistic; Australia is individualistic. The New Zealander is a quiet, reserved, thoughtful and responsible person. The Australian is open-handed, open-hearted, cheerful, brave, noisy and impulsive. To suggest that- their countries could be united in any way is to win the scorn and resentment of both.

The efforts made by women in reorganising these lands on a war basis have been remarkable. Very soon after Prime Minister Curtin came to power in Australia, he introduced the word “austerity.” At first it was a joke—austerity in that land of plenty! And when it became a reality, it was upon the women that its implications fell. Austerity means growing vegetables in the back yard, in tubs, even in window-boxes—for the manpower of former truck gardens was in the Army. It meant having no wrapping paper for packaged goods. It meant having no delivery of parcels under four pounds weight. It meant having no dry cleaning service for evening clothes or household covers and curtains. It meant a laundry service every two weeks. It meant that you couldn’t buy jewellery or candy. Further, it meant that you went to work. To-day Australian women are doing the work of men on the farms—shearing, fencing, harvesting, milking—■

and they are.doing it as well as men. Hundreds of thousands are in the factories. Many are in the forces. Australian nurses were in Greece and Crete, and have seen the war at its worsti

In New Zealand to-day worfien are working on the street-cars. There are also women postmen and telegraph messengers. Where possible, when a man was drafted, his wife took his job. This is typical of New Zealand’s outlook on marriage. The pair are partners. If one is absent, the other acts. And when the man returns, whether his Job was filled by his wife or another person, his employer will be compelled by law to reinstate him. This law solves the repatriation problem completely, so far as New Zealand is concerned-.

It is unlikely that the women of New Zealand and Australia will play any part in the post-war settlement of Europe. Nor would they wish to. They have their own lovely corner of the earth to attend' to and serve. They will gladly stand aside when the returning men have to be reassimilated into civilian life; they hold that to do otherwise would, be to take a mean advantage of one who has offered his life for his country. They do not intend that sex bitterness and sex strife shall prolong the present sorrows of the world. Their countries are young and comparatively empty. There is room for everybody, a future for everybody.

No doubt numbers of the American soldiers now serving in Australia and New Zealand will marry and stay there. That will be all to the . good, for Americans are the most civilised '

people on earth. Their tolerance, their international outlook, will sow good seed in the cooler ground of the British democracies. And New Zealand brides will be coming back to the United States. This is grand. This is splendid. Our girls will impart to the Americans their knowledge and skill with children and the Americans will teach them how to treat strangers. If we know how to bring up children and how to treat strangers, to-morrow’s world is safe.