WOMAN’S PLACE

Hokitika Guardian, 28 September 1928, Page 7

WOMAN’S PLACE

. IS IN THE HOME. (An interview with M'SS EADCRYFFE HALL.) “ You will doubtless consider me rather old-fashioned,” said Miss Rad-c-lyffe Hall, “but 1 do think that, generally speaking, woman’s place is the home. “ Nothing is more stupid in the modern young woman of intelligence than her tendency to a superior attitude towards domestic art's. To he a good wife ami mother is ti e finest work a woman can do. . And given the .attention it deserves, it will occupy her life The care of a house .and. children is enough to engage all a woman’s wits and intelligence, and the larger her establishment the more, not the less, true this becomes. “A woman who brings up her children, dresses well, and looks alter her servants and treats them as they ought to h i treated, is doing quite as usehi 1 work as she would ever he able to do in au office. AN ENFORCED MJS'»NF?S CAREER “ One of the most dcp'orabie of postwar conditions is, to my miiid, the forcing, of the- wife and- mother tyffe of woman into a business (i"r professional career. Possibly, owing to the great surplus of women, she ffias not married; possibly her Husband’s salary is insufficient to bring up children deThe heart of these women is not in their work—how conic! it be? But they are encouraged to imagine that they ore .fulfilling their highest instincts in offices and shops rather than in their' homes by the .vast amount of nonsense that is written and talked about women’s right to work. The truth is that with many women work outside the home is not a right but an economic necessity. “Remove the necessity—-and I believe it will he removed in time—and this particular problem will solve itself. These women don’t honestly prefer their jobs to their homes. It is right and natural that they should he supported by their husbands while they are doing the work.for which Nature intended them.- And, I repeat, the work will, take all their time and attention. I’ve watched dozens of women, intelligent women, allow marriage to ambitions completely. ... .. .

A FEMININE FLAIR FOR ANTIQUES If these women must work bemuse o<f economic- pressure, or if-they require some occupation after their children have grown up, there- are certain jobs m which they definitely excel. Social h - jworki fot instance, in all its branches,domestic science. “Women also—l speak as a collector have a distinct flair for antiques, possibly a sixth sense. Instinct, luck, sheer intelligence in this direction you can call it what you wdh “But what about the stokehold as a pla&e’ for women?” I inquired. “There is at,least one wonpxn who. is ,a, sea-. going engineer. “Yes, there are many women in the public eye- just now who/appear to give an SS : l)inedrait6 ,: 'contradiction to what I ha.v'a 's«di, ,, fi.ir©ed Miss Rudelyft©’Hall: “Not 'o'hiy have they 'dysen- stokeholds hut various other unlikely fields for theiff' activities: There are aviators, motcnO^at,Tabers, shipbrokers, architects'; ? Netvdigate pfixe-winner a host of others.

WHEN WOMEN BECOME COAL-IIEAVERS. “E-iit I have been speaking to the majority of women —the vtiie anc: mother’ type. Endless arguments arise about ‘woman’s place’ and ‘woman > field,’ because all women are classed m. discriminately together. .Some women could, if they chose, become coal heavers, and there avoulcl arise icjou. ings on one side because ‘another field of work is open to women’ and lamentations about woman’s increasing unwomanliness on the other. 1 be In s', view • would be as mistaken • as t u,

second. Because exceptional women are very strong physically, or intellect uallv brilliant, there is no reason to i,oppose that all women are potential amazons or A MIRACULOUS FEAT.

“It is very noticeable that in our post-war world there are more and more women who are not ot (lie wife and mother type. They are perfectly happy and efficient doing men’s work. But the other type is neither a physical nor an intellectual success in work i! at is not definitely allied to homemaking and the rearing of children. We have, however,' Lady Astor as the prototype of several women who combine home and outside administrative work with, miraculous success. I have said ‘miraculous’ advisedly. Very lew women can do it!”