WOMEN IN CHAINS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 151, 27 June 1936, Page 3 (Supplement)

WOMEN IN CHAINS.

THE ECONOMIC POSITION

EFFECT ON THE FUTURE MOTHERS

(By ALICE J. GREVILEE.)

The question of the economic position of women is continually arising, and at the present time, in almost every country of the civilised world women are struggling to secure a higher status.

The modern woman is often cited as being a creature advanced, emancipated and successful, but in reality women are financially crippled, chained and hound. Although we are proud of the minority of outstanding women in the "world to-day, let us, in Bernard Shaw parlance, get down to the "tin tacks" of the position. Tho pathetically sweet old statement that "the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world" needs re-examining very closely. After an impartial study of icy facts and figures, one is forced to the conclusion that a revised version of the old saw is long overdue. Most wide-open-eyed women of this age realise that "the hand" that holds the purse strings not only rules the world but cruelly hinders the progress of humanity. All good women loathe the thought of war with its trail of ruin, death and devastation, for they alone know what it costs in human suffering, to bring life into the world, and yet if the nation were faced with the danger of war to-morrow how could women prevent it ? Money talks, and it is a weird and awful language that it can speak 011 occasions. Unless women sit round the council tables of the nations and help to guide financial affairs, war will pile upon war until civilisation is annihilated. Very Little Reward. In spite of their so-called freedom, womei.—black, white, brown and yellow ■ —are bogged in an economic morass. As far as the economics of our present society are constituted woman's biological functions, or sex use, are mainly considered as her only justification for a place in the scheme of things economic. She must live 011 her sex, motherhood is a noble profession, but unpleasant details obtrude when we see how many good unselfish mothers are rewarded even in progressive little New Zealand. A woman pives up a fairly decent position to marry and perhaps produces four children. Directly she has more than one child she puts a mfllstone round her neck, for if for any reason she is obliged to turn out and work she is relegated to the economic scrap heap. Her husband may be what is known as a "good provider" and generous withal, but the fact emerges that she is dependent on his generosity for even threepence a week in solid cash. Food, clothing, shelter—yes, hut no real* claim 011 any money unless "hubby" doles it out. What an ignominious position for a good mother to be placed in, and yet we complacently pat ourselves on the back and still talk drivel about "God's Own Countrv."

Drawing meagre pensions to-day in New Zealand are many proud old women who have reared large families. Their children have married and are often

overburdened with financial obligations. Some of these courageous old soiils eke out an existence living in odious bed-sitting-rooms, making shift with smelly gas rings on which they endeavour to cook inadequate snacks of food. Once in three days you may see them stealing quietly into a restaurant to eat a really decently cooked meal. What prospect can any thinking woman see in this kind of a life —this munificently chivalrous reward of self-sacrificing motherhood? If motherhood is so important and many able men speak and write fluently while stressing this point, then the mother of children should never see, even in imagination, the harrowing spectre of impoverished, lonely miserable old age.

Let us examine the position from another angle. It is an established fact that many young girls are forced to work for the handsome sum of 10/ a week, minus keep.

These girls are the potential mothers of tho race, and if, as we all admit, motherhood is important, then the health and strength, the moral and mental fitness of these girls should be one of the first charges on the State. For three months I once stayed in a hostel for girls, and the life of these gay, brave young people was a revelation to me. Typistes, dressmakers, shopgirls, teachers, domestic workers, nurses—all were represented and a courageous company they were. Young Girls' Struggle. On their totally inadequate pay the majority of the girls could not attain to tho dignity (I had almost written "common decency") of a room of their own, so they were obliged perforce to share a room. The somewhat meagre "eats" of the establishment were supplemented by fruit and extras purchased from decidedly slender wages. On "off" hours, when as potential mothers of the race they should have been out in the fresh air" and sunshine enjoying healthy recreation, most of them were either stni'Wing with utterly insufficient washhouscf and ironing equipment to do their laundry work or were busy sewing eyes out to keep themselves decently covered. These "iris were real comrades and very o-cnerous to each other. One particularly beautiful girl was always hard up, for she received 25/ a week and had to pay board and live respectably (if possible) 011 this pittance. She never refused the pjft of an old frock and would spend hours on her knees, cutting up and renovating dresses, to augment her scanty stock of clothes. She had to do all her cutting out 011 the floor, for in this glad institution properly equipped sewing rooms were not provided. But this merry lass managed to trip off to her work each day looking dainty, fashionable and as neat as a new pin and we all admired her tremendously. As long as it is possible for mothers who have reared families and girls who are the future mothers of the community to be treated in this unfair fashion, ic behoves all earnest-minded New Zealanders to be up and doing. These injustices can be remedied, and, heartened and inspired by the knowledge of what brave pioneer women have already accomplished in New Zealand, women can hold firmly to the ideal of a fair square deal for womenfolk, and can work unceasingly to attain this objective.