WOMEN AT THE GERMAN HELM.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3139, 16 October 1922, Page 8

WOMEN AT THE GERMAN HELM.

(By Lady Norah Ben thick.) What part do women play in the social life of post-war Germany? This is the question with which 1 have been most frequently plied since my recent return from Berlin . They play a great and novel part—mainly, politically. Possibly the most interesting feature of German politics to-day is the presence in the Reichstag of a lar«j;e body of priests and women. The composition of the Beichstag differs vitally from that of our House of Commons. It is built in a. semi-circle, and the members sit thus alsoy-those on the extreme right representing extreme conservative and monarchical views. As the members reach the centre the political opinions become wider and more democratic, and then blaze suddenly into Communism on the extreme left. Without exception all the women members—there arc over forty—sit well towards the "Left." German women, although considered more phlegmatic and less advanced in their views than English women, have nevertheless fione much further than we have in public life, and some of them lash the House to frenzy with their vitriolic utterances. Outside the Richstag, too, they are very active. Many important public positions arc held by women of a rational, sensible type. Every town, of importance has on its local government board a certain number of middle-aged women, who exercise a Aery positive power in controlling the decisions of the councils—especially in matters of interest to their .sex. All kinds of public posts, such as political secretaryships, are held by women, and one frequently meets lady lawyers. This is all the more striking when one recollects that hitherto the German woman has confined her activity to the domestic circle. The revolution has changed all this, and though a certain amount of the feminist enthusiasm which followed it has subsided, the German, woman will never return to' what she was in 1914. How did the appearance of so many women on the "Lett" side impress me? It made we wonder whether women would always hold these views or whether it is only the kind of women who bold these views who wish to outer Parliament. Out it also clearly revealed the great interest taken by German women in the national welfare, and their intense desire to raise their country into line with others out of the chaotic and bitter darkness of the war.