WOMAN'S SPHERE.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLIII, Issue 2285, 19 February 1912, Page 7

WOMAN'S SPHERE.

One of the surest signs of the progress we have made during the last fifty years is the great change which j is coming over public opinion with j regard to what is generally termed '"woman's sphere." Stress, however, is still laid on marriage and the care of children as the first and great duty of all women. It is difficult to write on this subject, as one may be easily misunderstood ; but a lnng and varied knowledge of women and girls in most phases and classes of life points to the fart that the continual dwelling upon this theme is a source of grave danger. j While fully allowing that marriage and the care of children may become the first duty of the majority of women, it is quite obvious that it will not be the fate of all, or of nearly all. Many women never get a chance of marrying, and to bring this subject, forward, as a fundamental principle, in tho manner so consistently done from the platform and the pulpit, and also by a large section of the press, unsettles and dissatisfies many girls ; in some cases it makes them feel that they are actually not | doing their "duty" because they are not married and the mothers of families. To the majority of healthy-minded, well-balanced girls the idea of marriage to a man they love and respect, to the end of time, i 8 an attractive one. There is no need to emphasize tho fact that it is their : duty. But we must remember that there is a large class of women from j whom this prospect ought to be reso- , lutely withheld ; therefore in a mixed I audience of women this point should J never be unduly emphasised. Numj berless women are physically and I mentally unfit to marry ; they can I never be the mothers of healthy chil- ! dren. Why, then, tell them it is j their duty to enter the marriage J state ? for on this matter the whole I sex is invariably classed together ; ! distinctions are never made. ! There is nothing more sad than the sight of an unmarried woman, no longer in her first youth, who has ! been brought up on this fatal theory. J She has been told, and she has conjstantly read, that her sex's "great duty is to bear and rear children ;" ! but no man has asked her to marry : him. If in her youth the duty and j delight of work, of unselfish interest I in the lives of others, had been instilled into her instead of that of marriage, she would probably have developed into a happy, useful member of the community ; but her ideas have been all directed down a road from which there may be no outlet. Hence the large number of unbalanced women, who either sink into a lassitude from which nothing can rouse them, or else indulge in hysterical or morbid imaginings. We turn from marriage to the home life, and hero, the same situation confronts us. Home life and homo duties are the destiny of thousands of women—as is marriage. But every year increases the number of women whose obvious duty it is to go out into the world and earn their own living. How often we see a ! middle-class home crowded with daughters, all brought up on the theory that marriage and home life j is their destiny ; that an idle exis- ! tence is superior to a life of honour- j able work : and that their place is j to be cared for and dependent upon man. What wonder that thjse girls make j marriage their great aim in life ? To ! tell them that the home is their j sphere is a direct perversion of the j truth, and is answerable for much of the grinding poverty and hopeless misery which is so often met with among the women of the middle class. The father dies ; the home is broken up ; the daughters are often penniless, with youth, health, and energy .gone, and are totally unfit and incapable of starting life on their own account. Then come pathetic appeals to the papers, inquiring how to set about finding occupation, a question which ought to have been settled years ago, for the standard in every profession is now so high that, if there is any chance of a girl being eventually obliged to earn her own living, she cannot begin her training too soon. These women are the dsspair of the philanthropist, and their condition is directly due to the fatal theory, Inculcated into them in their youth, that the home, and the home alone, was their "sphere." In common fairness, a woman is entitled to choose an employment which shall enable her to remain single if she pleases, so that if she eventually marries, it will be at the dictate of love, and not of necessity. It is forcing women to marry as the only alternative to a life of poverty which has wrecked the lives and the homes of thousands. It must also be borne in mind that there has always txisted a large class of women for whom the ordinary ties of domestic life present no attractions. These women would never make good wives and mothers. Public opinion is very strong against married women working, and the question no doubt bristles with difficulties. But we must not forget that many men are lazy, and that a wife able to earn money is looked upon by them as a valuable asset. It often happens that a woman realises when too late the fact that her husband is useless, and that if the home is to be maintained at all she must maintain it herself. Also, there are thousands of married women who are supporting delicate husbands, and the number of deserted wives is very large. It has been stated that one-third of the children attending the London elementary schools are maintained solely by their mothers. To prevent these women from working, either by legal restrictions or by social prejudice, would be doing them, and the community at large, a grievous wrong. The quotation "A woman's right is the right to a natural protector" is constantly being brought forward in referring to this subject ; but thousands of women are not only obliged

to stand alone, but themselves are the natural protectors of aged parents and other relations who are dependent upon their exertions.— "Spare Momentß."