Blamed Again!

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 442, 25 August 1928, Page 23

Blamed Again!

Joys of Independence

Women Who Stunt

ONCE again woman is given the blame. In the numerous efforts that have been made in the last few years to conquer the Atlantic, three or four have been by women.

Some o£ those undertaken by men have been foolhardy In the extreme, but they have been “following In the footsteps” of heroes, their bravery has been commended, and there has been little complaint about their foolishness. There has been no indignation about “taking their companions to their death,” and little notice given to “a craving for notoriety.” The same endeavours on the part of women have not been received by the public in the same spirit. Mrs. Frances Grayson, who took her fatal flight in The Dawn, the Princess Lowenstein-Wertheim, the Hon. Elslie Mackay, who also lost their lives, and Ruth Elder, who was picked up by a liner, might all have been judged by similar standards, but they are not. Few allow them wholehearted praise. They are said to have been “imitators,” “publicity hunters,” and “panderers to emotionalism.”

At least their bravery was equal to that of the men who took the same risks.

Woman is making a brave fight this century to break down the tradition of “weakness” that surrounds her; a fight that most womanly women and manly men sincerely hope that she will lose.

That men are jealous of women’s i achivements is foolisfi nonsense, be- ! lieved only by shallow thinkers. His- * tory is starred by incidents of women’s bravery. Man’s aversion to the woman who stunts is jealousy for her own charm. Galsworthy puts his finger on the spot when he describes Mrs. MacAnder as having probably “done more, in her own small way, than any other woman about town to destroy the sense of chivalry that still clogs the wheel of civilisation.”

In spite of all that may be argued against it, the ugly fact remains that the woman who scorns the protection which the still chivalrous male will offer deals a blow at her own attractions, and so long as she tries to prove her ability to be independent will she be allowed to “enjoy” her independence.