Scot Finds She Is “A Cabbage” In N.Z.

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32036, 10 July 1969, Page 3

Scot Finds She Is “A Cabbage” In N.Z.

Mrs Margaret ForsythHardy, wife of the director of the Scottish Tourist Board, came all the way to New Zealand to learn she was “a cabbage.” "Bjut I don't feel like one,” she Said, on arrival in Christchurch last evening. “Just because I don’t go outside my home to work-doesn’t mean I’m 'not busy.” - Rather bemused by the subject, Mrs Forsyth-Hardy confessed she. had never heard the term “cabbage” until she arrived in' Auckland. A

woman there, on hearing she was a full-time housewife, said: “Oh, you’re a cabbage, like me, then.” “I couldn’t help noticing in Australia and New Zealand how often both the man and his wife go out to work,” she said. “I suppose it is because it is a young country and young people all want to own their own houses. I think the Cost of living here for a young couple starting out is much higher than ours.” Mrs Forsyth-Hardy, who comes from Edinburgh, is accompanying her husband on a tour of Australia and New Zealand, designed to attract people to Scotland. Many married women in Edinburgh worked, she said, but most who took paid jobs only did so because they had to. There was no pressure on women to find interests outside the home. The majority of older women, who had children at school or at Work, preferred social work, but good nurseries were available for the preschool children of working mothers. She said most Scottish towns had at least one nursery run by the local council, and these were of a high standard. In Edinburgh, there were also many private nurseries. A trip to Canada and North America towards the end of last year was the first time she had accompanied her husband on tour. “It was not very easy while

our daughter was a medical student; I did not like to leave her during exams. Later, when she married, I still did not like to leave her,” she said. She now has two granddaughters, and describes herself as “a very willing and a very good baby-sitter, not only for my daughter but for other young people who Want to go out.” New Zealanders have puzzled her in one respect. "Why do you go to bed so early?” she asked. “People here all seem to be fast asleep by 10 p.m. It is at least 11 or 12 O’clock when we get to bed at home—and we’re not television fiends, either. Usually, I am up about 7.30 a.m.” She added: “Mind you, there doesn't seem to be much night life for young people in New Zealand.”