AMONG OURSELVES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 308, 29 December 1922, Page 7

AMONG OURSELVES.

A WEEKLY BUDGET. (By CONSTANCE CLYDE.) THE WOMAN DOCTOR THEN AND NOW. How many people know that St. Paul wae attended in his illnesses by a woma-n doctor, asks Louis Martindale, M.D., when writing of the female members of her profession in old days (this will set some of us looking up. I I>r. Martindale points out that the woman medico is no new institution, also that opposition to her kind is no new thing either. Aspr.sia and other great women of the past practised medicine. The Greeks, however, had their moods of antifeminUm, and in 300 B.C. they passed a cheerful law sentencing to death any female practiscr of the healing art. In the Christian era, however, there was for .some time no discouragement. For instance in 129*2 eight women doctors were practising in Paris. In the fifteenth century_ however, the male physicians of Europe took a definite stand ruling women out of the profession. We all know the difficulties women encountered in the later decades of the nineteenth Century in winning back their lost rights. Dr. Martindale considers that her sex have proved their possession of the gifts most needed in this profession, for instance, "an unexpected unemotionalism ia the many eris?s in which definite and decided action must be taken." The writer pays a tribute to Dr. Garratt Anderson in'her claim lor equality of payment for men and women doctors. In the Home country the income of a medical man or woman ranges from £1,000 to £4.000,1 which in England is not very considerable. A WOMAN SCULPTOR'S DIFFICULTIES. One of the most curious ce'eels in woman is her frequent inability to discover her own mental specialty until it is almost too late to eduea-te for it. We take up what seems to suit us fairly well, not realising that it is in something analagous, hut not the same that our I true mftier lies. This at least, was the experience of Mrs. Hilton Young, better known as Lady Scott, whose statue of her explorer husband is a feature of ChrUtchurch. As a girl Mrs. Hilton Young took considerable interest in anatomy, and from this went on to painting, not discovering tha,t theee two interests combined pointed to a still greater art. She remembers herself one of a melancholy group, mostly middleaged ladies painting in a studio for Dames Seules in Paris. Irreverent students called them the damned souls, because they were in a cul de sac, and artistically would never get anywhere. Going over the building one day, Mrs. Young found herself passing a room filled with merry men and women students busy at sculpture. She slipped in, handled some material, and knew her vocation. She confesses, however, that but for a small income she never could have undergone ..he initial difficulties of the art. Later there was a friendship with Rodin, the famous sculptor, to whom she was first chere eleve and then chere collegue. The wanderlust now seized her. and later, after much sculptural work done, ihere came the war when she often worked twelve or more hours'a day. One of her strange tasks was the making of wax models from the injured faces of soldiers, and also waxmodels from their photos to help the surgeons in building the face anew. Tt was sad work, but never was the art of sculpture put to a. nobler use. Her ordinary sculpturo, however, includes representations of Bernard Shaw, Galsworthy, and many well known statesmen and other public characters. WIRELESS IX SCHOOLS. This is i'-'e electric age. Such is the opinion of the head master of a school at Haslemere, who is ulso a member of the Wireless Society. His idea is that school children from fourteen years upward should be educated in the atmosphere, as it were, of this new force. Those of that age are given lessons in electricity and magnetism in connection with wireless, and learn the Morse code as homework. A wireless plant was made by the boys themselves under the headmaster's guidance, using common materials that could be easily obtained— even old safety razors were utilised. Each week two boys and two girls have in charge the weather reports, and the children have listened to lectures broadcasted from a great distance. Educational authorities in England are now making small grants towards this training. Nevertheless it is doubtful if New Zealand parents would evince any gratitude for such education in electricity and wireless here. What the average" New Zealand parent desires is a training that will directly help the young to earning their living without the hardships and unemployment risks which so many enlure. Learning a little of this and a little of that is certainly not the way. HARNESSING IXDCSTRY WITH THE VOTE. A member of a Woman's Eureau in the United States *peak.. of the difficulty in righting women's industrial wrongs.

There are three ways of improving industrial conditions, ehe states, firee through the agency of humane employers, second through trade unions, third, by legislation. Owing to special conditions, the second, which is the way for men, does not always answer with women. For one thing it is too often forgotten that women wage earners as a whole are younger, and therefore less capable of organisation than men. I* is computed, for instance, that twenty per cent of women wage earners are .under twenty-one years of age. The possibility of marriage, and some poverty causing inabilit3- to pay union rates, accounts also for some reluctance to try trade unionism. Therefore, for women direct legislation is the hapuv way, and everything must be done to harness the vote to industrial conditions. Tha writer stresses the great need for shorter hours for women, owing, to the dangerous monotony of the work done. The necessity is medical. As an instance, she refers to one industry which she knows well, the manufacture of shoes. At one time this could be done in only seventy-five processes (only!) Now one hundred and fifty actions have to be gone through, which means that eacli worker is kept at on*, ymall action all the time and from day to day. It is an excellent method for preparing mental asvium ca?e-. and in that respect it is said to be most effectual. There is no way of relieving the monotony, so shorter hours are imperative. THE WOMAX HAIRDRESSER BAXXED. Very strange U a recent decision of the hairdressers of England not to admit women into their occupation. How they can make out that hairdressing is not womanly is hard to understand —for of course this must be their execute. The women's organisations point out, however, that the matter is entirely in our own hands. Let women entering such establishments simply ask for a woman to attend them, and" there will be little more trouble. Unfortunately how few of the type that can afford much attendance at such places consider justice towards their fellow women who are workers. IXTERXATIOVA/. CARE OF MOTHERS Information has been received at the International Labour. Office of the League of Xations at"Geneva, that the Italian Government has formally ratified the "Maternity Convention" adopted at the First International Labour Conference'held at Washington in 1919. / Under the terms of this convention it is provided that a nornan in any public or private industrial or commercial undertaking shall not be permitted to work during the six weeks following confinement, and shall have the right to leave her work six weeks beforehand on production of a medical certificate. During this time she shall be paid benefits sufficient for the full and healthy maintenance of hersejf and her child, provided either out of public funds or by means of a system of insurance, and as an additional benefit shall be entitled to free medical attendance. She shall also, if nursing her child, be allowed half an-hour iwice a day during her working hour for this purpose. The Italian Government has, at the same time, ratified conventions adopted at Washington regard : ng unemployment, night work of women and night work of young persons.