WOMAN'S PLACE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 227, 23 August 1935, Page 15

WOMAN'S PLACE.

LOW IN CHINESE ESTIMATION. Mr .T. Gardiner, of the China Inland Mission, in an address to the Y.M.C.A. in Sydney, said that China was a land devoid of typists and stenographers, and where unwanted girl babies were callously thrown away. Oriental estimation of the fair sex, said Mr Gardiner, was not very flattering. There were 135 ideographic words in the Chinese language dealing with women, and only 14 had a good meaning, 85 were indifferent, and 35 distinctly bad Two women depicted together was the word for quarrel, and three women signified gossip and intrigue. The combined signs of a roof, a broom., and a duster denoted a married woman. Symbols showing a woman stepping from under a roof meant the word betrothed. A b'ride was portrayed by a woman, a heart, and a sign meaning my own. A man about to marry was expressed by a picture of a woman being led by the ear at the heels of her lord and master. The words for woman and flag wore identical, the only distinction being the tone in which the word was spoken.

'Die heathen idea of woman, said Mr Gardiner, had one singular exception. A mother-in-law in China was an important person. She was not only empowered to rule the household with a rod of iron, but also to administer chastisement to the bride when occasion demanded.