SURPLUS WOMEN PROBLEM

Evening Star, Issue 17764, 12 September 1921, Page 7

SURPLUS WOMEN PROBLEM

empire emigration discussed. LONDON, August 28. Discussfng whether a system of Empire emigration offers a solution of the problem of Great Britain’s surplus women, a special correspondent of tho ‘ Times J dispels tho popular belief that the males hi the Dominions greatly outnumber trie females. Examining Australian statistics, _ he points out that, apart from the direct action of the wax, there is a steady,, persistent filling up of tho gap which hitherto existed, as shown by a comparison of tho census returns for 1901 and 1921. The latter, he says, reveal a severely marked decline in the actual preponderance of men, ae well as in regard to the ratio. Probably the excess of marriageable males in tho whole Commonwealth docs not exceed 50,C00, which, combined with the curiously uneven distribution of tho sexes in the different States, _ and taken in conjunction with tho restriction of the preponderance to the thinly populated remote areas, causes the writer to declare that Australia’s capacity to absorb the surplus women of tho United Kingdom is extremely limited. An examination of New Zealand and Canadian statistics, adds the writer, leads to a similar conclusion. In any caso the capacity to absorb is mainly restricted to pioneer areas, for which young Englishwomen arc not particularly suited by training and environment.