WOMEN IN JAPAN

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25913, 20 September 1949, Page 2

WOMEN IN JAPAN

ATTITUDE OF MEN DISCUSSED A warning that in his opinion interference with the relationship of Japanese men and women might lead to trouble was given by LieutenantColonel J. A. Worsnop, formerly chief administrative officer of the 2nd N.Z.E.F. in Japan, during an address to the Christchurch Businessmen’s Club yesterday. In no other country he knew had women been so subservient tb men. he said. When male Japanese went on strike at a camp in the British occupation area it was found that the reason was that some Australian soldiers had stopped women from carting heavy loads of water and chopping large blocks of wood, because the soldiers thought these were not jobs for a woman. The Japanese males considered that these were appropriate tasks for a woman and were unwilling to do them when women were about. “I don’t know why it is that New Zealanders think anybody who works hard is unhappy.” said Colonel Worsnop after telling this story. Japanese women sowed and harvested crop* and took a full part in work of ever> kind alongside men. This was probably, in part, the reason for no signs of neurosis and very little visible mental defectiveness. Among old Japanese couples he had observed that feeling of comradeship which was sought in our own society.