THE DOMESTIC WOMAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17151, 3 May 1919, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE DOMESTIC WOMAN.

People—chiefly men— that woman's sphere is the home. I want to tell the truth about the home, says a writer in an exchange. No matter how much I shock people, I still want to toll the truth, because to do so would be a relief to my feelings. The truth is that to be tho kind of domestic woman such as the middle-class man of small income desires his wife to I become is dull, horribly, depressinelv i dull. " Do let us for once look at things as I they are, and not as many of us think ; that they should be. j A man falls in love ; almost invariablv ; with a girl who is pretty, well dressed. j who can dance and flirt, who is gay, in- I lercsting. amusing. If she is all these things, she has little time to be domestic as well. Love is a madness and a blind-1 ness, so He and She marry. And now l Ho wants Her to be the kind of girl | she never was before. j She must not dress well, because to I dress well costs too much money. She ! must not dance, because she should he !

.attending to the hnnso and all that ' therein is. including His dinner. Also, when she cannot obtain or afford domestic help she feels ton tired to dance or to be gay and interesting. And when rent, and rates and taxes and washing and all other • expenses are paid there is no money left. for amusements. | Then there in a baby. Its mother loves j it, hut that does not prevent her from : I feeline bored to death with it at times. No intelligent. ■ "-own woman can fill her, life with a baby, even if it is her own. 1 The baby makes it more difficult to ; escape from domesticity, because although its mother pines to be free of it for several hours each day, she wou'd not for the: world risk any harm coming to her tiresome treasure. And then, perhaps, there is another baby. Rabies, food, and the home. ■ These domestic ogres eat up the life of women. Man. who to some extent. escapes from them and enjoys the pleasures and interests of the outside world, wonders why marriage turns bright, pretty girls into plain, snappy, or lachry- '■ mose women. * There are days when T have hated my children, mv house, and my husband--finite unjustly—hut nevertheless fiercely, i Why should men he so domesticated and so (lull!' Why are not groups of homes built with centra! kitchens, restau- 1 rants, and creches' Why is it virtuous for thotisa"ds of women to toil in thousands of ill planned little homes, when by the help if a domes' combine they mi/ht live comfortably, cheaply, cleanlv. i and vet have time and energy for other : inter sts. . , , Ml work and no play makes Jane a ; i dull woman, and dulness is not a virtue I I in either a wile ox A mother [,