THE OVERTURNED BEEHIVE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 565, 1 December 1915, Page 4

THE OVERTURNED BEEHIVE.

A NEW VIEW OF FEMINISM. Various names have been given to the great changes which, during the past 50 years, have come over the feminine world (says a writer in a Sydney exchange). The Woman Movement, Feminine Unrest, Woman Problem, Suffragism, Revolt of Women are just a few of the phrases used by writers. A more poetic name, and one with a decided flavour of novelty, is that given by Rabindranatli Tagore, the poet of India, when he likens modem feminism in the Western world to an overturned beeliivp, where there is much uneasiness and buzzing. "In Europe," he writes, '' homes are disappearing and hotels increasing . . . women's hives are being gradually br.oken up. In the past the man-bee used to gather honey outside, and store it in the hive . . . now he prefers to rent a cell and live by himself, so that he alone may drink all the honey. As a result, the queen bee is obliged* to come out into the world of competition to gather honey in order to live. She is not yet accustomed to the changed conditions of life and society. The result is uneasiness and buzzing. It is called feminism. .. . The hive is overturned—the bees are scattered." - ' .

From, a position of great inferiority—if not of servility—woman has risen step by step to become one of the most powerful factors in the civilisation of tile world. During the las? ~0 or 70 years this advance has been greatly hastened by means of the higher education of women. Although there are skirmishes still going on in some countries, the great battle for the higher education of women has been practically won. To the surprise of the sterner sex of the past generation, girls quickly proved themselves capable of performing the same intellectual tasks as boys. This is amply proved by comparing the pass lists of colleges and universities throughout the world—but compari-j sons are odious. The higher education ,of woman has proved the '' open sesame'' to many vocations whose doors were previously unassailable. . Divinity, medicine, law, arts, science, and literature all have their feminine followers in some country or another. These are a few; of the "flowers" the queen bees pushed open when they had perforce to gather honey for themselves. Here and there a few sensible bees set out on a foraging expedition to their hives. These were the pieineers, . the queen women, whose -labours have set open the doors- of many employments. But on the whole the "uneasiness- and buzzing" of feminism' continued till the outbreak of the present war. Suddenly and without warning the noisy buzzing and agitated flights of the bees ceased. They found what they wanted. All became quiet and calm. For a moment, at least, women have walked into a haven of work, of honey gathering and storing, not for themselves only, but for the great armies of men who are fighting in strange lands for the hives at home..

The great bulk of the work (much of it voluntary) done by the woman of to-day cannot be-regarded as permanent.

Changes, and possibly very big changes, must come at the conclusion of the great war, It is rather early, therefore, to say the buzzing of feminism has ceased for all time. The declaration of peace will most assuredly cafusc it to break out again as strenuously as before. Many men will walk back to their old employments, the honey-gather-ers of to-day. will be displaced, and some disturbance may be looked for as certainly as the sun rises in the east every morning. Therefore the present settling of the bees must be regarded as temporary only. Whether it be that or not, it will have left its mark on the future of our women. In the readjustment of affairs that must come when the war is over the industrial activity of women will be greatly extended, for the necessity of widening the sphere of women's employments will be greater than it is to-day. As in the bee world, so in real life, only the worker can have a full honey-sac. We can hardly expect ■that a woman who has found employment at the same wages as men will be content to resume her old place in the home circle merely as a looker-on. Some change must come. _ " One result of the war will be to force women into the world of competition to gather honey for themselves. Our leaders of thought and action cannot begin too soon to lay a solid foundation upon which the superstructure of a self-sup-porjing womanhood may rest securely. If this be done there is less likelihood of a volcanic upheaval of present conditions, when the hive of feminism is overturned in real truth at the conclusion of the war. Possibly the change will be beneficial in the long run; a larger, newer hive, greater variety of honey, more extensive gardens to forage in. The woman of the 20th century is ready for any emergency, waiting to try hew fields if necessary. If her husband or father leaves her penniless she will be able to clothe herself and those dependent on her, and will be found ever ready to hold out a helping hand to any man, woman, or child needing her assistance. In the changed ■ conditions of ; feminism there are histS of brighter outlooks all around, for there will be a broader and. juster humanity and a regenerated race of mankind.