THE FEMININE POSITION.

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 23, 26 January 1918, Page 11

THE FEMININE POSITION.

"The Making of Women." By A. Maude Eoyden and others. Edited by Victor Gollancz. George Allen and Unwin, London.

The purpose of this collection of writings by well-known feminists is to suggest lines upon which feminism should develop. The contributors and their subjects are as follow:—A Maude Royden, on "Modern Love" and "The Future of the Feminist Movement" ; Elinor Burn 6, on "Education;" Ralph A. Rooper, on "Women Emancipated;" and "Remuneration of Women's Services," by Eleanor P. Rathbone. The introduction and conclusion are furnished by Victor Gollancz. The feminist point of view is clearly and ably stated, and its radical character is not disguised by the various writers. What are ordinarily regarded by both sexes as instincts are to be eradicated, and woman is to be made free of all that makes her woman to-day as in countless ages gone. The contribution on "Modern Love;" for instance, is no doubt expressive of the views held by many feminists, • and Mi£3 Hoyden states them with clarity and in a most attractive fashion. The fact that the business of parenthood, like every other business, trade, or profession, has to be learned by parents is rather overlooked; 60, too, is the fact, as parents who have served their apprenticeship well know, that each child in a family requires specific training. ITo matter how large or how small the family may be, no matter how much one sex may predominate in it, children require to be individually brought up. Parents, of course, make mistakes, and are sometimes unwise, but the point is that no course can be laid down by which certain definite results are certain to be obtained in the upbringing of a family. So it is with respect to the enlightening of children upon thepsycho-physiologicaj solemnities of sex. In some circumstances a good deal may be done to equip children for their duties of man and womanhood; in others it is preferable that the child should learn for itself. Human nature i 6 much the same (under the skin) to-day as it was in remote historical times, and it is likely to be so. Many of the modern views on love and marriage are quite ancient, have already been tried, and have resulted in confusion. The rule should not be framed upon the exception, and it is clearly exceptional cases that Miss Royden endeavours to meet in the views she expresses on "Love." Besides all this, it has to bo remembered that the heavy spade work of child training in the home ie often vitiated by exterior influences —of the school, the office, the street. The article on "Women Enfranchised" does refer to what has been done in the United States to accord women their right to "participate on equal terms with men in the control of public affaire, but singularly enough ignpres the influence of women's suffrage in New Zealand and Australia, where it has now had a trial of many years, and its effects upon public life can be seen. Mr. Gollancz has done good service to the feminists in collecting these wellexpressed views in a single volume, and those who ha,ye no sympathy or patience witli the militant "ahriaking sisterhood" he has made his debtors, for they are now able to see at a glance what feminists are out to obtain, and how they may develop.

Two of the latest of Hodder and Stoughton's cheap pocket editions o{ modern popular novels are to hand. " Penrod," by Booth Tarkington, already reviewed from the first edition in The Post, is one of the volumes ;■ and " The Patrol of the Sun Dance Trail," by Ralph Connor, is the other. Corporal Cameron, in this book promoted sergeant, is introduced, and some thrilling adventures he has in keeping in the Canadian North-West.