WOMEN AND POLITICS.

Waikato Times, Volume 104, Issue 17466, 28 July 1928, Page 15 (Supplement)

WOMEN AND POLITICS.

THE CHANGING ATTITUDE.

(By " Jupiter.")'

Newspapers, like people, exercise the prerogative of changing their minds I No secret is made of the faot that before the war the Spectator opposed female Parliamentary suffrageWhile confessing that it still sees some truth in generalisations then urged that prominent paper is decidedly in sympathy with the Equal Franchise Bill. The Spectator's changed attitude In the bringing about of which women's conduct during the Great War was a deciding issue is but a sign of the ■world-wide emanicpation of women in which the enfranchising of all adult females in England was another important factor. While the women of the Mother Country waged their long and bitter war against prejudiced statesmen and rigidly conservative public opinion the hearts of New Zealanders were touched with sympathy and even while we disapproved of the militant measures which were the outcome of the passionate earnestness of the suffragettes wc could not but admire their courage, fortitude, and determination. We rejoice that at last all barriers have been broken, and the battle won giving to every English woman that right to which New Zealand women long have been accustomed—the right of a voice in the affairs of her country—the country in which she lives and toils and for whose future citizens she often risks and sometimes sacrifices her life. The giving of the vote to a larger section of the nation sh</dd be a further step to true democracy where

) the people will be concerned with | their responsibilities as well as their j rights and where common good will j be of more importance than individual j gain. ! But is it not somewhat of an anomaly I that while women of the Homeland I have been so far behind their New i Zealand sisters in securing the vote j yet New Zealand women have lagged j longer in obtaining a representative of . their sex in Parliament? Maybe j women “ at Home ” have more time I and opportunity for public life. One j can well imagine a certain type of j English woman taking (he initial steps I to a political career through a desire for something more satisfying than endless rounds of parties, dances, I bridge, etc., with Lheir incessant j “ te,a-time prattle,” or an educated young woman embarking on a career j which becomes a substitute for matrimony—a result of the “ surplus women ” problem—and finding her interest, in social questions rapidly developing into a definite urge towards j the championing of their cause further afield. Then there have been occasions where the call to carry on the work of the father has come to the daughter, who inheriting an aptitude for politics has been his associate as confidential secretary. Thus, conditions have been more favourable in England than in a young colony like New Zealand but now that our women are becoming more and ' more interested and successful in public life the time should not be far distant when the first woman will be ■ elected to a New Zealand Parliament. Though women generally may not j be so well suited to the multifarious duties of politics yet in every generation there are those not only capable ' of speaking with authority and understanding upon questions bearing on ; domestic life and concerning the welj fare of women and children but who ; could debate eloquently and wisely upon any subject under consideration.