CLUB DEBATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 165, 15 July 1938, Page 12

CLUB DEBATE.

WOMEN'S INTELLIGENCE.

"That women are more intelligent than men," the debate .at the evening group of the New Women's Club, had its light and serious moments. The president, Mrs. W. B. Darlow, presided. The teams choeen were Mrs. W. V. Page, Mre. A. Gladding and Mrs. J. C. Humphreys (affirmative), Mrs. A. Craig, Mrs. C. Lewis and Mre. M. Stewart (negative). The affirmative, led by Mrs. W. V. Page, stressed that throughout history women had by means of their greater intelligence inspired and guided men to rule the world. Almost every male genius had admitted that hie greatness was due to mother or wife. The women of ancient Greece swayed civic life to a marked degree and their influence was still felt in the civilised world to-day. That Greeks recognised the superior intelligence of their women was evidenced by the superb statues erected to Minerva and other goddesses.

The negative, led by Mrs. A. Craig, contended that while women had many higher qualities than men, actual intelligence was not one of them. If women had the cold logical intellect that was a necessity for men out in the world earning a living, they would not be nearly as interesting and comfortable persons to live with. That women had influenced history and great men was admitted, but not that it had been accomplished by intelligence, rather by the exercise of purely feminine charm and sympathetic understanding. Even in ancient Greece it was the face of Helen of Troy that "launched a thousand ships"; her intellect, if she had any, is not recorded.