FEMINISM AND MARRIAGE

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1926, 26 October 1926, Page 3

FEMINISM AND MARRIAGE

PROBLEM OF THE MODERN GIRL.

That the women's movement has in it all the characteristics of rebellion is the contention advanced oy Mr Mjefyrick .Booth, in an article iln this- July Nliiete'enth Century. "While the enthusiastic belief In freed'om which animated t*h ; e movement was certainly a soujrce of /strength.." he says, "it led- . a|f, the sarnie time to a dangerous oneaidedness. Under :t)hb influence of John Stuarlt Mill 1 . 1 and others of hi s way of thinking, Englbsh feminism developed! an individualistic and rationalistic view of life from which lit has never been able to freig .itself." Thi s militant individualism has dome igo'od work in freeing women from male .'subjection, and particularly in opening careers to unrnjarried women. But, says Mr Booith, like oth'cir movements of .protest, at is merely negative. It ha s not brought to .light any positive ideal tof life large enough to include in its scope thje relationship of the s'sxes. The girl of to-day absorbs a freedomliving and egocentric conception of life almost from thjei time slhe is able to walk. The books s'hta reads, her social milieu, her .companions, her school, often Ithe home itself, all conspire to impress upon her view of life which leaves out "o'f account the social and functJioina!l aspects of womanhobd. School staffs, complains Mr Booth, are staffed! with bachelor women, wtoo care little for problems of sex and marriagei The 'ltalian girl, on the other hand, is trained from Ithe cradle for marriage and motherhood. The English garl .i s trained .for anything but tha't. Her personality is torn in two. Najture juirges her towarMi union with the opposite sex, but the glsmeral tendency of her mlatotaJl outlook causes her to cling tenaciously to personal freedom.

The serioufs aspect of tUi|ei matter, says Mr Booth, is not thajt, ithe modem girl refuses to marry, tout that she is unifitlfeid to !be the 'companion of her husibalnd, who looks to her t'oi be complemented in mind, with characteristics .and 'interests different from his own. lMiojreove.r, men cannot marry modern gh% until they are in a position to friaie 'them Ifrom houisework and domjestic drudgery. The modern girl is mot capable of absorbing herself in the work of home and children. This means that men in educated circles cannot minify- till /they ar*3i middle aged, which is bad for .them and for t-ihja State, and loses them the years when marriage should mean most. The whale circumstances constitutes a vicious cirefe We ar© told that girls must go out into the world and compete with mem ibecajujse: Itheir opportunities of nuairriage aire so small that it is useless to prepare"girls for marriage. But one of tih,e main reasons ■why , s o many men dlo not marry early as just 'because the girlis are not prepared fojr marjiiage. Mr Booth iplleads for an education if or women which, whlife not aiming to ireifrore .th. e conventional outlook of the 'past, wild yet inculcate a saner philosophy of sex, and which will reveal •thtef possibilities of happiness and se'Jf-fulfilment in the companionship of marriage. At pres'?nt, looking at marriage ifrom without, girls can see !in i|f, only the drudgery and loss of libelrty.