FEMINISM AND MARRIAGE

Evening Star, Issue 19381, 15 October 1926, Page 1

FEMINISM AND MARRIAGE

PROBLEM OF THE MODERN GIRD.

That the women’s movement has in it all the characteristics of rebellion i» the contention advanced by Mr Meyrick Booth in an article in the July ‘ Nineteenth Century.’ “ While the enthusiastic belief in freedom which animated the movement was certainly a source of strength,” ho says, “it led at the same time to a dangerous oncRidedness. Under the influence of John Stuart Mill and others of his way of thinking, English feminism developed an individualistic and rationalistic view of life from which it has never been able to free itsell.” This militant individualism Las done good work in freeing women from male subjection, and particularly in opening careers to unmarried women. But, says Mr Booth, like other movements of protest, it is mainly negative. It has not brought to light any positive ideal of life large enough to include m its scope the relationship of tho sexes. The girl of to-day absorbs a freedom-loving and egocentric conception of life almost from the time she is able to walk. The books she reads, her social milieu, her companions, her school, often tho homo itself, all conspire to impress upon her a view of life which leaves out of account tho social and functional aspects of womanhood. School staffs, complains Mr Booth, are staffed with bachelor women, who euro little for problems of sox and marriage. The Italian girl, on the other hand, is trained from tho cradle for marriage and motherhood. The English girl is trained for anythin g bni jhri Her personality is torn in two. Nature urges her towards union with the opposite sex, but tho general tendency of Her mental outlook causes her to cling tenaciously to' personal Irecdora.

The serious aspect of the matter, says Mr Booth, is not that tho modern girl refuses to many, but that she is unfitted to he the companion of her husband, who looks to her to be complemented in mind, with characteristics and interests different from his own. Moreover, men cannot marry modern girls until they are in a position to free them from housework and domestic drudgery. Tho modern girl, is nob capable of absorbing herself in the work of home and children. This means that men in educated circles cannot marry til] they are middle-aged, which is had for them and for the State, and loses them tho years when marriage should moan most. Tho whole circumstance constitutes a vicious circle. Wo are told that girls must go out into the world and compete with men because their opportunities of marriage are so small that it is useless to prepare girls for marriage. But one of the main reasons why so many men do not many or do not marry early is just because the girls are not prepared for marriage. Mr Booth pleads for an education for women which, while not aiming to restore the conventional outlook of tho past, will yet inculcate a saner philosophy of sex, and which will reveal the possibilities of happiness and self-fulfilment in the companionship of marriage. At present, looking at marriage from without, girls can see in it only the drudgery and loss of liberty.