Untitled

Te Ao Hou, April 1956, Page 59

Sunday. As for holidays the majority said that they never had any real holidays as more often than not they had to carry on with their normal household chores in conditions which were sometimes worse than in their own homes. One mother with six children gave the shocking reply that her only holidays consisted of the eleven-day periods when she was bearing her children. No Five-day Weeks or Paid Holidays All-in-all the surveys revealed that about 75% of housewives do not have a proper holiday, and among them were many who suffered from fatigue and nervous troubles. Some of the reasons given by French housewives for the causes of fatigue and illness are; looking after children; noise; lack of time for rest and sleep; monotony of work; solitude. Going with these is a sense of inferiority with regard to their work which is not appreciated in the way it should be. But this sense of inferiority is now on the way to being overcome, and governments in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Western Germany, to take only three examples, have now recognized that women's work in the home is just as important as any other kind of “professional” work, and “without it, the nation could not survive”. Particularly important is the mother's role in the training and education of her children. Here, her guidance and help are practically irreplaceable. To take the words of the French enquiry: “Every child needs the warm affection of its mother, or of someone capable of replacing her permanently. If that need is not met, the psychological injury inflicted will have deep repercussions in later life”. But, if the real worth of woman's work in the home is now being appreciated, little attention has been given to her status as a housewife. She has been called “irreplaceable”, but up to now she has not had a chance to benefit from the tremendous improvement in labour conditions. Not for her the five-day-week, holidays with pay and retirement on pension. In official eyes she still counts for little. Can anything be done about this? Certainly the first thing which comes to mind is the need for more domestic help. Although it is true that this is fast disappearing in most countries of the world, nevertheless some positive steps could be taken along similar lines. For example, the French Association of Women Doctors has suggested that laundry services could be improved, the number of mothers-aid workers increased, family holiday centres established and domestic science courses made more easily available. Here are some concrete proposals which could help in giving the housewife greater liberty, and more time to devote herself to outside interests, and to the training and education of her children. * * * Mrs J. Ormsby, Kohupatiki Pa, won first prize and the Whyte Cup at a Maori gardens competition in Hastings last October.