FEMINIST FORUM.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 147, 23 June 1928, Page 4 (Supplement)

FEMINIST FORUM.

ITALIAN AMAZONS.

BE GOOD, SWEET MAID.

(By a Feminist Correspondent.)

LONDON, Mmj 15.

Now that the so-called flapper has come to full estate, we can leave off regarding things from the angle of sex. The ideals of art being in the air, it is appropriate to quote what Augustus John, the Academician who does not often show at Burlington House, thinks about it.

i "Woman's painting is no encroach- . ment in man's domain. It is a gain to r the realm of art, which is free to every i comer, yet never rich enough for a cJear : new vision not to be eagerly welcomed. » All that matters is the quality of the • work provided, and in the face of good J work the ramblings of the anti-feminist i or the feminist are utterly irrelevant, i If woman succeeds in producing it, it ' does not matter whether she is a woman or not." Dame Ethel Smyth. In the sister art of musie, Dame Ethel Smyth is at last getting the recognition she merits. Every feminist knows that this English composer's works were pro- ! duced and appreciated in Germany before they were known in her native land, and whether or no they remained unsung here was due to her sex, the fact remains. It is actually 60 years since her first composition was played in public at Leipsic, where she was a second year student at the Conservatorium, and Lady Astor, Lady Cowdray, and Lady Rhondda are issuing an appeal. This musical jubilee they say will be celebrated in various ways, among others by a 8.8.C. festival of her works on May 20; by a grant to the British Women's Symphony Orchestra; and by four or five performances of her Mass, one of which (on September 5, at the Gloucester Festival) marks the attainment of an end pursued for 35 years. Also in June, the University of St. Andrew's is conferring on her the degree (hon.) of LLJ). Meanwhile, in Germany, where her music first found appreciation, a desire has been expressed by friends of both nationalities and both sexes that a concert of her works be given next autumn in Berlin. Bruno Walter will conduct (without taking a fee), Frau Leider will eing in the second act of "The 1 Wreckers," and the composer's great wish is that her violin and horn con- 1 jcerto shall be introduced to Germany by 1 London artists—namely, Adila Fachiri 1 And Aubrey Brain. j The cost of this concert will be about | £600, part of which is being subscribed by personal friends, but inasmuch as \ this event has a more than personal aig- ( nificance—affecting, as it must, the j matter nearest to the composer's heart, i namely the status of her sex in the | realm of serious achievement, we believe i that many women will be glad to take I part in a scheme for securing a really < brilliant performance abroad of the i works of one who all her life has fought i by deed and word in the cause of 1 women. ]

Women as Athletes. Are the equalitarians going too far? It is a moment to ask the question when it is announced that Fascism is organising Italian girls from the ages Of thirteen to eighteen into athletes and amazons. Now that the first groups of the advance guard of Fascist girls are actually arriving in Rome this week, armed with rifles, and are to give a display of their prowess in the new stadium, some disapproval is being openly expressed. The Vatican organ, " L'Osservatore Bomano," condemns " feminine ideals hung on a rifle," and reminds the faithful that even Roman paganism did not conceive the idea of "armed womanhood."

This new type of Italian girl in tha making has been given a decalogue for her guidance, which lays stress on discipline and the duty of service to Italy: " Come la Mamma pin granda, la Mamma dl tntti buoni Italiani." One of her first duties is "to love the Duce, who has made Italy stronger and greater." The Papal Press not only deplores that these commandments should not be. preceded by the maxim of the Divine Decalogue itself, without which there can be no efficacious education, but that a publie display of leaping and jumping, of javelin-throwing ' and shooting, should take place in a stadium. Signor Turati, the Secretary-General of the Fascist party, anticipating criticism, announces in the preface of . the set of rules for • the competition that the female Fascists will answer:' all protests and murmurs by pointing their rifles towards the sky of Italy. But there is no objection to women beating their swords—or rifles into ploughahares. At a conference held recently at the Horticultural Qollege, Swanley, Kent, which is run for women oy women, members of the Association of Headmistresses discussed the openings for women in rural occupations. It was stated that there were now over twenty thousand women farmers in Ens.'and and Wales. , Miss Pratt, an inspector ot the Ministry of Agriculture, said agriculture w.u passing tmough a trying period, yet at the same tiiiis it was the third industry if the eoutitiy in regard to the number of women employed. Public School for Girls. The feminist equalitarian is not to have it all her own way here. There is the new public school for girls just opened at Tetbury, Gloucester, the headmistress of which (Mrs. Houison-Crau-ford) declared: "We hope every girl at Weston Birt will go out into the world, not as indifferent copy of a boy, but a young woman able to take whatever place! in the world is waiting for her." /Weston Blrt, as this new school is called, la the girls' coqnterpart of Stowe. the bewest boys' public school, not long established in one' of the stately homes of; England.* ' , '

of; England. Thin new school for girls is an experiment. which will be. keenly followed, for til* headmistress has neither been to school'feor taught School. Her sole experience »rlth girls and with boys is with the Gift Gnid# inrt Boy Scout movement. When it Is declared that "deportment" and "domestic science ** are to be important features, one's mind leap*' back to-Mis* jNnkerton and to blackboards! But WvV We are assured that the aim will be to make the girts more womanly, rather than let;, them develop into ihe manly type so common to-day. It may'be called the 1928 version of some of the Victprian schools, where deportment was eo important*