"SET OF OLD WOMEN"

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 135, 4 December 1935, Page 19

"SET OF OLD WOMEN"

LIFE RICH IN EXPERIENCE

MODERN FACTS DEMON-

STRATE

A political orator, wishing to characterise his opponents in the most contemptuous of terms, said "They, are a set of old women," states a writer in Ihe "Cape Times."

This phrase as an expression of utter futility and weakness has come down from the olden times when women's strength of mind and body was ?o shocking]} exploited that in old age they were very often diseased and abnormal, helpless, and a family burden: This fact was due not to natural limitations but to- social conditions. .

Thus has arisen the false: conception of women as semi-invalids in the earlier part of life and. incapable of any efficient labour in .the.later years. Modern facts,, however, demonstrate that this is entirely an erroneous conception.

It is now admitted that -women as mothers and potential mothers of the race are longest sustained iri life, health, and activity. Statistics, show that more women than mcix live to old age, and, moreover, it is declared byexperts that mental derangements are more common in old men than .in old women. Generally there is far greater constitutional youthfulness among old women than among old men, which is in itself a sign of. greater vitality and later conservation of work power. . . . . RECUPERATIVE POWER. Women possess a greater Innate recuperative power than men and although more often slightly ill, make easier recovery. These facts make the phrase "the weaker sex," as applied to women, absurd. There is, however, a great difference in the working capacities of men and women. Men have through all their years "a straight line" of -progressive power up to the period of the slowing down of age. Women have, at least for the first aecade of their married life, a curved and variable line of activity outside the : home. .The measure of physical energy expended in child-bearing and child-rearing means without doubt a heavy loss -of social usefulness beyond the limits of the home. A spinster once remarked to a proud mother of five children, "I would give twenty years of my life to- have such a family as yours." "They cost about that," replied the mother. . • ■ This fact makes the father in duty bound to carry the heavier economic load all through the child-rearing period of the woman. It is during this time also that women lay claini to a chivalrou- devotion from, their men and special consideration by law and custom. A "SECOND YOUTH." In middle-age there is a fresh balance of power between men and women which calls for a reconsideration, not only of the relationship in the immediate home circle, but also in the position of the woman with regard to her place in the outside world.

In the lives of most women there is a capacity for a "second youth" which seems to hold in reserve full compensation for the expenditure - : of.. that energy that motherhood may have^ demanded. This is a fact that the modern woman is only 'Beginning to grasp at present. What:. she may have, failed/, to accomplish before-she was twenty-five, she may still achieve before she.is forty.-flve. ' ...

In the past, the disadvantages, of being a woman . have ibeen far better understood than the advantages. Now - for the first time, women ■ are beginning to realise their own advantages, personal, and social.' To this day there has been an enormous waste in- the distinctive powers of womanhood after the child-rearing age. It is however, a mistake to suppose that a woman's usefulness is ended when her last baby grows out of need for her personal' ministrations. Under the present social conditions women become a leisured class in their early middle-age and their problem is howto apply this leisure to healthy activity. A MIXED BLESSING. At no period! in the history of the world has the woman of average means enjoyed as much leisure as she does, today, and this has come to her as a mixed .blessing. The many labour-saving devices that.have been introduced into her home, while adding to her comfort, have at the same time robbed her of a good portion of her day's occupation. If she is wise, she tries to put her hours, of freedom to effective:use; if not, she wastes them before her mirror; or oh her idle couch, where her mind lingers on. the yesterday, and her spirit, tedious with inactivity, sinks lower and-lower. PARASITES OF THE WORLD. There has always been a fairly large proportion of women among the parasites, of the world; but, generally speaking, it is the candid desire of every woman to be occupied, to have definite work to do. With all the talk about the modern woman's activity, however, there are more women in this modern world without sufficient work to do than there ever were in the days of long ago. The conception of home can no longer be a limited one.. Within the four walls of her cottage the woman of today is kept busy only a few hours a day, except when her children are small or if she is a slow-coach and a muddler. The daily household scene is familiar to everyone. The husband has his breakfast and goes away to business. The children go away to school. Their days are mapped out fully. After school come the hours of sport, music, home-lessons, and other activities. During all those hours, no matter how much they want to please their mother, they have no time to play with her. She needs must find her own interests. She must busy her mind in her: own way, if only to protect her children from nagging them. Very many women have discovered this secret of happiness. ' Unfortunately, they have not all found congenial occupation for. those tiring hours of "nothing to do." So they waste their afternoons either at the old game of a little tea and scandal, or at the more progressive pastime of constant bridge. These games become the very essence of life itself, and quite out of proportion to their merits. IN SEARCH OF HAPPINESS. It is in her search o£ happiness that the woman of today confronts her greatest difficulties. She needs only to be reminded of Sir James Barries beautiful expression, "They who bring happiness to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves."

Therefore the woman who has the good will and interests of the community at heart would So well to devote a fair portion of her spare time to social welfare work. The field here is enormous and is always- calling for new recruits. •

The vista of social service undertaken by women is as broad as- life itself. Philanthropy has in recent

years developed from the old theory of casual alms-giving into a scientific study of the conditions of the poor, and how to better them.,- In no sphere of public work is • the woman's point of view and her help more valuable. They who have happy homes of thejr own must take an'" interest in the homes of the less favoured.

The all-embracing programme of social service; offers scope and work for every woman with the time, energy, and intelligence to help.

The situations the average woman lives through in her daily life are not enough to make her rich in experience. Besides, the unselfish nature of woman has long ago proclaimed to the world that to have lived only for oneself is not to have lived at all. Social service is the open door to the lives of others—to the world at large. Moreover, it provides an excellent antidote to every woman who complains that her hours of leisure weigh heavily upon her. '