WOMEN'S FORUM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 113, 16 May 1933, Page 10

WOMEN'S FORUM.

EUROPEAN CONDITIONS. The present conditions for women in Europe was the theme of a talk given by Madame Lauri Alwyn in Perth, West Australia. English women, she said, were still showing the strain of the terrible war years, and would continue to do so for some time. They had gone through a tremendous lot of,hardship in that period, and it was even reflected in the present generation. There was a distinct scheme to build up health, and a new trend of education on the lines of dietetics. Health must be a part of every Government employee's qualifications on the Continent, and every man and woman has to .exercise. Typistes on the Continent, Madame Alwyn said, were very poorly paid, and were required to have very high qualifications for their job. She found quite a number of Australian and New Zealand girls in employment in England. In spite of the poor pay which these women received, there was a certain culture and finish which we here lacked in manners, speech and dress. When in England one had to conform to traditions, eaid the speaker, and ehe supposed that it was because this was a new country that there was a chance to make new conditions and conventions and a new phase of life. The women here compared very favourably with those abroad, but not in appearance, and she felt that every woman should bo very vain of that in order to create a confidence in her work and other activities which would materially assist her in general progress. On the Continent evervone—men, women and girls—had to be at tho very highest standard of efficiency, and it was only by attention to health and diet that they were able to keep at the required level. She felt that everyone should pay great attention to the points she had mentioned, and that a confidence would be cultivated which would be found a great asset.

WOMEN OF SWEDEN. Miss Kerstin Hesfielgren, who has recently been visiting London, is one of Sweden's most representative women. In 1921 when Swedish women stood as Parliamentary candidates for the first time, Miss Hesselgren was the first woman to be returned, and was elected to the Senate or Upper House of the Swedish Parliament, where she still remains as its only woman member. She is also Sweden's chief woman factory inspector, the reason she can combine this dual role being because the Swedish Parliament sits for only six months in each year. Her intimate acquaintance with, factory life, trade and industry has been of immense value in her work on the industrial side of the League of Nations. Miss Hesselgren knows England well, having obtained her training for factory life in that country. She is interested to see the change in the attitude towards English professional women, for in Sweden practically every girl is educated for a profession equally with boys.

CONTROL OF FOOD. The tetter control of food is one of the subjects in which the women's societies of Australia are taking an interest. These organisations in Melbourne do not regara ae satisfactory the reply of the Premier (Sir Stanley Argyle) toitheir criticise of the Government for not having appointed a woman member of the Milk Board. Women claim that the board is not a representative one without a woman, but Sir Stanley said that the persons appointed to the board had been selected because of their qualifications. There was not a woman with sufficient qualifications to justify the appointment. The organising secretary of the Housewives' Association, Ltd., said that the Premier's remarks were' most unfair, as no woman had been given the opportunity to prove her fitness for a position on the board. The secretary said that if there is one thing that women are particularly conversant with it is milk for the home. Xhe knowledge and experience of a housewife would be invaluable to the board. Women are the largest con.sumers of milk, and the consumers' representative on the board should have been a woman. The president of the National Council of Women (Mrs. I. H. Moss) said that the names of several capable women suitable for a position 01. the board could have been given to the Government by her organisations, but it was not approached on the matter. The organising secretary of the Housewives' Association said that there were women in- that organisation also who were quite competent for the work. Mrs. Britomartc James, president of the Victorian Women Citizens' Movement, said that more militant action would have to bo taken by women if they desired not to be continually ignored by the Government.

CHANGING HABITS. The '"Morning Post" had a recent leader pointing out the fact, in some apparent astonishment, that even before the war made us tighten our belts, big eating was on the wane; and that nowadays a heavy—or should one say hearty?—trencherman is a rarity. What was surprising in the leader was the surprise it expressed; the explanation is obvious to every person over thirty. When people took to motoring and flying they gave up eating, except in moderation. In the old days one had to walk, to ride, or cycle to get anywhere (unless the journey were serious enough to involve- a train); every day we used our energies and worked our muscles ten times as hard as moderns use them in a week. Boys and maidens to-day think it a hardship to walk to the post office—they must take out the car for only a half-mile sprint—and as to those who dwell in Ixrndon, states the writer, they are conveyed by bus, tube, taxi, or car, and hardly set foot to the ground. Wlitn the petrol engine came in drunkenness and over-eating went out; or have to all intents and purposes gone out. Statistics show us every year the astonishing change in the habits of our people; and frequently credit to medical science the increased longevity which could probably be ascribed far more justly to petrol.