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New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 891, 31 August 1956, Page 5

Sir,-I am grateful to the Wellington panel (july 8) who so competently showed why mothers are forced to work because of economic necessity. Eva Peron used to address the crowd "We the shirtless ones." The shirtless ones today are the mothers, depending on "the crumbs that fall," or whatever they can scrape from a husband’s mini-

mal allowance. I shall not take space for further exposition of this. The panel was astute enough to recognise a very serious state of affairs in that millions of mothers are seeking paid employment. Why not find some way of solving this social problem? Give the wife the justice demanded by any worker-an adequate, or at least some return for her labours. One tires of the eternal tributes to a mother’s importance in the home. Let her be sure of some security in the home. Dr. OG. Magen recently pointed out that the Legislature might take a hand in improving and preserving family life in New Zealand. "If married women are to be encouraged to stay at home," he said, "they should at least have the assurance that if the husband fails to provide for them the Courts will do justice to the widow." Why not the wife before it is too late? No wonder the women feel compelled to buy a home of their own or make some provision for their old age. Once upon a time marriage meant "to have and to hold." The women of today realise there is now no such assurance, so who can blame them for relinquishing the dedication and consequent material poverty of their

mothers?

E.

P.

(Christchurch).