THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 3414, 20 August 1919, Page 56

THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT.

A recent authority /ias declared that the best guarantee for the; peace of the world in the future lies in the" advance of Feminism. It may therefore be interesting to give a brief description of this movement, and state what are its aims and ideals. In this part of the world we do not hear"' much about Feminism, and, although we know in a general way that it has to do with the social and political status of women, many of us are not quite clear as to the claims it makes. Substantially, these are that there are no distinctly masculine or feminine spheres, and that the conditions of life and work for both sexes should be made absolutely identical. It will be seen from this that" the Feminist movement does not aim at placing women on a political equality with men. It goes far deeper than that, and aims at effecting a radical alteration in the mental attitudes of men and women. The sexes are to be induced to recognise each other's status to such a degree that the idea that the one is superior to the other will be entirely abolished. Feminists thus concern themselves mor e with abstract ideas than material facts. If they wish to throw open the doors of all professions to women, it is not so much because they wish them to enter these spheres, but because they wish men to accept as a matter of course the fact that women may.be doctors, lawyers, politicians, and so on. Herein lies the difference between the Suffragist and the Feminist. The one aims at obtaining the franchise for women, and believes that once that object is attained all the disabilities of the sex will at once be removed ; the other aims at the destruction of the principle that has assigned to women certain limitations. The Feminist believes that it is harmful to the race that man should look down on woman, and equally harmful that woman should not regard herself as on an equality with man. She admits that owing to her having been shut out from many spheres of labour woman is at present m some ways inferior to man, but maintains that that inferiority

is only passing and -will disappear when she is freed from the shackles with which she has in the past been bound. The Feminist believes that woman has been severely handicapped in every department of life—in the arts, in the trades, and in the home. As far as the arts are concerned it will generally bo conceded that up till comparatively recently the daughters of a family have not had the same advantages aa the sons, and in many instances the girls have had to be content with a scanty education in order that their brothers may be well equipped for a professional or business career. Then in the trades, women have been, and are still, excluded, generally speaking, from the most lucrative appointments, and worse still, they are paid lower wages than men for doing similar work. Feminists resent all these anomalies and would sweep them away. But it is in the sphere of the home that they contemplate the most drastic changes. Here, it has always been thought was woman's true kingdom, and the possession of a home of her own, "with a husband and family was considered the happiest lot that could befall her. Wise men of all ages, from Solomon downwards, have decided that woman's proper sphere is the home, and they have done their best to keep her there. The Feminist, however, declares that the home demands of woman j too great an expenditure of energy, too i much time, and too much labour; and that the continual rOund of cooking and wash- j ing and scrubbing and caring for children ; is an unnecessary drain upon her strength, and hampers tier mental development. There is a' great deal of truth in this, and one wonders how many women have died in their prime, or became invalids for life, simply because the management of a home and the rearing of a family have been tasks beyond their strength. Women cannot go out on strike, if they find their hours of labour too long and their pay nil. Once they are married, they simply have to go on as long as they have any strength left, unless they are heartless, selfish, and frivolous, and now, when it is almost impossible to obtain any domestic help, especially where there are young children, things are growing worse instead of better. It is difficult to see where a remedy is to be found. The Feminist declares that, if woman is to develop freely, the home as it is at present constituted will have to be done away with, but whatever may. happen in the far-off future, it is practically certain that none of those at present living will witness such a radical change in the habits of this or any other nation. The idea of home is too deeply rooted in the affections of the vast majority of the people to be easily torn out, and only extremists in social reform could wish it otherwise. There will surely be found some other way of lightening the burdens of the wife and mother than by abolishing the. home and all that it stands for in the life of the nation. This is one of the vital in which Feminists are opposed to existing institutions. They assert that the social order is based on the subjection of woman both by law and by convention. The Suffragists wish to alter only the law, but the Feminists wish also to alter the conventions. They desire to make men regard it as perfectly natural that women should do as they please in matters of dress, customs, and occupation, but they realise that this change of mental attitude must be preceded by a change in law, and they aim at opening every trade and profession to women and levelling the wages of women and men. As regards the first of these aims, the women of New Zealand are very favourably placed, for they are free to enter practically all the professions except the ministry, and when they wish to enter that there is no doubt that they will be allowed to do so. The second point, however, is more important. It is an indisputable fact that women are paid lower wages than men for doing the same work, and not only that, but in any salaried profession they can never *ise to* the same rate of pay as_ men receive. To remedy'this the Feminists propose that women should vote- for the party that will pledge itself to equalise wages of men and women in government employ, and generally to further the economic interests of women. They also propose to organise wOmen workers and induce' them to form trade unions and go out on strike in the same way as do the male workers. And finally they propose to throw open education of all grades to women, and to kill men's prejudice against highly educated -women by making these the rule rather than the exception. With this last-mentioned aim most people will be in agreement, and wore it realised in its truest sense the need for the other drastic reforms might disappear ; for, in spite of the fact that man originally relegated woman to her inferior position, there is little doubt that what largely helps to keep her there to-dav is her own narrowness of vision and 'her absorption in the petty things of life to the exclusion of the more important ones. When_ these weaknesses have been remedied by proper education and training, she will have won more than half the battle that the Feminists are wa<rintr on her behalf. ° fa ELEANOR. WOMEN'S ATHLETIC SPOJRTS MEETING. In connection with the Melbourne University Sports Union a women's athletic sports meeting was held on July 22, and proved a great success. The Australasian says :— An old athlete who was present at the women students' sports meetinocommended the officials for the way in which the events were carried out. As each item on the programme came round all the competitors were ready at the starting post, and there was no waiting for "Miss Brown" or " Miss Jones" to put her shoes on or get this or that, as the case often is at gatherings of the kind. Many of the winners are daughters of well-known people. Miss E. WebbWare (Mrs Charles Webb-Ware's daughter ana a granddaughter of the late Sir

Edward Holroyd) was second in the long jump (lift Bin), the winner, Mios M. Adams achieving lift lOin. Miss Elaine Cook (the late Mr Moxon Cook's daughter) was first in the thread-the-needl e race, and Miss Jean Wilmot carried off the obstacles race, and Mrs Whittle won the whistling race. The last event needed some management, for the points were to eat a biscuit and whistle the popular air specified on a slip of paper handed with the biscuit to each competitor.