WOMEN AND POLITICS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20028, 9 September 1930, Page 13

WOMEN AND POLITICS.

TO XHE EDROB Of THBPRMS. Blr, —May I reply to the letter of y our ' veil-meaning but uninstructed correspondent, f Arm, - Y» • - Brave." The women who are,''lament* ing the fact that they have done/notl*ingsince, the franchise ' have simply - been' keeping' inefficient r political company, or-they would Jcnow «that; "fact" does .not exist. I-.wonld not dare. to .ask apace .to, name ' the, measures* of domestic,' tional' betterment with the women's urge rbehikdr'i;hem.- •- Will any; doubting women > National of ,Wjois4n, lot the. Women's. Christian, Teriiperanije -Union, . and they will "find 'that New. Zealand ~ " benefited incalculably by the of 'course,.'that earnest "women" ,, fled; our aim is higher tJjan" .chief failure; of our sex*has beek,the v. failure, of not °returning' f a WQfian v to _ Parliament. Had eligibility, surrendered '; at the time for expediency, ,T)een(grant-' ed ? with' the vote,„'the fine feiyorir u of -», r citizenship which seemß'to_have/'dep??t- : . ' v ' ed us, since the war, would havi, broken^ v - the . ice many ,a year 3ff0~,,. apd lef£-, • the t woman M.P, thatestablishe'd . she 5 is }in countries' continuing, 'to, J?rw- " .gress. „ Since - British women Ajiron I the* l vote«in , 1918, ' more do'mesjfcic - reforms ' have.been carried, thai} in .the fid! previpus century, v and' this pace" is fipgelyv * accelerated' since, the -women v? Westminster. (Evbn so,\ on.mihy; lines v. * they Lave, not caught up to-,ua.V Women should train.'' theirs political •thought and energies.on non-Earty; lines? • Most; certainly. "Wotrien of vision*'have no * time either-.for' political T swaddling ~ banks' or political 'rancour. _ K ? Women ■ should- a ° column »in the Press for public affairs? > A Daniel, come T ■ to judgment! Prom Gape Eeinga -to c :the-Bluff, women regard.the-present ex- " elusive allotment of <space to 'dress and,- ■: social gossip as a disgrace to New Zealand and to civilisation. - " ■ Wonten should; wait '(l' infer, your correspondent'means) till we have-a, Par* "■ liament ;before "trying to enter Parliament themselves 1 ? 1 Utter- - ly impracticable; we should'have to wait till Doomsday, in the 'first place; " in the second,*" A man can oily be judged by his peersls > an; accepted ' ' British ; principle. •-No " less reasonable ■ is the. claim that "men ■ and womqttjboth can only. be adequately represented by their peers. Had' the noble" fight for slave-women under the Union*' Jack waged to-day.; for the' first timely the British women members"' of Parliament been waged even fifty the Empire, Would stand' on-surer » ground " ' and iirmer • feet in .'lndia and .Africa v than it does a& 'present." . Yes; one Independent ' did ' stir tjje « country once from iLuckland' to the Bluff.. -I; have! already said* that "women * .and Independence march together for effective work. :_But it is hardly' Party - bias which, has supreme , measure of social need in oar country to-day—women police. It was the' d& astrouß accident of (he Turk eomplex being. in ..the. Ministerial and departmental authority concerned. Now we can go ahead, and woe betide the Government if the. measure does not pasß before next election. The great inter-Imperial question .of the nationality of married women/ tragically before us in . the case -, of deserted New Zealand wives of American sailors, Is not dn our landfor his sake-and onn < it is to be trusted that Mr Forbes knows where he is oh this matter next month; r See that' all ' business ■is settled be- ;■ fore the reporters? Not" on 4>ur.lif&-»'t yet, however, alluring it sounds. Women will always . reign as queens' .in: the home? Why end on that ancient, absurd gag? What queen : is the' drunkard 's wife, the gambler's-wife, v -ttie\plunger's wife, the work-shy husband's wife? This piteoug;afcd terrioly;preva- ' lent '.'royalty".wiJl never be lfolped'till. it is represented.—Yours, etc.?-"? - JfiSSlB" MACKa^r Cashmere Hills, September