HAPPIER MARRIAGES

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 June 1937, Page 10

HAPPIER MARRIAGES

SWEDEN'S PLAN We Swedish women believe that marriage means perfect partnership (writes Madajne Sandler, wife of Sweden’s Foreign Minister, in an English paper). We do not allow woman a special place in the home or insist .that man's ideas and interest must be entirely outside it. Truly, we older people were more or less content to remain at home I after marriage, but the younger generation have grown up ’with the belief that there is no happiness in a marriage where either party seeks to impose its will upon the other. Early marriages are popular in Sweden: sometimes the young couples are little more than students.'lf a J girl has been in a good job prior to her marriage, she feels that she would be extremely foolish to give it up, until at any rate she felt quite assured of her new position. For instance, her marriage might not turn out as happily as she anticipated; what would happen then? There might be considerable difficulty in getting back to her old post. With both husband and wife working and earning* they can save more and later have a better home.

Swedish men do not feel that they are less manly because their wives

have a career independent of and possibly quite as successful find lucrative as their own. They believe that wives arc just as much entitled as they arc to achieve their own success. But. of course, a young man is ah ways glad when he is able to keep liis wife comfortably at home, in cases where she does not care very much about continuing in her work. It is good to see these young couples not only making their way but enjoying happy married life. There is, however, one trouble for which we are seeking a remedy. Our birth-rate is declining because the. young people do not wish to marry and have families unless they feel that these babies are going to inherit the best.

i Swedish girls make good mothers* (i is because they would not neglect their babies that, when they have a career, they postpone motherhood until they have saved sullicient either to abandon their work or to provide proper care and attention. Because, the older people have the welfare of the new generation so much at heart a Government Committee has been formed. The work of this Committee is to devise all manner of

means for helping young couples. Better facilities will include homes planned to house families with a minimum of labour. Blocks of flats to be < rented will contain nurseries, where babies can be left during the day. Competent nurses in charge will provide skilled attention. The committee will consider every aspect, so (bat the ■> cry hightest standard of facilities can De provided al the lowest cost. .Members of the Committee will beat

ill mind the fact. that wives are in tended to be the companions of then husbands in every sense of the term, not merely housekeepers and mothers. It is charming to sec young people who have been married for quite a number of years taking just as vital an interest in each other as they did in pre-marriage days. In Sweden such marriages are in the general order of things. Not only is it perfectly true io say of our women that they help ihtir husbands in their work, but also that our men seek the advice of their womenfolk even in State affairs. This is the reason that education receives such great consideration in Sweden. There arc only ten women in our Parliament. an extremely small percentage, of course, but not proof that

our women do not take a great intelI ost in national affairs. Sweden woI men work very hard for their coun-i (try. but being on such companion-■ able and e<pial terms with the men! 'they know that male [members of , Parliament will help them to gaiiij their ideals. |

Our women are working lor more j solidarity among women t hcmselves., | As in other countries, it is rather! more difiiciilt to organise women. Men, have more of the “Party” spirit. As I have said, women's work is rellcctJed in the Swedish educational system, "rhe most, remarkable aspect ol thisj is the system of adult, education. I I do not think any other country ini, the world has a similar organisation. J Monthly pennies paid into the Cen-I Hal Bureau by men and women alike i have provided a million kronen a year, j] This enables the organiser to provide !<

the fittest teachers and lecturers for these study circles. They are attendcd by rich and poor alike, and one may see the professional man listening to a lecture seated beside an agricultural worker, who, after his eight hours of manual toil, wishes to know more about, classic drama.