NOT ENOUGH MEN

Evening Star, Issue 20194, 6 June 1929, Page 4

NOT ENOUGH MEN

BRITISH GIRL'S COMPLAINT BAN ON WIDOWS SUGGESTED. • Should widows be prevented by law from remarrying while there is a shortage of eligible men? is a question that is being discussed in Britain. The suggestion was put forward by a girl at Minehead, when Sir Thomas Davies, M.P., was explaining to a meeting the provisions of the Pensions Act. “We girls,” the girl said, “want you to bring in a law to stop widows marrying a second time, because there are not enough men. Widows should not be allowed to many again until there are enough men to go round.” Here, it would seem, is a new party plank for the politicians who would like to ensure the support of the “flapper” vote. As there are approximately 2,200,000 more women than men on the British electoral rolls, it will be seen that the unfortunate widows are in the hands of their sisters. Experience proves that 80 per cent, of the widows under forty remarry, and 50 per cent, between that age and sixty do the same. “The suggestion of a women’s party should strike terror into the hearts of the male politicians,” said a leading woman advocate of feminist rights. “With good organisation and appealing platforms women might unite politically, and, with the favour of the feminine vote, sweep the polls, reverse existing laws, and even swamp the Cabinet.” Personal views on the suggestion of the young women that widows should be kept single by law include those of a city typist, who said: “Nonsense. I do not want to marry a man who would rather have a widow. Hands off the nation’s love affairs.” A widow remarked: “1 am going to many again because a home does not seem right without a man. Am Ito wait on a kind of quota list until all the unattractive, selfish, dance-mad girls in this country have decided to settle down? ”