CAREERS FOR GIRLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19918, 11 April 1928, Page 5

CAREERS FOR GIRLS.

BREAKING INTO NEW FIELDS. Since Miss Elizabeth Scott's design was accepted for the Stratford-on-Avon Memorial Theatre it is probable that many educated women in search of a career have turned their minds toward architecture, writes Viscountess Bryce, who is president of the Central Bureau for Women and the Students' Careers Association. It frequently happens that a woman's achievement in any particular sphere of activity 4itimulates others to follow her example, and so it is that some professions become move fashionable than others. At one time women all seemed to be flocking into the secretarial profession, and after the war many women decided to be doctors. ... _. This "following the fashion of the moment" is not always a good thing, as it frequently leads to overcrowding or undue competition. Minimising Competition. The secretarial field became congested, and women doctors to-day are not all doing well. The problem of finding suitable careers for women is something more than a mere difficulty of the post-war period. It reflects a state of affairs that has come to stay. The problem "What shall we make of our girls?" is as urgent and calla tolas much thought and care as the older problem, "What shall we do with our boys ?" While there are many occupations which we consider are equally within the scope of men and women workers, we believe that for the educated girl who wants to make her own way in the world the main hope of the future lies in discovering new professions—new openings created by the progress and development of modern science and industry. That is why we are constantly on the look-out for new spheres of activity for women workers. We are anxious to minimise the intense competition which already exists with men. We endeavour in the main to guide girls away from professions which are normally regarded as men's professions, and by finding new outlets for their activities help to keep women from entering occupations which are already overcrowded.

The need for all this is apparent every day. The numerical preponderance _ of women over men reduces the possibilities of marriage, and to-day the "daughter problem" is one of very sorious importance.

Moreover, apart from the matrimonial aspect of the question, the modern girl is not like her mother or her grandmother. She is the product of a different age, with a different outlook, and needing and demanding increased opportunities for self-expression. In these days no girl is content to stay at home idling away her days or pretending to help either in the drawing-room or in the k>chen. She realise*, that in existing circumstances marriage is more or less accidental. That does not mean that she rules marriage out. She does not. If it comes along, well and good. If it does not, well—in any event She intends to be in a position to provide Jor herself. In fact, the great urge of the modern girl is to be doing something. She feels she needs a career. She is very keen on the idea and is ready to prepare herself for it very thoroughly. ' Hitherto it has been rather the tendency to restrict women's professional and industrial activities to more or less well-defined channels. Our aim is to find out what a girl is most suited for by submitting her to a series of carefully thought-out vocational tests. Then wo can advise as to choice of a profession, always keeping in mind the desirability of finding something new, or something which is not overcrowded. Where Woman Is Needed, Individual talent and taste must, of course, also be consulted," and though th® entrance to the purely artistic careers should as far as possible be restricted to the girl with marked ability, an artistic girl can often find outlet for her energies in practical work such as photography, millinery, dressmaking er house decoration. Domestic science of recent years has definitely become a profession with desirable openings for educated and cultured women. The woman who can undertake catering on a large scale is also the woman who can command a big salary. Her services are needed in clubs, schools, hotels, etc., and courses in "institutional management" are now included in the curriculum of most domestic science colleges. The electrical age offers, and will continue to offer, opportunities in the field of domestic electricity specially within the province of women. House property management offers a new career for women, as does also the work of a hospital almoner. In the world of business advertising and' insurance are new fields offering rich rewards. The new science of industrial psychology—already enjoying professional status in America — will eventually provide opportunities for women in this country.