MAN AND WOMAN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19919, 22 April 1939, Page 7

MAN AND WOMAN

EDUCATION fcASIS COMPARISON OFFERED REARING OF CHILDREN A comparison between Dhe educative "facilities, 'provided for male and female was ofJeMd to-day by Mrs. A. F. Hall in an address given to delegates to the eighth annual conference of the Poverty Bay Federation, of -Women's Institutes. The necessity lor a system of education which would include tuition in the correct manner 6f rearing children Was urged by Mrs. Hall.

The education of women had been very slow and had been such as was allowed, by man, declared the speaker. Man had been the leader down the ages and, in his upward march, had left woman far behind. Universities had come into being for the higher education of man and nothing was stinted in the provision of fine buildings and rich scholarships. The first university for men had been founded 700 years ago' and*the first university college lor women 70 years ago, the latter being founded after a hard financial struggle: Extracts from "A Room of Her Own," showing the comparison of the food supplied at men and women's universities, were read by the speaker as a basis of comparison. Loss of Property "Until 1880, When a woman married, she lost all her property .to her husband and this further retarded the progress of the sex," declared Mrs. Half, who added that women in the last century were discouraged from embarking on literary careers and, to avoid ridicule, were forced to write under male pen names.

Dealing wiiih .physical education, the speaker said that woman had early based her ideas on the physical exercises of man and had in this manner harmed her body. Efforts by women to evolve a system, of physical exercises of their own had met with success overseas and the speaker urged that physical education Should be a feature Of work in the school curriculum for girls.

Dealing with mental education, Mrs. Hall,said that in the past this had been,what man thad left over for. the opposite sex and, with..certain limitations, still persisted. In her education, woman should learn more matters relevant to the rearing of children, in addition to general education.

•'There should foe no necessity for health 'camps iin a country such as New Zealand," declared Mrs. Hall, i who urged in conclusion that education along the lines she had suggested should be included in that provided for all girls. Support Of Mrs. Hall's opinions and contentions was offered by the president of the federation, Mrs. R. H. Wicksteed, and a motion, that Plunket lectures should be included in specified girls' classes at schools, moved by Mrs. W. A. McCliskie, was carried unanimously. The remit was left to the executive committee of the federation for final framing. Another remit, to the effect that the federation should support an effort to have physical instructors appointed to girls' classes.,at primary schools, also was carried.