STRONG OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY SUFFRAGETTE

Southland Times, Issue 23646, 22 October 1938, Page 17

STRONG OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY SUFFRAGETTE

Thirty-two years ago Sylvia Pankhurst first went to prison shouting “Votes for women.” 1 She went on hunger strikes 13 times, and was forcibly fed until she nearly died, writes a London correspondent. “Was it worth-it?” I asked her. “I cannot imagine the women of today doing it,” she said. “To get the women of today as a concentrated force is very difficult.” “You think they haven’t got any backbone?”

“No, I don’t say that—but the men are worse,” she flashed back with some of the old suffragette fire. “Women couldn’t make such a mess of things, as men do. Of course, some women are negative. They just complain and air their grievances, and do nothing to ■ help. “I still don’t approve of lipstick and make-up. It’s horribly ugly, destroys the value of the face. I’ve never used it, never shall. “What would I like to do now? she repeated. ; i “I should like to modernize the General Medical Council, and would like

t*y see doctors penalized for cases of incompetence and gross neglect; there are cases, you know And drunkenness is regarded too lightly in my opinion. “But let’s talk about maternity services in this country. We have not got nearly enough yet. Women must fight for expert maternity services, convalescent homes for mothers, home helps for mothers who do their own housework for some time before and for a longer time after the baby is born. i “In spite of what men may have to say on the subject, I think most women will agree with me that we ought to be able to get through to a day-and-night maternity service, just as we do to the fire station and the police.”