WOMAN'S WIDER OUTLOOK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3330, 9 January 1918, Page 50

WOMAN'S WIDER OUTLOOK.

Probably in later ages the nineteenth century will be chiefly memorable, not for its wars and alterations of national boundaries, nor even for its reforms in political institutions, but for its revolution in the status of woman. Perhaps, indeed, the revolutionary movement really ..originated in the ferment of the French Revolution, but it was scarcely apparent till the middle of last century. It is still in progress ; the great war has given it new momentum, and it is hard to forecast at present how the relations of the sexes will finally adjust themselves. Certainly, both for good and evil, women are having such opportunities for proving their powers as they never had before. As in all revolutions, evil tendencies alloy the good coming from greater liberty; but we may well look to see the good triumph, and men and women working together harmoniously for the perfecting of human life. ■ It is a time when, all women, however unpolitical, should give thought to their civic duties. In the past women's ideas of duty were chiefly limited to their personal relations. To be a good daughter,' wife, mother, and housemistress, to be a kind neighbour, and to do no one harm, summed >up the whole duty of woman on its human side. Well, to satisfy these requirements alone is much, and most certainly family duties should take no lower rank in the,- future than in the past. But the modern conception of these duties is broadening, becoming less personal than it used "to be. People are beginning to own that if woman's duties begin in the home, they do not end there —that she is a State and a world citizen, and has duties directly to her country and the world. But there is a good deal of confusion in the conception of civic duties in general, which naturally leads to con-' 1 fusion as to women's share in them. To some people the term has a narrowly, political signification, being supposed to be limited to elections, municipal councils, and so forth. But, in truth, civic duty embraces the whole conduct of all thecitizens of the State. It is a first civic duty of every man to maintain his family and do useful work, and he is the better citizen the better he fulfils these duties. And so with women. It i 3 strange to" find some feminists ignoring the most indis-

pensable of all forms of civic usefulness open to woman —her part as wife and mother. Because in the past woman's service in these capacities has been too lightly regarded- is no reason why "advanced" women should contemn it now. Yet too many glorify the "independence" of a single woman, who maintainsjierself alone by work that any half-educated lad can do, and disparage the "dependence" and parasitism'of her sister who does not work for money, but rears future citizens for the State.

The prevailing error of so much modern feminist theorising is its unbalanced individualism. - Women's first duty is pronounced to be self-development. In this spirit Nora, in Ibsen's "Doll's Plouse," forsakes home and children to "find her soul" in self-centred isolation. As if she could not better have found it in striving to be a true mother to her children. Selfdevelopment is a duty; but those who exalt it above aught else need the warning given of old, "He that seeketh his life shall loze it." All realise their highest perfection in working with and for others, not in egotistical striving after self-de-velopment. And perhaps this truth has greater force for women than for men, since, after all, men and women are unlike, and Nature has imposed on women a larger measure of self-surrender. What women need for their own soul progress, and what the world needs of them, is not that they should be less dutiful and unselfish than in the past, but more wisely dutiful and unselfish. We women all need to realise that civic activity is not mainly a matter of voting and attending public meetings, nor' of striving for social reform measures, though we should take our due part in these things; but that it extends to every department of our lives. Our work at home or abroad, the use we make of all our gifts and opportunities, the way in which we spend our money, our conduct in every relation of life, and in every detail of personal conduct, all affect the lives of others, and contribute, to the public weal or woe. The farmer who, in these strenuous days, is toiling hard to grow more grain, not for gain, but to yield the food so sorely., needed, is proving himself a good citizen. So is the girl who, instead of seeking pleasant employment in town, goes to do essential work on a farm. The war is making most of us less selfish, and many mothers in cheerfully surrendering their sons to fight for their country and for world-freedom are setting a splendid example of faithfulness io civic duty. Let us take the opportunity, and develop our appreciation of our civic privileges and responsibilities, so that when war-excite-ment has subsided we may not again sink back into our smaller selves, but be fit to do good service in the perhaps more trying times of re-settlement. Ages ago "I serVe!" was chosen as a

royal motto. It is the best motto for ! each citizen of the modern democratic State. Let each woman make it hers. Heaven doth with us ns \vc with torches do, Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues Did not go fcrth of us, 'twere all Clikc A 3 if we hr:d them not. —E. H.