PANEL DISCUSSES MEN AND WOMEN

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27404, 17 July 1954, Page 9

PANEL DISCUSSES MEN AND WOMEN

HUMOUR BUT FEW I 1 IS NEW IDEAS ? ( UNIVERSITY DISCUSSION GROUP This weeks’ subject for the Upiversity Discussion Group, “Women ( and Men,” produced from the panel z little argument, few notably original ■ ideas, but did generate in the audience a considerable amount of amusement. ' The chairman was Mr A. J. Danks, / and the other members of the panel - were Professor L. G. Pocock (classics) and Mr L. J. Hensley (law), and two women, Mrs D. M. Crowther (psychology) and Mrs S. Shea (library ; staff). t The first query put to the panel was: “Do you agree that the hand that t rocks the cradle rules the world?” Mr ' Hensley considered it to be “one of r those statements that we have heard € for years and have never analysed. I For that reason it is probably untrue. $ No-one will deny that motherhood is | a great and glorious thing, but speak- j ing as a male, one finds that it is often J the father who rocks the cradle and t changes the baby.” ( ‘‘l think the answer is in the nega- I tive,” said Professor Pocock. ‘‘lt is I Molotov and Chou En-lai.” “Have women made good use of < their voting powers?” asked Mr Danks. 1 turning to another topic in the dis- J cussion. 1 “It all depends on which side of , the fence you are,” replied Mrs Shea. J Working in various polling booths had shown her that a great many i women could not cast a vote without 1 their husbands, said Mrs Crowther. < All through the afternoon, when the ' wives could be casting their votes, : booths were almost empty. Bui in ; the evening, when the husbands arrived home from work, both appeared, had a small discussion together outside the booths, and then voted. “I think the answer to this question depends on your definition of the word good.” said Mr Danks before he passed on to the next question: “What ! attributes of character make a man [ manly and a woman womanly?” i Manly and Womanly Attributes 1 “Oh, I know the answer to this ? one,” called Professor Pocock. “Manly ’ attributes make a man manly, and ; womanly attributes make a woman r womanly.” When the roars of laughter had subsided Mr Hensley said that ' the term “womanly woman” made ; him shudder. p More than partisan replies were 1 drawn from the panel when they were ’ asked why it was that men seemed J more proficient in the fine arts than 1 women. Mrs Crowther suggested that 7 “most women had felt through the ages that the arts were fripperies.” L Great musicians and poets were often r inspired by women, “but I think it is stretching things a bit far to expect that a woman would be inspired by a man.” “This seems a flippant question because it assumes that women are deficient in the arts, and that would take a lot of proving,” said Professor Pocock. i Mr Danks had the most interesting view of the next question: “Is a tidy home a feminine fetish in New Zea--0 land, and if so, why?” Keeping the e home tidy, and doing the household j work tended to become competitive. e he said. A woman puts her washing _ on the line at 8 a.m., next week the neighbour’s is out at 7.30 a.m. The g next week the stop watches are really a on. The tidy home tended to become _ an end in itself without any real conr e sideration of its purpose. e “Making a fetish of it tends to make v it a vice,” observed Professor Pocock.