At What Age Are Women Sensible?

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29004, 19 September 1959, Page 2

At What Age Are Women Sensible?

At what age does a woman get sense? This teasing question was discussed by Christchurch women recently who took up the challenge offered by the suggestion of a supposedly sensible male, that it was not until she reached 23 years. The attitude towards the matter varied considerably, depending on whether the person was a father, mother, husband, wife, daughter or brother, they concluded.

Inspector E. J. G. Hotham, chief instructor at the Police Training School, Trentham, put his head into a female hornets’ nest of scoffing career women and mothers by implying at a luncheon meeting of Rotary Club members in Petone that a male of 19 had more sense than a female. Male recruits to the Police Force are accepted at a minimum age of 19, but women must be at least 23. Inspector Hotham said that one reason for the difference was: “We don’t think they have much sense till they are 23.” The statement, made presumably to a male gathering, was probably said facetiously; Christchurch women rose to the bait in the same spirit this week. The mother of a young nurse' said: “Let that big, burly policeman with his views on female senselessness become a patient in hospital and I think he’ll change his mind.” The percentage of nurses younger than 23 doing responsible work at the Christchurch Hospital must be very high, she claimed. “Graduate nurses senseless? Well, I’ll be darned,” said a former nurse who is now a mother of two children and still under 23. Nursing the sick called for extreme common sense and a dedication to responsibility. Hospitals and patients would be in a pretty pickle if women were

asked to wait until they were 23 before embarking on their nursing training, she said. Young Graduates “If Mr Hotham could see the results of a 21-year-old teacher’s influence on my high-school son, it might be an eye-dpener,” said one woman who had nothing but admiration for a young woman who was teaching mathematics and science at a local high schooi. Other women joined in with words of praise for the good sense and, deep interest that many young women teachers displayed, both in primary and post-primary classes. “It takes more than good sense to deal with a bunch of wriggling, high-spirited kindergarten children,” put in another, who said both she and her husband marvelled at the patience and aplomb with which youthful kindergarten teachers handled their children. “Now, put an intelligent and worldly police inspector with a crowd of little ones and see if the kindergarten teachers think he displays good sense,” she said. Similar eulogistic comment was offered about the prowess of young dental nurses who, at a tender age. have to exercise skill, responsibility and patience. The mothers present gave testimony to their own trust and that of their children in the young operators. Mother Knows Best? When the women really got going, countless examples of highly responsible careers and work undertaken by young women were brought forward. Not the least among these was the taxing career of wifehood and motherhood which were entered into by many young women before they reached the age of 23. I am amazed at the good sense of the young women of today,” an older woman said. “They seem to me to develop common sense, confidence, maturity and the ability to take responsibility at a much younger age than my generation did.

The former nurse pulled a surprise for the last word, lining herself up on the side of the inspector.

“Well I think he might have something," she said. “It’s plain to see that those of us here who are under 23 and married with a family have no sense.”