NEW WOMAN’S ATTITUDE TO MAN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2760, 8 January 1895, Page 3

NEW WOMAN’S ATTITUDE TO MAN.

It was expected that last week’s debate at the Pioneer Club would be lively, not to say heated, and unusual precautions (the Daily Graphic, of October 26, tells us) were taken to exclude those who were not members of the select progressive circle. Mrs Holroyd Chaplin presided, and briefly introduced Mrs Hobson, to whom was entrusted the opening of the discussion, which dealt with the thesis “That the attitude of some” Mrs Hobson strongly emphasising the word—“advanced women towards men is calculated to injure the best interests of women.” She hoped that, through the total extinction of man might be desireble, such was not yet a possibility, and meantime women should both tolerate and educate him. Man as a sex was not unworthy, and she put in a powerful plea for greater diplomacy in dealing with him. The opinions often expressed upon platforms were not those truly representative of the best of women ; there was a want of a sense of humor and an exaggeration of sex prejudice, and, while this was so marked, men would not be inclined to extend the franchise or other privileges to those who demanded it. It was not the business of the advanced woman to attack a sex in general. Further, she enlarged upon the advantages that would follow if women obtained the suffrage and made the laws, and dealt with some aspects of the labour question, urging that married women should not bo too eager for employment. A frank recognition of the different spheres of the sexes was necessary, but she would allow to a woman the right to choose between the married or the single life, and the former would find sufficient happiness in the home and education of children, by which she would realise that “Love should be a perfect circle embracing all mankind.” She would suggest that the memories of hard things in the past should be forgiven, that a fresh start should be made, women talking less and doing more. On the other side,' Miss Ward contended that the present stand of the advanced woman was necessary. No abject race had ever raised itself without hard blows on each side. She was briefly supported by one or two ladies, and then Miss Stewart Headlam made one of the most successful speeches of the evening. She regarded the “ new woman ” as a sort of phantom hardly worth Mrs Hobson’s amusing remarks ; but she considered that women should be more in earnest, and then men with a lease of justice would support them. regards the “ woman question,” the pom servatism of men was ‘‘siippjy appalling.” There should be equal wages for equal work, and that would do away with much of the present feeling. It was a satisfaction to know that nowadays many cultured, enthusiastic, and intellectual women were wage-earners. Mrs Lea, Mrs Yirgas, and others continued tfie debate, which ran, on the whole, ip favor of the proposition, provided only that the “ diplomacy ” advocated by Mrs Hobson did not degenerate into weak concessions,