IN MEN'S SHOES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 129, 2 June 1934, Page 3 (Supplement)

IN MEN'S SHOES.

WOMEN AND EMPLOYMENT. " BACK TO THE HOME." (By JENNIE WAIN.) On all sides now we hear the terribly vexed question of "women workers" being discussed. And all sorts of theories are being brought forward as to how the strain could be eased. But whether women are quiet home workers or struggling out in the world to make a living, I think no one will contradict me when I say that they always have the harder part to bear in life. They, after all, are the actual bearers of the race, the planners, the dreamers and the fighters, often hanging on to an impossible situation with grimmer determination and courage than a man can have any idea of. Women, too, especially with small families, have to do the thinking for all of them down to the tiniest detail, while a man at least can focus all his attention on his business with a "single-track" mind. Again, where a woman is forced to earn her livelihood outside the home, and still have the cares of housekeeping besides, she has a double load of worry on her shoulders, which would be galling in the extreme to a man faced with the same situation. The Thankless Job. Unfortunately, this "sticking to the fireside" job is always the most thankless and "taken for granted" job of all. Ask any sister who stays at home, at the beck and call of all the family, drawing a email allowance of pocket money, while her brothers and sisters are all employed in the city; ask any wife who has sacrificed a good salary to marry a poor man which job is the more satisfying. Although there Is absolutely nothing wrong with the married state, only with the people who enter into that state, it is, unfortunately, an indisputable fact that comparatively few actually experience the true joy and happiness which marriage should bring. And it is only human and natural that a woman craves that appreciation of her household duties which is so often withheld from her by her menfolk, as being "her job, anyway, and all in the day' 3 march." Most men are still old-fashioned enough to believe that the ordinary domestic routine is quite enough to satisfy any woman, whether she is clever or stupid, completely losing sight of the fact that the world war completely revolutionised the status of women throughout the world. And once having tasted the sweets of constructive work, and the independence and freedom attached to it, it is no light matter for any thinking: intelligent woman to relinquish it all, and go back to exactly the cramped place occupied by her grandmother and great-grandmother. Work For Women. But this is the very thing that the world is trying to effect at present, this frenzied desire to order woman back to the kitchen and nursery, more particularly in Italy and Germany. When Italian couples are induced to marry and produce large families by the promise of a "marriage bribe," the whole idea presents rather a revolting and animal-like aspect. So often we hear it said that if every married woman stayed at home, there would be work for every man, or something to that effect. But we have only to ponder that statement foi a minute to see how ridiculously absurd it is.

It is a recognised fact that there are some vocations more particularly suitable for the married woman, naturally, such as nursing, all child welfare and mission work, with even Parliament and the ministry as possible channels. So if we suddenly try to imagine all those avenues closed, we have the ludicrous spectacle of men trying to fill every vacant post, with what chaos and confusion can be imagined. Undoubtedly, a retrograde step. There is fitting work in the world for everybody, both man and woman. Things are very gradually lighting themselves, and we can only bear these harassing times with what fortitude and patience we may until the world regains its old balance once more.