WOMEN'S PLACE IN SOCIETY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 418, 27 June 1947, Page 5

WOMEN'S PLACE IN SOCIETY

Sir,-Your correspondents, "Contented Housewife" and "Bars of Gold,’ seem to be as confused in their thinking about Marriage and housekeeping as the majority of women. There is great need for clear thinking on the subject of the position of women. It is assumed that, by some divine law, the job of housekeeping is an integral part of the job of being a wife and mother, whereas they are two separate types of activities, It is a natural confusion, especially in a young country where practically all classes of women have had to combine the two activities for so long that it is

difficult for the ordinary woman to accept the idea that they are naturally two quite different jobs. No one but the wife and mother can fill those two positions satisfactorily, whereas anyone of average intelligence can be trained to be a housekeeper. ; To jump to the conclusion that because a woman wants to be married and have children she must automatically want to-or ought to-be a housekeeper is nonsense. It is taken for granted before marriage that a woman is an individual, with as individual tastes and capacities as a man, but as soon as she marries she has to drop all her individual preferences for certain activities and become a housekeeper. No one would suggest that, because a man wants to be married and have children he should automatically be expected or compelled to fit himself into a job identical with all other husbands and fathers. Men keep their diverse jobs ,and interests. Yet in a woman it is counted unto her for wickedness and selfishness etc, that she should even want to do something besides housework. Should a man, by force of circumstances, have to work all his life at a trade or profession he dislikes and make even a fair success of it, it is counted as a virtue, and no one calls him wicked or selfish if he occasionally yearns for the activity he is best fitted for. But a woman who expresses a longing for something other than the boredom of housework is condemned. I acknowledge that for most women marriage and motherhood means being tied to housework as things are now organised, and most of us love our husbands, children, and homes enough to make a creditable job of it in spite of boredom, monotony and frustration. But it is possible to so organise society that women can have the happiness and fulfilment of marriage and motherhood without the tie-of housework unless it is desired. Those who are working to that end should be honoured, and strengthened by the support of their fellow women. And they would be were it not for the confusion in the minds of women themselves over their position in

society.

MOTHER

(Feilding).