FEMINISM AND ITS PROGRESS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17729, 26 December 1925, Page 4

FEMINISM AND ITS PROGRESS.

BRINGING UP FATHER IN OLD COUNTRY. LONDON, November 20. W e feminists arc apt to regard ourselves as bringing a new note into the life of the day, but there is never lacking some stray indication that there are others earlier than we on the proper path to full blown feminism. Thus we have been told this week that among the nomad Tuaregs of North Africa women are as free, if not freer, than women in England, and go about unveiled, while the men are always veiled. The women choose their ow r n husbands and teach the children to read and write and the lore of their people. They give evening parties to recite poetical compositions. They can own property-, even after marriage, and their husbands have no control over it. They can bequeath it as they choose. Caste and authority are inherited through the mothers. A noble woman can never marry a serf. Yet we have never read that these Tuaregs show signs, of degeneration in their lives of robbing and raiding on camels in their arid North African regions. However, the British feminist is taking her courage in her hands, for I have no doubt she is the instigator of a civic movement by which the Health authorities are to teach Htill men how to take care of the bab\ r . The lecturer who has been put on the job stated that the care of the baby is left too much to the mother. If the baby cries father goes for a walk till the storm is over. It also frequently happened that when baby cried the father would impatiently exclaim: “For goodness sake give it something to eat or drink,” the popular idea being that the baby should be fed every two hours. It was not generally known that a babv’s stomach was often overloaded and that a child was suffering from dy r spepsia. Lectures to men, therefore, are to be given, so that no Hull citizens need remain ignorant of what every father ought to know. Parliament has got to work again, and Miss Williamson has put down a Bill, the first she has ever proposed to introduce, to make it obligatory upon municipal corporations to employ women police. The Bill is supported by several members of all parties in the House. In this connection I might call attention to the fact that among the women recentl3 r called to the Bar there is one who might be said to be the first representative of Labour who has achieved this distinction. Miss Dorothy Evans, M.A., was proposed by Sir Henry Slesser, K.C., M.P., who was the SolicitorGeneral in the Labour Government. Miss Evans is the general secretary of the Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries, a post which she has held for the past seven 3 7 ears. She has been pursuing her legal studies in spare time for the last three 3 7 ears, with the primary object of increasing her own usefufness to the members of her association. The Duchess of Atholl who, it will be recalled, attended the League of Nations Assembly, was the chief guest at a reception at the Lyceum Club, and in the speech which she made to the members recalling her own experiences at Geneva she stressed the question of .slavery and opium. One of the other speakers at the reception. Miss K. D. Courtney, who was present at the Assembly, but unofficially, called attention to what she considered was a serious fault in the British delegation —its smallness. She told her hearers that this was a fault which should be remedied seeing that although the number of delegates was limited, this was not the case with the number of assistants. The other nations took advantage of this, and France for example had a total delegation three times as large as the British. Miss Courtney stressed the importance of having the proper experts in the delegation as these could be at hand for consultation at once. She remarked that the French showed imagination in sending so many technical advisers. They could see that there might be developments in which expert advice would be useful, and they therefore provided in this way so as to have advice immediately it was wanted. The Lyceum Club had another gathering at almost the other extreme of feminist development,' when it entertained the Begum of Bhopal, the great Indian ruler, who is now on a visit to England. The Begum keeps strictly to the rules of caste and custom, and the gathering at the club was open to women only. She was accompanied by her daughter-in-law, the Princess, and her three young granddaughters, who made history for their sex in India since they went out on Armistice Day and sold poppies with the other helpers of the cause. It will be recalled that the Begum was so impressed and so touched by the solemnity of the Armistice Day proceedings at the Cenotaph that she went back to her hotel after taking her part in the great silence, and wrote to Earl Haig a letter of sympathy with the work he was doing, sending him a cheque for £IOOO. It is of interest to add at this juncture that we hear of some distinct steps which are being taken in Turkey towards the emancipation of women, even if momentarily frustrated. The direction of the religious affairs of the vilayet has replied to a request from the Association of Women of Constantinople to be allowed to hold meetings in mosques to teach emancipated ideas to their more backward sisters. The reply says that if they desire to preach sermons they must be authorised b\ 7 the Mufti, after proving their aptitude. It declares that mosques are unsuitable for lectures. The association responds that only in mosques can they penetrate to the most ignorant layers of the feminine public, who were taught their backward ideas by obscurantist clerics. The addresses would deal with women’s status, education, and social duties under emancipated conditions. We hear that Mme. Kaissavow, a Russian lady who died some twenty* years ago, devoted her life to proving that only the female sex was worthy of the least consideration. One of her eccentricities was to refuse to allow not merely a man, but even a book by a man, to enter her house. A voracious reader, and wealthy enough to satisf>- her tastes, she accumulated a library 7 of nearly 20,000 volumes in her St Petersburg home, every one written by a woman. Will extreme feminists hark back to this ?