INTEREST IN POLITICS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26040, 2 January 1946, Page 3

INTEREST IN POLITICS

BRITISH WOMEN APATHETIC The opinion that women in Britain showed a disappoindng, and potentially dangerous, apathy over the political stakes at issue in the recent British elections, has been expressed by a woman journalist who took an active part in her party's organising campaign. ‘‘All through the campaign we were, naturally, concentrating on the women's votes," she says. " Many women had prcxy votes for their husbands and sons in the forces, many had never voted before, and after five years of war they had a decisive and important vote to cast. “ The result of our house-to-house talks was a terrific shock. I did not expect to get involved in long political arguments, but I did expect that the simple basic issues of the two opposing policies would have been generally understood and considered. Yet I found that most of the women I talked to had not absorbed the simplest beginning of the arguments. Nor were the majority of them interested. “ First of all, I blame the political parties,' she continues. “ For the last 10 years they have allowed their educational branches to be dormant, and they make no appeal to women. Women learn their economics with a shopping basket and in their own homes.

“ Secondly, it is no good women s societies saying with piety and false virtue that they will not allow politics to be brought into their activities. Folitics must be brought in from all sides. They should allow open discussions and debate.”