WOMEN READERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21698, 13 January 1934, Page 16

WOMEN READERS

THEIR VARIED INTERESTS The other day a "roll call" was taken at a largo working women's club asking for suggested subjects for future lectures. "Politics" headed the list, with "Health" a close second, and "Finance" third, states a London writer. It is not only working-class women who are taking more notice of things outsido their everyday lives. At concerts and picture exhibitions women predominate, and it is useless to say that this ia because women have more leisure than men. Men can always find time to play golf and fish, and if they wanted to they could also find time for pictures and music. Although I am a firm believer in the high standard of modern feminine "culture," I do not suggest that women have suddenly gone "all brain and no brawn." They are almost as keen on sport and games as their men-folk, and not only take an active part in them, but also read the sports columns oi their daily papers and buy their fair share of racing specials in a praiseworthy effort to find the winners 1 Travelling, too, appeals to women. They are indefatigable globe-trotters, notonly of the kind who insist upon climbing the Eiffel Tower and visiting all the 365 churches in Rome, but they have the truo "wanderlust" that takes them to the most obscure, out-of-the-way place. At tourist agencies I am told that women are now their best customers, while those who cannot get abroad in the flesh do so in the spirit with the help of good travel yarns and articles.

I know there are those who think that women should stay in their "own sphere," but this theory will not hold as regards reading, for there can be no doubt that a well-read woman tackles even the ordinary job of living more efficiently than her lazy-minded sister. She has trained her brain to think, and stored its pigeon-holes with useful hints and notions that are certain to come in handy. Whether she is able to transform her ugly back yard into a lovely Italian garden, balance the family budget by shrewdly recognising the value of an old hit of silver or china, or simply manages to keep the love of her husband and children because she is interesting and amusing, she will probably have been helped in her good work by what she has read.