A. Word to Woman

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 609, 11 March 1929, Page 5

A. Word to Woman

What Men Expect o f Her

(By One o{ Them

Periodically a shout goes up because one intrepid lay has flown from here to there, or walked from here to there, or swum the Channel, or what not, and I am the lp.st to deny such devotees the meed of one melodious cheer (writes F. E. Bailey, the English novelist). They have suffered much, therefore they are forgiven much; and still I venture to say that women have not yet commenced to pull their weight in the organisation of society. If I were a woman I should revile womankind at large because woman kind at large had done so little for me. The inhumanity of woman to woman, the massive neglect of the less fortunate by the more fortunate, leave a man gasping. There must be twenty associations of men for the benefit of their fellow-men to one of women for the benefit of their fellow-women. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that if women really got together and so decided they could cut down maternal mortality and infant mortality by fifty per cent, within a few years. If women united and made up their minds they could stop the reproduction of the unfit.

During the war women used to go about giving white feathers to men who refused to join up. If in peace time they would only go about giving white feathers to women who marry when they are unfit, or who marry unfit men, a great deal of misery would be avoided. Medical certificates of fitness for both parties before a mar--1 iage is allowed to take place should be obligatory. INTOLERANCE

No one knows so well as a woman how women oppress one another, how lamentably they lack the corporate spirit. Any girl who earns her living would rather work for a man than for a woman, and this is not entirely a matter of exploiting sex appeal. Women know that the average woman employer will use her intimate knowledge of her own sex to oppress her employees and extract the last ounce from them for the minimum of reward. I write this because dozens of women workers have told me so, and from my own observation. It is only the rare woman who has that pity for and good will toward her own sex that all women ought to have. This is very wrong. After all, women compete with women no more than men compete with men, and they need be no more intolerant of one another than men are of other men. What the country hopes of women, as far as I can see is that they should call a truce to the civil war which imperils them, and make up their minds to aid one another. They have great need of each other’s sympathy. No man or body of men can help struggling wives and mothers, trying to do their best for their families with little knowledge and poor resources, as more fortunate women could. The sad fact is that fortunate mothers and struggling mothers have no common association and never meet. The Home Front

If women had some common association and did meet, there is nothing they might not accomplish for the benefit of themselves and their children.

1 think the country hopes that women will create a healthy public opinion about the conditions in which they live, marry, and have children. I would like them to point out over and over again, in season and out of season, how criminal it is for thousands to endure the perils of maternity with the dice loaded against them, and for their children who survive to lack an even chance in the battle for existence.

Men are equally responsible for this state of affairs, but the sadness of it does not go home to them as it goes home to women, because this sadness does not touch men directly, and they are busy about other things. The country hopes, too, that women will concern themselves more about education and the difficulties of young people in grappling with the problems of life when they leave school. Much has been done, hut much more remains to be done. It is incredible that a child's life, the creation of which has involved so much sacrifice to some woman, should be stunted or wasted as long as women have voices with which to protest, and brains with which to organise. The country hopes that the majority will not sit down comfortably to applaud the spectacular feats of one or two women who fly across continents or explore unknown countries. In such purely male undertakings no woman is likely to eclipse men, and women are mistaken in setting off these few gallant individuals against the inertia of the mass. It is much easier to applaud the brilliant than to do a job of work oneself. The greatest work that any woman with leisure, energy and brains can do is to copy the good regimental officer, who sets himself day in and day out, by example and suggestion, to improve the moral of his men. His work is not in the least spectacular, and it is most unlikely that anyone will even hear of him, hut the result of that work is embroidered on the Colours in the record of battle honours. “We Won’t Stand It!”

What we need to-day is women who, without being busybodies or professionally righteous, will try to improve the moral of their sisters till they gain the strength of character to refuse Impossible conditions of life. The achievement of these pioneers will not be embroidered on any Colours, but it will be enshrined in what are called vital statistics, and respected by doctors and nurses throughout the land. There is no handicap that women or their children endure which could last five minutes if women said in a body; “We won’t stand it any longer!” Moreover, they have public opinion in their grasp; not ony do they breed their own instincts into men, but for the first seven years of his life every man is under the influence of some woman. It is the Jesuits, I believe, a society of profound thinkers, who claim: “Give us a child for the first seven years and anyone can do what he likes with it afterwards, because its character is formed for ever.”

We need women perfectly organised, speaking with one voice, to fight the waste of war and the waste of peace, to see that every new baby born into the world has a reasonable chance of health and happiness. This is a great task, more important than dancing, bridge, tennis and all the frocks in the world put together.