WOMEN'S RIGHTS

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 82, 4 October 1919, Page 14

WOMEN'S RIGHTS

FOLITICS-AND THE FUTURE

tO TIE EBIIOK.

Sir, —The magnanimity, the generous condescension of our legislator;}, to admit ■women to Parliament! Are they not ludicrous ? Or so they appear to a more woman. At last, when there is no other way out of an impending calamity, women, are to be allowed the right to sit—in the very flesh—where hitherto she has ruled—albeit unseen; to wit—in our glorious Houses of Legislature. Realising at last that the principle of the woman and the mulberry tree did not hold good, members have capitulated—not so gracefully either. Not one of them but 1 hopes to hold his own small stool tight if possible, though not all had. the Dutch j courage of Dr. Newman,* who will hardly let his reputation as Sir Galahad pass without a pang. "Xis something to be loved by the ladies. Report has it that member* speaking to the Bill were at & disadvantage in not having anyone to fight. Do they intend to fight when woman gete into Parliament, or is she, for the Bake of peace, so dearly loved by the average politician, to have a walk over? Believe me, these will be controversies, for despite Sir John Findlay's prediction, women will be there, and soon quite able to hold their own. Shade of Seddon, who was go much given to expressing in public how much he owed to woman, is it not now actively enjoying Parliament's latest ? With a shadowy hand to the place where the heart is supposed to be, it would sigh—"l have done all this." Of course,. it is just another instance of the despised grease spot—New Zealand—showing the rest of the world how to go; in everything we lead oar own parent and sister lands—in our own imagination: That there should be' any question as to the inferiority of woman's intellect, proves man's weakness 'when he has to - crawl down. If woman has been subservient during the past two thousand years, it is mainly owing to the illogical teaching of one Saul of Tarsus, who had changed from one type of fanatic to another still worse. Pagan women of former ages had been leaders and legislators, and through later days women have been leaders; in our own national history, from Boadicea up to date, women have led the van—at times visible, mostly not. For there is great tnith in the saying—God made man in his own image, but woman is the finished article. In our own little Parliament, how many of the present members would bo there1 to-day, if it were not for the in- i fluen.ee of women? And how many j women prepare their husbands' speeches, while the poor man conserves his small intellect for the delivery of same ? A wife makes a cheap and efficient private j secretary; and, moreover, knows her j man. The day'of the swooning pining woman is past; the average specimen today is decidedly practical, because she is throwing off man's bondage; and the attitude of those representatives who spoke to the Woman's Parliamentary Bights Bill showed an apologetic state of mind for having to admit at all the injustice done to woman, and his own dependence. The member for Grey considers that, being deprived of the rights of maternity, the making of the country's laws would serve as a compensation, but he is labouring under a delusion. A woman is first of all a mother, and, nothing really compensates for a denial of Nature's original intention. He seems to predict a race of Amazons, owing to war' depletion of possible fathers, and is consequently very nervous. But there was never an evil so great but that somewhere was a remedy. To the member for Riccarton we give the medal inscribed with the idiom, "Brevity is the soul of wit." His speech was "multum in parvo," or in other words, least said, soonest mended. We liave at least one diplomat in the House. Eden us wrong, when it thinks that women, prefer to go to bed at eve. It! will be found they can stay up quite late. Yet have they not eaten of the tree of knowledge, and so will bring common senso to bear on long debates. Wellington Suburbs would think it quite nice v women secured those two seats North and South, and having secured them, sat on them and stayed there. The Suburbs are tottering to a fall. It is ridiculous.to think that women will geek to represent obscure constituencies ; she was nuvei1 content to take a back seat. 'Tis so lovely to read the way members are mapping out the careers of prospective women legislators. They talk of some strict test' of us. Pish ( But let them not be too sanguine; woman was ever, and will still be—^n enigma. And when she arrives, it will not be woman only who will at laist have found her right place, but incidentally her servant—man. Apropos of'the remarks of Christchurch North—every woman who is burdened .with a man knows that she carries the whole load. Some, like Wellington Central, cannot get away from the domestio ideal, and will be able to appreciate any political economies women may effect. With the member for Napier, women are vigorously alive to their privileges, which same are also their prerogative. •But, sir, we are not yet in the 'House, the gentlemen of the Upper Chamber have yet to put on their considering caps, and, as all the world knows, elderly people are severe on youthful aspiration. One peaceable man approves the measure, .because women will not favour war. What about Helen of Troy, who was responsible for so much, and th^ Spartan mothers, who buckled on their son's breaste the shields of war, and sent them forth not to return, unless with honour? And have no women in our own dear country done likewise, quite recently, sending forth—with firm courage and grim determination to face the results—husbands and .sons? Was ever such stoicism displayed as now, and have women been heard to wail ? So, as a natural sequence, she will come again to her own. Women of New Zealand, our star is in the ascendency; to it* wa will hitch our wagon, ere it rise too high, and so again be unattainable. Let us grasp the fleeting phantom, ere it passes as a vapour at sunrise : "There was a door to /which we had no key. . There was a veil thro' which we could not see." Now the door is open, and we must enter. For encouragement one mentions that in 1910—the year in which the women of the Commonwealth of Austra-' lia first exercised the right of franchise — a Victorian girl, Miss Vida Goldstein, stood for the Senate, and, though not elected, polled 53,000 votes. One was there, and the enthusiasm vraa intense. Thank you, dear legislators, for your magic "Sesame." We have not yet arrived—but as the Americans sang to their beloved Father Abraham—We are coming. The; moving finger writes, and having writ—moves on. Kismet!!!—l am etc., BARBARA JUNIOR.