THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR GIRLS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 58, 1 December 1917, Page 6

THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR GIRLS

Sir,— According to "Hygcia" in thij', morning's paper, Mrs. Truby King is reported to have said in Dunedin during Baby Week, that. "in the. early days of the war there were 40 per cent, of rejects among volunteers, and the chief. cause of .incapacity was found to be: decay.of the teeth." She went on: "It was certain that if this large proportion of men were unlit, a much larger proportion. of girls were unfit." How in the name of sanity does she arrive at. this conclusion ? Tho average girl is much more cleanly than the average boy, and she does not damage her teeth with nicotiue. On this absurd deduction, Mrs. King proceeds to sermonise girls, telling them that the passing of examinations was of little importance compared with the attainment of good health, etc. It is a far cry from neglected or decayed teeth to the abolition of higher education for girls. One would havo thought a tooth-brush or a dentist •would have met the case better.

In another section of "Hygeia'a" column a "pathetic case" is described of a girl suffering from the "stress of education," who admits that she has to study till 10 o'clock at night for her "matric.," and who looks nervous and overstrung. No wonder! There is not a boy living who could or would stand the strain that is imposed upon the ordinary college girl. Take this "pathetic case." On the eve of her "matric." she is dragged away from her usual schoolwork to see a celluloid doll washed and dressed, and to listen to talk which, however helpful it may be at a later period of ber life, is oaloulated at the age of 16 or 17 to ' merely distract her attention from studies which are of paramount importance. Of coarse, she has to stay up at night to make up for the lost time. But this is not all. A college girl is a. great help in the house, and before school each morning she dusts rooms, makes beds, her brother's as well as her own—cuts luncheons, darns stockings, and helps her mother as only an unselfish girl can. And tho mother isweak enough to accept this sacrifice from her daughter instead of teaching ' her' sons to be . self-reliant and helpful in the homo where hired help is almost unobtainable. In addition -to all this, every college girl is expected to knit socks for, soldiers. The double standard of life for girls and boys and for men.and women must be abolished. The whole future welfare of the, race ifl in tho hands of •women, and if only from.'a..selfish point, of view men would do well to see that girls get the fullest opportunity for intellectual development. The Empiro needs extra brain-power. ■ There is no sex in brain. Devclon it in girls and boys alike, and we will hear less in the future of ignorant mothers and diseased'fathers.—l am, etc., FAIR PLAY., . Novomber 2G, 1917. • ' ■