WOMAN IS FREE AND HAPPY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19255, 17 December 1930, Page 11 (Supplement)

WOMAN IS FREE AND HAPPY.

Pn\e Essay. (By S. MUIR.) FREEDOM or emancipation has brought happiness to women not in one but in countless ways. It has broken down the age-long domination of the tyrant, man. Not so long ago a man was looked upon as the head of the household. We laugh at the idea now. Woman is the head, of course. She joys in her new-found authority. and laughs to utter scorn any attempt on the part of man to reassert himself. And there is great happiness in that laughter. Having ca!ml\\ as by Divine right, assumed the chief place in the household, the great She has looked for other worlds to conquer, and she has found and conquered them. She goes into the business world to carry all things before her at her own sweet will. She throws old man-made rules of business into the discard. She scoffs at his authority', does as seems good unto her, draws a good salary to spend at her own sweet will, and slowly but surely squeezes out the mere male competitor. He holds whatever position he does hold bv* a very uncertain tenure, and on her sufferance. That means a deep and' abiding happiness for her. New Form of Love-making. She has discarded the immemorial custom of love- ; making,, or-has, at least, given it a new form. She, no longer waits wistfully to be wooed, a human' wallflower in the ballroom of the world. To have a home and children of her own is no longer her chief aim in life. She is independent now. It may be that she may accept some youth, so mad with love that he screws up courage to pro- , pose, but she knows the wise Legislature of New Zealand has provided any number of exits for her if she tires of the marriage state. She can get a separation at any time for any reason, or no reason at all. If she fails in one town she can trip along to the next town and reopen the case there. Even if she loses, the Court will not grant expenses against her. She has also the privilege of enjoying companionate marriage if she chooses —though she rejects such a name.. She can marry as an experiment. If she tires she can leave her husband, and after a grass widowhood of three years secure a divorce—probably with expenses against the husband she has left. Who could but be happy in such happy circumstances, and the woman of to-day is wise in her generation and makes the most of her freedom. As to how her happiness affects mere man, that is another question. I recall the saying of a cynic: “I never hear of the marriage of a decent young fellow but my blood runs cold.”