Law Degree For Mother Of Four

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32232, 26 February 1970, Page 2

Law Degree For Mother Of Four

Four’ young daughters have not stopped Mrs Esther Marion Parcell, of Christchurch, from studying at home. Recently, seven years of effort were rewarded i when she completed her law degree and was admitted to the bar.

This was the fulfillment of an ambition held by Mrs Parcell’s father-in-law, who died three years ago. When his son showed little interest in law, Dr J. C. Parcell, a prominent lawyer in Cromwell and Dunedin, and author of a book on Otago’s history, encouraged his daughter-in-law to study, undertaking to pay the fees and supply the books. “He wanted me to help him in his business, but unfortunately he died suddenly when I had nearly finished my de gree. I kept going because it seemed pointless to stop at that stage,” said Mrs Parcell yesterday. Not Easy It has not been easy to study with a young family, even though Mrs Parcelt’s husband, Tim, who is on the field staff of the Lands and Survey Department, has always been “very helpful.” i “At times I got very frust-

rated, but the study presented a change from the housework and it was something else to think about,” she said. Jane (8), Jacqueline (6), Susan (4), and Kay (nearly 3) were usually in bed when Mrs Parcell settled down to study. To them it was always “Mummy’s exams.” Mrs Parcell was one of two women and 33 men admitted to the bar in Christchurch

last Friday. The other woman was Miss Janet Manson.

“I would like a part-time job in the mornings with a city firm, doing general law, with some court work, if I had a reliable housekeeper to take the two youngest children to kindergarten,” she said. “If I do work I would like to be home when the children come in from school.” Arts Degree Mrs Parcell gained an M.A. in English from Victoria University in 1955 and she taught for six years ' in secondary schools in Napier, Temuka and Timaru. She met her husband, who| has a diploma in land valuation and farm management from Lincoln College, at a

university tournament when they were both students. “He has always been very keen on athletics; he was a miler and I played basketball.” They began married life in South Canterbury, where Mrs Parcell taught and also coached basketball. Her eldest daughter was a baby when she began to study law by correspondence from Canterbury University. “With my M.A. I already had some of the subjects and I did two law units most years. A couple of years I did three and one year when I had a bad back I never got any," she said. “I never did anything during the day or at week-ends. Usually I studied from 8 till 10 each evening, while my busband, who Is very keen on

racing, read up his racing news or did his own work.” Two years ago, the family moved to Christchurch, and, after five years of extra-mural study, Mrs Parcell was able to attend lectures for four hours a week, leaving the two pre-school children at the university creche. In Timaru, Mrs Parcell also found time to join the Women’s Division of Federated Farmers and she is now on the Avonhead Kindergarten Committee., “I am not really a committee person, which is probably l why I found time to study,” she said. “Some women do an awful lot of voluntary work and lots of others I know have full or part-time jobs. I’m afraid I would be very bored with housework alone.” Mrs Parcell does not anticipate any resentment from male lawyers when she starts to practice. “I don’t think they would mind working with a woman. They’re fairly progressive as I a whole. The question is whether the public will mind.” No Feminist She maintains she is not a , “militant feminist” but believes (and her husband supports her in this) that girls should make use of the edu--1 cation available to them. Would she encourage her : daughters to follow her into law? “Certainly, if they want to. People say women would be better and more understanding in family matters, such as divorce cases. But I think it is just a matter of interests: a lawyer who is a good father would be just as loathe to see the break-up of a family.” i The photograph shows Mrs Parcell at home yesterday with her two youngest daughters, Kay (left) and Susan.