Case for the Defendants

New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 731, 17 July 1953, Page 20

Case for the Defendants

;MILY CARPENTER’S talk on the New Zealand housewife, broadcast from Main National stations on a recent Sunday evening and printed in last week’s Listener, has not been allowed to go unanswered as readers will see from the Letters from Listeners page in this issue. One can’t pretend to know, where women argue, when the last word is likely to be said, but in the meantime we print below some excerpts from the Sunday evening talk in which Mona Gunther replied to Miss Carpenter. Mrs. Gunther, who is the wife of a Southland dairy farmer and the mother of two children, herself graduated from the Home _ Science School more than 20 years ago. She Ytakes a keen interest in adult education and in the work of countrywomen’s organisations in Southland, and listeners may remember that she took part in a radio discussion on the subject, "What's Wrong with the Grocer?" Here, of course, she is’speaking primarily for the country woman: LTHOUGH Home Science Extension tutors may think they get a true picture of the housewife at work, they, like our other critics, come in contact with only. a very small section of the community-usually while the tutor is out on circuit. The ‘housewives under observation are most likely pupils in the ‘courses being taught by the tutor. In an effort to make time to attend classes they must stint their housework. The frying pan works overtime to keep the family fed while mother takes time off to go to school, as it were. Our chief sins, so far as I can gather, cre all the usual ones-with the added bad habits of not budgeting either our time or our money wisely. I wonder. Most of us are quite young, with little experience of running a house, when we marry. I know I was. I could cook, bake and sew. I could clean and launder. In fact, I could do most things; but I had never before had occasion to do them all at once. It takes quite a little time, a good deal of organising, and lots of wasted effort to get things into a workable and working routine. The average housewife-farm house, at any rate-has several breakfasts to cope with; then odd meals to provide, frequently at odd hours. A tiny baby has regular hours, which must be adhered to in strict routine; the toddler has another set of hours, yet routine is just as important for his welfare, School children with yet another set of hours complicate things still further. And the general household must fit in with milking ahd factory hours in the morning, and with seasonal work and its many extras whenever they crop up, through the day. .. ITY mothers have a great advantage ‘over country mothers-the Free Kindergartens which have become an integral part of our education system. I can think of no greater labour-saver than having the pre-school children off one’s hands part of the day, five days a week, 39 weeks of the year. It’s only due to the efforts of the housewives themselves, though, that this scheme is (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) so successful and has become so wellestablished. . . HOUSEWIVES spend 80 per cent of the national income, and those of us who are on the land help to earn it. Unlike the wage-earning or salaried groups, the primary producer has no set income, therefore no set figure to budget. We all know that, to keep up production, the land must have its share first. The domestic economy frequently comes off second-best, our incomes fluctuate so. Droughty floods, pestilence, changes in world markets .. . all these ‘leave their marks on our lives. Our critics, I fear, do not see this side of the picture at all, The whole economy of New Zealand is dependent upon the well-being of the land. If production and exports drop, or if world prices drop, so does the standard of living of every New Zealander. Women of my genera-

tion, who have lived through two great wars and a most disastrous depression, can never forget the outside world, nor the influence of world affairs on our own national life. By means of radio, the Press and books we try to keep ourselves informed about other coun*riees. SS HE housewife is the most versatile person in New Zealand. Nurse, seamstress, decorator, dietician, gardener, baker-yes, and teacher, adviser and companion as well. To her family, she is all these. Beyond the family, a good citizen and a good neighbour at home and abroad. To this legion of faithfully performed duties, add the duty of self-improvement, which is not neglected by New Zealand women. We try to do all these jobs; and if the important ones are being done does it matter if some of us fail at the less important?