CAREER HOME-MAKING, OR BOTH?

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 333, 14 January 1937, Page 2

CAREER HOME-MAKING, OR BOTH?

PROBLEM OF MODERN EDUCATED WOMAN.

WHAT END OF UNIVERSITY YEAR MEANS TO SOME,

ABANDONING THEORY TO FACE HARD ECONOMIC FACTS OF LIFE.

University students of last year have now become economic factors in the world of men and women.

For the young man who has not received from rich or influential relatives the doubtful benefit of such a "‘lifebelt,” there is, indeed, no alternative, and he sets about earning his living in the most businesslike and congenial manner that is open to him. But the youg woman in similar circumstances has several alternatives. First, if she is the parasitic type, she can continue to thrive as a parasite on her father until such time as she becomes a parasite on her husband. Secondly, she can enter some temporary and carelessly selected employment as a stop-gap between leaving school and getting married. Thirdly, she can take up a serious and potentially permanent career. So far, so good, and it is to the credit of the modern girl that, in most cases, she would have no hesitation in choosing the third course. But the familiar and vital problem remains, for her to make the ultimate choice between marriage and a career, or, in the alternative, to find a way of blending both in a manner satisfactory to herself, her husband, her children and society in general. A Double Life. How far, then, is it possible in this modern world for a woman to lead a double life, combining a career with home-making? One important consideration is the fact, regrettable but undeniable, that the home itself is a dying institution. The day when the task of a wife was to raise a large family, keep it healthy, happy and amused under one roof, antf organise a complicated household without benefit of labour-saving devices is gone for ever. Birth control, motor-cars, vacuum cleaners and a thousand other changes in social and' economic conditions have seen to '/Hat ...- .L- •.*. ’ .■. - ■

Scope of Home-making. Thus the scop e of the home-maker, whether she likes it or not, is verymuch limited by this modern age in which she lives. If she has a flair for it and a mind to it, let her by all means make th e best job she can of it, and all good luck go with her. If. however, as is the case with many educated girls to-day, she cannot see her way to making tl/s a complete life interest, who is to deny her a career of her own choosing, or at least a training that will fit her for a career at any future time in her life? Then if, after marrying and temporarily giving up her career, she loses her husband’s support through sickness, death, desertion or economic depression, she has a dignified and congenial remedy in her own hands. Even the wealthy woman who is not likely to be affected by financial worries will benefit in many ways by a training for some career. There are, for example, more interesting and cn lightened ways of serving th e caus< of charity than by taking part. in an occasional bridge drive or sitting on an occasional ball committee. Again, even if a girl’s education and training are never used in the commercial world for a career in the wider sense, her trained mind and organised common sense will stand her in good stead in the management of her home and in the training and discipline of her children. Most vital of all, any woman who is to be a true companion to her husband (and who can make a good home without this?) should be his equal in intellect and education. An Expert’s Opinion., Florence B. Low, famous as “The Queen’s” adviser on careers and education, rather unexpectedly takes the view that it is quite impossible for the average- woman of to-day to combine home-making with a career outside the home. She quotes as.

ridiculous the case of the woman teacher who goes forth daily to instruct other- people’s children, leaving- her own to the care of strangers, and returning home in the evening tired and dispirited and not in a fit condition either physically or mentally to be a pleasant mother to her children or a good companion to her husband. But on the other hand there are some women to whom housework and house management are nothing less than painful drudgery. It is not pnly the woman outside the home who gets tired and dispirited at times, and surely a weary schoolteacher is no worse than a housewife exhausted and exasperated by a hard d'ay’s washing- or scrubbing. The type of woman to whom domestic duties really spell slavery is more than justified in herself earning money to pay for hired and efficient help in the house. And, of course, if a woman has a real gift in any artistic or practical direction, nothing should be allowed to prevent her from exercising it for, the benefit of and delight of the world. To sum up these points, if a woman has her heart in housekeeping and homertiaking (the two' are not synonymous) she will make it her career and get much happiness as

well as prot ofiut of it. Otherwise let her by all means follow a career of hei- own choosing. The vital point in either case-is that the choice be of her own free will, and since a girl in her teens is not always in a position to make this choice in her own best interests, it is only fair for those who, for the moment, control her destiny, to give her a training which, perhaps now, perhaps at some later and unexpected l time, will enable her to ensure her own liveli--hood, happiness and self-respect.

The carp: "Pooh! why cackle so noisely?” “When I lay eggs tt is. 10,000 at a time, and 1 don’t say a word about it.”