INDEPENDENT WOMEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18762, 16 July 1924, Page 13

INDEPENDENT WOMEN.

Tire result of the possession of money —often from a very early age—by the American woman is an economic independtMice which is rivalled by that of no other country, says a writer in an exchange, The American woman is free, for instance, to indulge in ft great many pursuits which are barred to her European sisters. She can travel a great deal and travel alone if need be. She can go into businesses, change her work, do out-of-the-way things with complete independence. There is far less differentiation against her on account of her sex tTaan is the case in England, where most woman's work is merely a blind alley. As long as she is single' there are very few things she may not do, and be applauded for doing, except, perhaps, smoking in a public place or departing from the exact length of bathing dress prescribed by the city fathers. Even here the city fathers generally lose in the struggle, or rather create a last problem which is worse _ than the first. The American woman is, indeed, largely through the independent possession of money, in a position to make the best of both worlds. She may have complete economic independence; or, if perchance she has not this independence, it behoves her nearest male relative to make her as independent as possible. This attitude toward women in America is very largely responsible for the idea of the "spoilt" American beauty. K to be independent is being spoilt, then the American woman is spoilt indeed. It cannot, however, bo too greatly emphasised that the " spoiling of her is very much a matter of pride, even of vanity, with the American man. The system or the principle is possible in America because of the vast number of opportunities open to men. There is bo much yet to be done in this huge country that to turn a boy out to fend for himself is no great hardship, and often it merely teaches him to find his way about. In England the wholesale endowment of women woold be more difficult, rmlesS they were able to pay for it, as it were, by giving back the equivalent in business or work. This is, however, no reason for wholesale discrimination. against them on the ground of sex. It becomes increasingly important for women to have an independent financial status, either by work or by inheritance, if only because it is harder for the man to bo the sole provider. There is, indeed, a good deal to be said for the French and German systems of inheritance, as well as for the idea of the "dot"-—though this need not be confined to married women only.