Soundings

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32589, 24 April 1971, Page 7

Soundings

by DENIS McC 4ULEY

mia*" ~ ~- ■ So much has -written on women’s lib.-uhrftaswtest year or so that in order IB I "B'uuse any interest the news jsSSSeems to Save turned to the more' .iiizawo- aspects —to such an extent significance of women’s jfUMi hei^'submerged in a mass of irrelevant (and often repulsive) trivia. w«/-. The move bywomen to get equal pay for equal work will probably succeed before -very long. Most men seem to have accepted the basic right of equal pay for equal work, although, no doubt wheff'the time comes they will makf ißf3f another equal right to prevaiicabßTo m<fct “*Men the argument for equal payCUiM>robably irrelevant for they have in proving (to themselves*hhy way) that women already have the country the way they want it. ’ ’ Women own or control probably half the wealth of the country—in other women’s lib. countries it is often more than half. They live longer to enjoy it. Legislation protects, women and their property, sometimes to the point of absur&ty. So. on the face’ of it there is something unusual about a movement such as women’s lib. that is comprised of middle-class women whose chief worry would seem to be calory counting and whose lives are much freer than those of women (and men) elsewhere in the world. Women’s lib. is eminently middle class, springing from the women who have achieved a high standard of education (although not necessarily at university level). Its effective and prominent members are in one way or another connected with the news media and can handle the publicity. And this is essential because the movement threatens to be swamped by its sillier adherents, even in New Zealand, which has so far avoided the extremes both of courage and absurdity shown by women’s lib. adherents overseas. Why then are these well-off women protesting? The reason for the protest is probably best illustrated by the emergence of the homosexual element in women’s lib. This element has sought to transform self-hatred into aggression and, by manufacturing a cause from their inadequacies, And an identity. I’m not trying to suggest all women’s fib. followers are lesbians. But this

idea of self-hatred and inadequacy which we can easily recognise in the homosexual seems to be found also in heterosexual women. Although it is obviously unjust to deny a women the same work opportunities as a man, it is not just this injustice that bothers women’s lib. There is also the sense of inadequacy that goes with being regarded as not capable of functioning at a level the woman knows is quite within her range. It is much the same sort of thing that is encountered in a rigid class society where background, not ability, determines what can be done. The feeling of inadequacy of something trying to rise above such a system can be enormous. On the question of equal pay for equal work, the same situation arises. When a Woman is not paid the same as someone else doing the same work a sense of inadequacy tends to arise—just as it would with two men of the same age and qualifications doing the same job at different rates of pay. Some of the fiercest women’s lib. attacks on the status quo. have been made in the field of the home. Much has been made about wives working much longer hours than husbands. But valid as this argument is, it is only superficial. What really irks a wife tied to the home is not the amount of work she has to do, but an attitude of mind towards her by people outside the home (and within it often) and an attitude of mind of her own which grows up from lack of wide contact outside the home. Housework is an occupation that requires a minimum of intelligence and mental effort, and because this is their occupation housewives tend to be looked on as having only this minimum amount of intelligence. The persistence of this attitude from outside the home very soon builds up a feeling of inadequacy and frustration in a woman, and it is compounded by her inability to make a wide circle of contacts and so prove, at least to herself, that she is something more than a mop-wielding moron who, according to the television ads, wants nothing more than shiny floors and a Chinese chef in her kitchen. - . So, in spite of all the stupid, claims made by women’s lib., in spite even of the sensible claims, let’s not forget there is something more important beneath it all. It is primarily a change of attitude toward women that is sought.