WOMAN THE HOMEMAKER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 370, 13 September 1930, Page 8

WOMAN THE HOMEMAKER

THE TYPE OF TRAINING In these days of almost equal opportunities for boys and girls, and the consequent increasing number of girls embarking upon careers, there is a tendency to obscure the fact that woman is essentially the home-maker. The days are now, happily, gone when the dull girl was kept at home whilst her clever sister learnt a profession, but it is still not generally recognised that the homemaker is the most important citizen to-day. Though anxious for a career, the bachelor girl loves her own home, however small, states a London writer. Moreover, the instinct of motherhood in these girls often expends itself in social welfare work, with its desire to help those less fortunate than themselves. Even without this social work, the purpose of their education will have been achieved if girls recognise that what the world expects of woman today is womanliness. The question then arises: What type of education shall best befit our girls in the world of almost universal and equal opportunities? A glance at the schools of to-day shows what is being done. Mistresses are impressed and inspired by the spirit of service in wheih girls leave their schools for a larger and less-sheltered life. This spirit of service only needs wise direction, and, this the schools try to supplyScience for girls seems to need a definite home bias. Chemistry is necessary, especially so far as it deals with the chemistry of foods and household commodities, general hygiene, botany, and easy biology. Generally speaking, it seems to be far more important for a girl to know the general principles of those sciences which can be applied to household problems than to have a purely academic knowledge, which will bear little relation to the life she will lead. It seems preferable also to leave definite instruction in housewifery until the last two years of school life. Handicraft lessons should embrace more than needlework. Many schools now give their girls definite training under a woodwork master, and, among other things, girls learn to repair a fuse or put a new washer on a tap.

Yet even all this may leave much energy untapped. Social problems need consideration, and provide the potential citizen with ample opportunity for discussion in the debating society and the school branch of the League of Nations. Moreover, many schools send their senior girls to visit the local creche and welfare centre, or a local hospital or orphanage. An afternoon spent at a slum settlement or a school for blind or physically defective children may often rouse girls to a sense of personal service. Visits to large bakeries, dairies, laundries, or any factories in the neighbourhood also serve this purpose, and show the conditions under which modern commodities are prepared. Gifts ,of flowers to hospitals, toys for the creche, woolly garments knitted for the babies, the maintenance of a cot in the local hospital, Christmas parties for orphan children will follow naturally. Such a training as this will prepare a girl for professional or business life. It will at the same time emphasise in these days of changing values the enduring charm of “ a perfect woman, nobly planned.” Does not the word lady mean “loafmaker,” and hence the source of life and happiness?