WOMAN’S SPHERE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19944, 31 October 1934, Page 10

WOMAN’S SPHERE

EAST’S WESTERN OUTLOOK EQUALITY OF SEXES “The old saying, ‘Woman's sphere is in the home,’ of which we seem still to have the last shreds in New Zealand, has no place in China. I think the Chinese are far more tolerant than New' Zealanders, and In China men are actually pleased and proud to see their womenfolk entering into professional and public life.” In these words, Miss Nessie Moncrieff, of Carterton, who has just returned after four and a half years in Peking, where she acted as foreign secretary to the YoungWomen’s Christian Association, summed up the great change which has come over women’s life in the East in recent years. She told a reporter of “The Timaru Herald" yesterday that the restrictions of home life, without education and social intercourse, were all gone and now there was complete equality of the sexes In China. The change was not universal, of course, for it would take many years for the new outlook to pervade the rural areas, and actually the new freedom was enjoyed only by women in the larger centres, such as Peking. There no avenue was closed to women, and they were to be found in large numbers at the universities and training schools, fitting themselves to enter the medical, legal, journalistic and commercial professions. Women Journalists. Women were playing an increasingly large part in journalism, and newspapers were being flooded with girl reporters. Modern newspapers were quite new in China, the oldest being only about 30 years old, but the more important of them had their own training schools and there the girls were taught the profession before being transferred to the staff. “At one of my meetings, when a group of three or four girls arrived, I thought they were members of the movement I was addressing, but they took the wind completely out of my sails by saying that they were reporters who had come from the large newspapers to cover the proceedings,” said Miss Moncrieff. As indicative of the stand women had taken in business, Miss Moncrieff said that there was in Peking a Women’s Bank, all the capital of which was subscribed by women, while the directorate and staff were composed solely of women. It was one of the most popular and most important of the trading banks in the city. Apart from business, Chinese women are taking a greater interest in the upbringing and education of their children and are following up all the more modem ideas of the West. New Legislation Framed. New laws have been framed regarding the rights of women and these have brought greater freedom. For instance, in the old days if a girl married all her property passed to her husband, but now when a woman marries she retains her property and the right to control and administer it herself. Similarly, Chinese women now have the right to divorce their husbands on certain grounds, whereas, previously, men were able to divorce their wives and the women had no redress. Miss Moncrieff pointed out, however, that, while all this new legislation was in existence, it was not widely availed of, for the people were not yet educated up to law. The laws were gradually being interpreted in the Courts, and by that means the people were able to understand their rights. Such important pieces of legislation as the abolition of the practices of holding girls in homes as slaves and the keeping of concubines were now in force, but their observance was not universal and it would require time and education before they were appreciated. There was complete equality between the sexes in law, and in that regard China had gone a good deal further than most Western countries. AH these changes were due to education which was gaining an increasing hold on the country. It was not universal as yet, in fact it was estimated that about 75 per cent, of the population was still illiterate, but the percentage was rapidly decreasing with the spread of education to the rural areas.