THIS "SEX WAR."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18861, 8 November 1924, Page 1 (Supplement)

THIS "SEX WAR."

SOUNDING THE S.O.S.

BY ELSIB K. MORTON.

In one of tht. leading London dailies just to hand appears an article with flaring headlines: "Tho Sex War and Unemployment." "Men who Lose their Posts to Low-Salaried Women." " Pin-Money Girls." More trouble! Surely half a dozen women in Parliament ought to have been able to smooth things over better than that by this time? Presumably the men would not complain if they lost their posts to high-salaried women, so the remedy is obvious. Just a little while ago there arose an outcry in England that the number of women doctors had increased so greatly since the war that the medical profession was in danger of being " swamped." The SexWar article states that to the doctors' protest against tho unfair competition are added those of tho teacher and the clerk. " Since the war," it continues, "women in ever-increasing numbers have displaced men as clerks in banks and city offices, and here again it is alleged that men are thrown out of work becausc girls not entirely dependent upon their earnings accept lower salaries as "pin money."

They ought not to do that, of course. It is not fair to modern fashions, which emphatically demand high salaries, neither is it fair to girls who are unable to spend more than two-thirds of their high salaries on clothes. High standards, salaries and fashions alike undoubtedly should be maintained, if we women are to make any progress in this sex-war which the men seem determined to spring upon us.

The Trouble-makers. Always war, conflict, argument—the human race can never be easy! Every country has its own troubles. In Auckland, we had only just given the lady bus-conductor her quietus when another member of the sex must needs upset things by going to church without her hat. The echo of that little bit of insubordination has resounded throughout New Zealand, and in Dunadin they are still shaking their heads over it. Now another Auckland woman has boldly stated that highty-flighty girls who insist on competing with men in business instead of learning to be home-makers are responsible for the increase in the number of divorce cases. Presumably the men can stand their highty-flightiness in office hours, but not after or before. It seems to bo woman's destiny always to be doing something upsetting to the other sex. If we would only "stay put" it would simplify things wonderfully. But we never would.' Helen of Troy was one of the world's woi-st troublemakers. Boadicea made herself a thorn in the side of Imperial Rome by fixing swords to the wheels of her prehistoric runabout, and mowing her way through Caesar's legions. There aro not so many Helens and Boadiceas, but for all that men are still protesting against us, still deploring us, and now, according to the press, they are warring against us. But a careful and unprejudiced survey of the situation reveals one curious fact. It is not the so-called weaker sex that is seeking to enlist tho world's sympathy, its support against an unchivalrous foe. Not for a moment. It is the men whose pathetic cry for protection and support rings through tho world to-day, and this ihspires a thought quite startling in its simplicity and originality. There is only one way out of tho present crisis, only one way to settle this "sex war." What is needed is a new society, 9 Society for tho Protection of Men. It should consist entirely of women, </; mothers whoso sons are being pursued, or already have been lured into captivity by the highty-flighty ones; of wives whoso husbands aro in danger of losing their jobs to the "pinmoney" girls, of all that great body of right-thinking women who stand firmly for men's rights and for tho maintenance of men's economic freedom and masculine privileges. These are the things The Sex is in danger of losing in tho present war. They cannot oven call their clothes their own nowadays, much less their cigaretteholders and their flasks. This new society, then, would sec that Tho Sex is allowed to retain some dis-

tinction of dress. If women became so advanced and unsexed as to want to drive tramcars and aeroplanes and motorlorries, then they should be compelled to do so in decent gowns reaching to the ankle, in sleeves falling modestly just below the wrist. The waist-line would

emphatically be moved back to its proper place, and women compelled to uncover their ears. Men do not approve of these modern fashions; they deride them and are nonplussed by them, and being nonplussed always makes men sensitive, not to say suspicious.

"Scrapping the Flapper." In the interests of the whole community, tha societv would doubtless turn its attention to the elimination of feminine flightiness, which is having such an upsetting effect on the innocent young manhood of to-day. "Our statesmen are scrapping battleships," declared a moral reform enthusiast recently, "when they ought to bo scrapping flappers." The great basic truth of such an assertion will be readily admitted by every woman of mature years who has read in the papers what goes on at modern dauces. This same enthusiast further stated that every great war had been traced to woman's depravity. This is disturbing. We had been led to believe it was a man's desire for a place in the sun that started the last upheaval. But no doubt the true facts of women's responsibility for wars, military and sex alike, could be thoroughly investigated by the society and mankind protected from the horrors of any repetition of such an outrage. Such intervention would be most timely, 'for judging by the condition of the world at present the women have been at it again —have been at it strong, indeed, ever since they fixed, or mixed, things up in 1918. They say it is to be in the Pacific next time. Which merely proves them to be thoroughly illogical and quite devoid of any .sense of humour. Only a woman couid have said a thing like that! This Society for the Protection of Men would strongly uphold the ideal of keeping girls in their proper place. They should not be pormitted to oust men from tho position so hardly won. For untold centuries, The Sox has been engaged in the process of digging itself in, and it is indeed unfair that unchivalrous women should now be engaged in digging it out. Typewriting schools and business colleges would probably have to be abolished, and all prospective daughters-in-law would be required to go through an exhaustive training in cooking, darning, mending, nursing, mothercraft, domestic economy, gardening, scrubbing, simple forms of carpentry and plumbing —all the sweet and homely arts of housewifery that have endeared and ennobled women to the hearts of mankind from time immemorial.

No one can dispute the fact that if thinking women, married and single, would only band themselves into an organisation such as this, they would achieve remarkable results. Non-thinking women would not bo eligible for membership. Only well-balanced, steady and determined minds could bo entrusted to tackle such vital issues. Many such fearless souls could doubtless be found in every community, for no matter what The Sex may say about the modern woman, her foibles and her failings, they cannot chargo her with being effeminate.

And it is strength such as this The Sex needs in its hour of peril. Sex wars aro things that should bo put down with a firm hand. The S.O.S. has soumled. It would be an act of supreme stateswomanship for women to coine to the rescue!