THE WOMEN OF INDIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18207, 28 September 1922, Page 9

THE WOMEN OF INDIA.

IGNORANCE AND PREJUDICE. LIVES OP DEEP MISERY. WORK OP ZENANA MISSION. A vivid glimpse of the terrible conditions under which millions of women are living in India was given yesterday by Miss Elsie K. Lilly, organising secretary of the Zenana Bible And Medical Mission. Miss Lilly has spent several years in India, and recently returned to New Zealand from a visit to the Zenana Mission stations in the Bombay Presidency, in the Punjab, and in the United Provinces, 25 centres in aIL To New Zealand women, granted all the privileges of civilisation, honoured members of the community, secure and .iappy in their home-life, the story of the women of India sounds like some hideous, fantastic piece of fiction set in the background of ignorance and prejudice of the Dark Ages. It is very hard to believe that women in any country where flies the British flag exist in the state of utter degradation which still largely prevails among the hundred and fifty million women of India. ' r ßut what can you expect," asked Miss Lilly yesterday, "in a land where women for ages past have been taught from babyhood that they have no brains, no souls, and are only fit to rank with the rats and the monkeys? The women have no right to existence apart from their husbands, and although the Government has forbidden tlie old custom of 'suttee,' or burning the wives alive on the funeral pyre of their husband's remains, many instances have occurred where the poor little child wives have done this horrible deed themselves sooner than face the degradation that follows upon widowhood. Their clothes and all personal belongings are taken from them, their hair is cut off, they are allowed only one meal a day, and compelled to fast very often, they may never marry again, and are made the drudges of the household and the outcasts of the community. "Almost equally terrible is the lot of the little temple workers, children 'married to the gods,' and compelled to live a life of unspeakable degradation. Then there are the forty million women still shut up in the zenanas, the girl children who have never seen a tree nor flying bird, married in babyhood, never allowed a glimpse of the outside world.

inimitable Field of Activity. "This utterly unnatural treatment of | women is a reproach to the Christian ; world, and it was in a noble effort to ; remove part of that reproach that the j Zenana Mission was founded by Lady | Kinnaird just 70 years ago. Since then. I the work has prospered and grown, until to-day there are 400 women workers in India., 60 schools, hospitals which deal with over 20.000 patients, homes for babies and widows, training homes, and a hospital for lepers. The workers also visit regularly some 2900 zenanas, the apartments where the women are kept in seclusion, and teach them to read and write and to know the Gosrpel of Christ. "The field of work is illimitable, but we sorely need more workers, for the leaven of Christianity and education is spreading. The women themselves axe beginning to realise the meaning of freedom, and the wonders of a new life, in which motherhood and wifehood are respected and they may be the companions and j helpmates of their husbands instead of ' the slaves, in wh'ch they may earn an honourable living by the work of their hands. Entirely new ideals and aspirations are opening up before them, and we are tryin<r to rouse interest in tho mission in all the Dominions, so that we may gain more helpers and more money to carry on. We work on inter-denomi-national lines, the movement being I essentially one carried out by women of British birth for their sister-women of India." Spirit of Imperialism. One point strongly emphasised by Miss Lilly was that until the women of India ' were educated and enlightened, the progress of India would be retarded. Kiplinc stated long ago that so lone? as the system of infant marriaee, tho prohibition of the marriage of widows, the life-long mprisonment of wives in worse than penal rcnfinement, and the withholding of any kind of education continued, the country x>uld not advance a step, for the foundations of its life were rotten. The building ap of Christian family life was the great aim and ideal of the mission, continued Miss Lilly, and to this end all its effort was consecrated. As an instance of the way in which the influence of the Mission was growing, and > of the good work it was doing in fostering a spirit of imperialism, the speaker mentioned a case that came under her notice during her last visit to India. While Ghandi was coine through the country stirring up disaffection, he came to the town of Khurja, near Lucknow, and wrought it up to a state of tumult in an I attempt to gain supporters for the non- j co-operative movement. He interviewed the leading men of the town, but they told him that an Englishwoman, belonging! to the Zenana Mission, had clone much cjood work in their midst, caring for the sick and instructing their children, and i they wr/uld like to consult her before de- ■ cidinor to join forces with Ghandi. They I called on this lady and put the case to '■ her. She reminded them of the many' benefits they had received, of the interest which England was taking in their women, and presently they went back and told Ghandi they had decided to remain loyal j to the Empire, whereupon the disaffected leader departed and the tumult subsided. New Zealand Station. Miss Lilly is at present engaged upon a special effort} to secure funds and recruits for taking over one of the Zenana centres as a New .Zealand station. Australia has, already done this at Sholapur,, in Bombay j Presidency, where an orphanage is staffed j and financed by Australian women and funds. The New Zealand Auxiliary of the Mission has decided to take over a station • at Jaunpur, a town of 25,000 inhabitants] near Benares, where it proposes to purchase a section of land adjoining the industrial home already there and "to erSct a! hypienic home for babies. A Karitane worker is wanted to train Indian nurses in the treatment of infants, also a good kindergarten teacher. Thus it is hopen that few Zealand may take a part with Australia and Canada, in the splendid work which Britain has instituted on behalf of her daughters still dwelling in the, shadows.