The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1910 THE WOMEN'S CHARTER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXI, Issue 15256, 17 March 1910, Page 6

The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1910 THE WOMEN'S CHARTER.

Me Charges M'Laben's ''Women's Charter," which has been read a first time ill the House of Commons, is not such a very revolutionary document alter all. The demand for the social and political equality of the sexes does not presuppose the necessity for any very desperate remedies, and the experiments that have been made in those progressive countries where women's privileges are regarded rather as women's rights have all gone to show that sex is a factor which can bo very properly eliminated from politics. So far as New Zealand is concerned, the dominion is glad to have its women in the forefront of any movement which either directly or indirectly affects the home. The age-old conservatism of the Church still denies them a place in its counsels, and a purely sentimental objection debars them from sitting in Parliament, but outside these restrictions they are practically admitted to equality with men. Mr M'Laren appeals for universal suffrage, for equal divorce facilities, for the proper sharing of educational privileges by the sexes, for a fair apportionment of moneys earned for the household, and for equal pay for equal work. There is not one plank in this platform that is not perfectly just and perfectly legitimate, nor one

that in any way would harm distinctive womanhood. As Prince Hilarian adraits :

.... take them all-in-all. Were we ourselves but half as good, as kind, At) truthful, much that Ida claims as right. Had ne'er been mooted, but as frankly theirs As due 3 of Nature.

The philosophy of that, mncli-abusetl expression "woman's rights" could not have boon more happily expressed. The ordinary man may watch the Suffragette movement at Homo with alarm for its methods but still with admiration for its principles. In New Zealand wo have long since sunk the alarm in approbation. Mr M'Laren's " Woman's Charter " goes a little furthor than an appeal for the granting of political equality for women. It purposes providing means for its exercise by supplying a system ol creches and oilier facilities for easinp the essentially feminine features ot heme life. In this respect the scheme is probably a little ahead of public opinion. But the experience of the dominion has shown very clearly that domestic economy can go hand-in-hand with political and social economy without detriment to either. The Tennysonian ideal which awards to woman "mental breadth" without her

"failing in chiklward care," until she sets herself to man "like perfect music unto noble words," is finding year by year a practical acceptance in every walk of life. We have- not yet reaped the full harvest that will follow upon our acceptance of the truth, for prejudice and precedent die hard, but we have gone a very long way towards a popular recognition of the fact that "woman is not undevelop't man, but diverse," and that her dearest bond is

"like in difference." It is this difference in likeness that constitutes one of her strongest claims for equality of opportunity.