FEELING OF INFERIORITY

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31383, 31 May 1967, Page 2

FEELING OF INFERIORITY

Combating a deeply rooted belief that women are naturally inferior was the most important struggle in the realm of women’s affairs today. This was a belief held by a great many women and nurtured by the prejudice of many men, said Mrs Doreen Grant in a talk on “The Potential of Women,” a course organised by the Society for Research on Women in New Zealand.

“Women’s claim to human rights is not merely a question of giving benefits to women. The real issue is far more fundamental; it is the participation of women as full partners in toe economic, social and cultural life of a nation,’’ she said.

Women as well as men were given minds to use and the ability to develop their thinking powers. Why was it that women’s achievement in practically every field was persistently lower than that of men?

“Is there some subtle difference in toe attitudes of men and women towards achievement?” she asked. “Does there still exist discrimination

and prejudice against women;

is it a combination of all these factors?”

Discussing the position of toe unmarried New Zealand woman, Mrs Grant quoted a woman executive as saying, “Women do not want to get to the top.” May Leave It was also considered that women were not promoted because the management did not expect their services for long. “It is quite true in many oases that if a man and a woman apply for the same position, the woman's qualifications must be superior to the man’s if she is to secure the appointment A number of women, I believe, fail to get toe promotion they deserve simply because they are women. “There must be many male business executives who would be far more tied to their office desks, were it not for the dedicated services of toeir efficient women secretaries, who are largely responsible for toe smooth running of toe business. I would hope that their salaries and chances of promotion are commensurate with toe burden they carry,” - she said.

“How can one explain the lack of interest and apathy shown by women over equal pay for equal work under equal conditions? Such is women’s lack of interest that today five or six years after legislation was passed endorsing equal pay, toe State services is toe only place where it has been implemented.

“Only a few days ago I was a member of a panel which discussed before a mixed audience of 150 sixth form pupils from all over New Zealand, the subject of equal pay. I had explained that the failure to implement equal pay except in the State services was largely the result of the apathy of toe very women who would benefit “A question from the floor elicited toe fact that the questioner, a boy, was certain that women as a whole did not want equal pay. Women much preferred men to be the bosses.

“ ‘Women’s job,' said this boy, Is to look after the home, and they should be content with that’ “I confess that I was rather rocked to find this, to me, antiquated attitude in one who may well be a future civic or national leader,” said Mrs Grant

"It was, I think, mainly male prejudice which prevented women, ’ until four years ago, from serving on a jury on an equal basis with men.

“The single woman is in no way helped by a woman’s husband being used, not perhaps to boost toe wife’s standing, but certainly to give her a lift. Quite frequently I have beard toe remark, ‘of course, she was half-way there because of her husband’s position.’ And I have experienced married women using their husband’s name and position to raise their own status,” said Mrs Grant. One. of the points of agree-

ment throughout much of the world, regardless of race, politics, or technical advancement was that nations did hot prosper without the love, guidance and stabilising influence of their mothers. “Without the warm love of mothers, or close substitutes, children tend to grow up lacking toe security so essential to their living full, satisfying lives. The good old-fashioned English nanny really was an excellent mother substitute. Home Ties “The new technology of home-making has not freed women. The talented woman, because of her home ties, is not as free to develop her gifts as is her male counterpart,” said Mrs Grant Quoting from a recent International Labour Organisation report on “Women Workers in a Changing World,” Mrs Grant said “true freedom lies for women in the right to choose for herself whether she wishes to work outside her home or not.”

World-wide recognition that every country must develop its human resources to toe full if if was to compete in the world market, had produced far reaching changes in toe rale of women. “A second and even more dramatic change comes with the acceptance and widespread use of the contraceptive pill, which frees women from toe fear of unwanted pregnancies and enables them to space their families as they desire,” said Mrs Grant. '