WOMEN IN POLITICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20623, 23 July 1930, Page 16

WOMEN IN POLITICS.

CANADA'S LADY SENATOR.

A MOTHER OF EIGHT.

ENTRY INTO RED CHAMBER.

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. J VANCOUVER, Juno 25.

WHen Mrs. Cairino McKay Wilson was appointed to tho Senato of Canada, tho first woman to enter tho Red Chamber, she received scores of requests from Canada and tho United States to deliver lectures. All requests she declined. Apart frcm her maiden speech in the Senate, on tho bill to grant special assistance to the " burned out" soldier, she has not appeared in tho public press. Only now, some months alter her appointment, has she been interviewed for tho first time.

" I am not thoroughly convinced yet that I should liavo accepted the appointment," Mrs. Wilson remarked. "I am no so suro that, by being a senator, 1 tan do as much or more than 1 could by being just plain Mrs. Wilson, without the obligations, the dignity, and, of course, the undoubted thrill of being tlio first of'my sex to enter tho Senate." Mrs. Wilson, who is iu her early forties, has eight children. Although shelearned politics at Sir Wilfred Laurier's knee as a girl, and although her father had a distinguished record—her husband less so—in Canadian politics, her major interest remains in her children, tho youngest of whom is only four years old. In these days wheu publicists arc eargerly exploiting child psychology to a world that is growing morn and more susceptible to such ultra-modern experiments, her observations are not without a special interest.

" Psychological child study seems to inc, at first analysis, to be rather like impaling public reactions on an experimental pin and tagging the. resultant wriggles," Mrs. Wilson said. " I have been too busy bringing up a lai'go family on my own psychology of plain common senso. i would not send very young children to those experimental schools; 1 would feel that both the child and tho mother would miss something very valuable in those impressionable years: understanding, guidance and the fundamentals on which afterlife is based." Parents and Children. . " I earnestly beliovo parents and children both gain moro bv establishing comradeship than by parents standing aloof and accepting the position of judge, disciplinarian and critic of their children. There is no reason why parents should not even be pah to their children and still win their respect, obedience and reve. enco from them. In fact, I believe they aro more likely to possess these from children who feel that their parents are ono with them, rather than that they insist on implicit obedience and rigid respect, without having first won their confidence.

" This absence of companionship can go too far as it, docs in somo homes in the; United States where children call their parents by their christian names, criticise them openly, refuso to keep any reserve toward themselves or permit their parents to do so. But, with saneness and common sense dictating, parents and children should be able to establish a bond of closest friendship, each recognising the authority and direction due to parenthood, superior age and knowledge." Successful Maiden Speech. •

There was naturally some resent among tho "96 members of tho Senate when they learned their sanctuary was to be invaded by a woman. Her first appearance, however, won them over. Her maiden speech was delivered in two languages, her French as (lawless as her English, for she was born and reared in Montreal. When her fellow-Senators saw that they were not. to bo treated to dramatics or "sobstuff." they crowded around her like a lot of boys in the lobby afterward, eager to hail her as one of their own and show her the treasures of tho Red Chamber.

Mrs Wilson says she hopos her entry into the Senate may enhance the campaign for better conditions for women and for putting an end to tlio doublo standard of morals. Women have gone slowly, buL surely, since thoy won t.lio franchise. They will, in her view, sit ono day as Judges in the higher Court, as they do in the children's courts, and so bring about equality in justice.