EQUALITY OF SEX.

Waipukurau Press, Issue 321, 15 October 1908, Page 7

EQUALITY OF SEX.

On the eve of his departure for liis tour abroad, General Booth addressed a “ Message to the Army” on the subject of “ Women,” and at his request it was read on Sunday, August 23rd, at every Salvation Army place of worship in England. “ My feelings and opinions with respect to women generally,” said the General in his message, “ are known throughout ■ the world. First and foremost, 1 insist on women’s equality. Women is as important, as valuable, as capable, and as necessary to the progress and happiness of the world as man. Unfortunately, a large number of people of every class think otherwise. They still cling to the notion of bygone ages—that as a being woman is inferior to man. To many she is little more than a plaything for their leisure hours. To others she is like a piece of property, a slave in everything but in name. Oft-times she is treated with less consideration as to health and comfort than the horses that run in omnibuses or beasts that are fattening for .slaughter. “ Taken as a whole, I say that •woman is equal to .man in the value of her gifts and the extent of her influence, and I maintain, that if she be given a fair chance she will prove it to be so. “ Let the boy,” adds the General, “be taught from his earliestinfancy that his sister is as good as he is, in all that is important to life, except, perhaps, in the physical force, which he possesses in ■common with the brute beasts. Let the girls be made to feel that her value to God and man is as liigfli as it would have been had she been a boy. Whether married or single, let every man treat the' woman with whom he is acquainted with respect, with patience, and-with care, and let us determine to pay woman more regard in the position assigned to her as a wife, as a mother, and as a daughter.”