NEW PROFESSIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 196, 19 August 1936, Page 13

NEW PROFESSIONS.

WOMEN'S PROGRESS.

RAPID SINCE THE WAR,

With the penetration of women into nen's professions, and the everncreasing difficulties in the struggle 'or existence, the jobs of women have jeeome as specialised as those of men, states Kurt Offenburg in the "Sydney Morning Herald." The selection of the i>est equipped and the survival of the ittest to achieve distinction and success apply as a maxim as ruthlessly to women as to men. We know that the last war—revolutionising in its effect in more ways. ;lian one —brought women to the forefront, making them severe, competitors ivith men; invading fields which, as late as 1920, were the exclusive domain jf the male. The sphere of women's arofessions, only yesterday limited to lomestic work or to such specialised jobs as teaching, nursing, the stage, or "o miserly underpaid homework like sewing, flowermaking, or the hand manufacture of cigars, has widened to undreamt-of proportions, and to- »- :lay's possibilities are as unlimited as those for men. We merely state these tacts, without analysing the probable results —socially, economically and lomestically—in the future structure of society and in the ultimate status of women. Locomotive Expert. Who heard twenty years ago of women engineers, women aviators or locomotive experts? The example of Mrs. J. A. Mollison and her exploits are too well known to be expounded anew, and the same applies to Miss Elli Beinhorn, the German airwoman. But there are other women, less in the limelight, who through their achievements have the same note of novelty. Miss Verena Holmes is one of England's experts in locomotives, and perfected a valve gear for either oil or steam driven engines. Originally a manual worker in an aeroplane factory during the war, she changed to pattern shop and foundry work, studied for an engineering degree, and became a "locomotive expert." Another outstanding figure is Hilda M. Lyons, an aeronautical research worker, who knows as much about lift, drag, autogyros, wing-actions and wind-tunnel experiments as any man. She was awarded the R. 38 Memorial Prize some years ago for some scientific paper dealing with the strength of transverse frames in airships. Yet not only England has her women in the technical fields. The Continent and the United States supply their quota of female technologists, too. Germany many years ago opened Parliament, universities and the legal profession to women; that country has als., a remarkable number of practising women engineers and scientists of svery description. Frau Rlioda Erdmann is professor of medicine at the Berlin University, one of the earliest research workers in the growth of cell tissues, and the - founder of'the first and , only periodical in the world dealing with the subject; Fraulein Elisabeth Ivuyper, the composer and. conductor,■ was the first woman to receive the Mendelssohn State Scholarship for- composition, and founded the first women's symphony orchestras in Berlin, London and New York. Several Times Refused. In Austria, for instance, where the equalisation of women in the political life of the nation was brought about only after the war (just as in Germany, where women had no vote), we find in Marianne Beth the first woman lawyer who * was admitted to the Supreme Court, and in Elise Richtei the first woman professor for Roman languages. Some of Frau Richtei s work equals that of any of her male colleagues, but to get to her position was not without difficulties. When she applied for her admission as lecturer, she was several times refused; and she herself tells us that one male membct of the faculty reasoned thus: "Ah, there is {he lady again- for whose sake wo have these long meetings." And yet, the editing of the Euryalus and Lucretia 'novel? of Octavian de JjSaint Gelais, or Frau Richter's contributions "About the Coherence in the Development of Roman Languages" will for ever secure her a place among the great philologists. Those women have done more for the advancement of their sex, and for the hi«h esteem which professional women enjoy nowadays, than a ■whole army of later-day publicity experts, who mistake the social appearance for the actual matter. One of the most glaring examples of how the pioneer remains unknown, in the background and far removed from limelight, was the death of Madame Cure, the radiologist and life-Ion" co-worker with her husband When she died, only a few years ago ; most of the Paris newspapers tool; scarcely any notice all, for at thai time a far greater event occurredsome boxing champion visited the C4tj of Light. Courageous Pioneers. For where would women be to-day as far as their social status and then professional possibilities are concerned without the never-tiring efforts o courageous pioneers like Adele Pank hurst (how far back it seems!) or tli< work of women like Margery Irew Corbett-Asliby, who, first as secretary of the "Women's Suffrage Society o England." and later in the Ministry fo Social Welfare, helped more to advanc* the rights of women than many a well known name. Another example is the work of Henni. Porch hannner, a member of the Norwegiai delegation to the League of Nations, am for a lone time the only woman on th Committee for Intellectual Co-operatior Certainly, to-day women have pene Jted in/o every field that once wa man's exclusive territory. They ar StaUUtoa: „»d ™ •„ +oir e n for jrranted. But the que. tion arises: Where would women b without the advance guard which fough the first battle, and which was the mos one- —for it had fi Tiatcl fi,« against prejudices and against conven tion. -