THE NEW CITIZENSHIP.

White Ribbon, Volume 29, Issue 343, 18 January 1924, Page 5

THE NEW CITIZENSHIP.

(Hy Blanche Head Johnston, Hon. Hocre tary W.W.C.T.U.)

Eg UAL ENFRANt ’HISEMENT. 1 have never emphasised “Women's Rights." ! have always felt with Tennyson that "The Woman’s cause is Man's,” and the tremendous tasks confronting us to-day, in the reconst rue lion period, are not such as can be solved by men or by women alone; they are problems that call for the united and best effort of both. I have seen that all that elevates womanhood has a corresponding effect upon manhood. They rise together; they fall together. Therefore all principles and laws which raise the status of womanhood places manhood on a higher plane of thought, purpose, or action. This, of course, is evidenced in the lands where man rules as an autocrat in his private and public capacity; where womanhood is happy and free, so must man be useful and strong. I have never shared the view that equal enfranchisement would arouse antagonism between the sexes. A woman speaker once said in a large mixed audience: "Take away women, and what would follow " "We would," came a clear assurance in a masculine voice. He probably spoke the tiuth. In the story of the creation we read in Genesis i. 26 27 that . . . God said, "lie't us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over •very creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He them!" Equal in beauty, equal in authority! Fresh from the hand of the Creator. Herein is the fundamental cause of women's desire for equal en franchisement. It is not a question of a vote or a l>allot simply. It lies deeper. The tendrils of its roots strike further back in history and reason. It seems as if only in more recent decades have women, in large numbe-s. awakened to realise their true birthright in Christ’s redemptive work, through His birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension. The curse came through the fall of man and woman—Genesis iii. 16. "I n-

to the woman He said: I will greatly multiply thy sorrow. . . . And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and In shall r’th* over thee," was removed through the work of the Saviour, Gal. iii. 28. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." HEH RE-ESTABidSHMENT. As proof of woman’s re-establishment in her first estate of equality w’ith man, we 1 s*g to submit the following briefl.N set forth reasons: — 1. She was given the distinguished honour of Incoming the mother of our l/ord Jesus. 2. She became His trusted friend and associate. John xi. 5: "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister.” 3. Woman was entrusted with the first glorious message of the gospel of the resurrection. Matt. 28: "The angel bade the waiting women (verse 7) go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead." And in verse 10 the Saviour confirms the commission: "Be not afraid; go tell My brethren that they go into Galilee. There shall they see Me.’ Ambassadors of the Cross! And the resurrection. 4. Woman’s ministry to humanity has been honoured by divine recognition and success, as typified In such examples as: (a.) Priscilla, who was one who "improved and expanded the theology of the eloquent Apollis.” Anna was a prophetess in the* Temple Courts, and publicly welcomed the Holy Child to its precincts, and Caul mentioned a host of women associates in the work of the early Church in his last words to the Homans. Chap. xvi. 127 and other Scriptures. (b.) Boreas, founder of the mission of service of clothing the poor and needy, which is found in all Christian com munities to-day. (c.) Florence Nightingale, the lady with the lamp, who lighted the way to the honoured profession of nursing. (d.) Elizabeth Fry, bearing her message of hope and cleanliness into the prisons of the unfortunate delinquents and criminals incarcerated there. (e.) Josephine Butler, with her loving helpfulness for fallen and outcast wo men.

(f.) Lady Huntingdon, inspiring courage in those who were oppressed for their religious convictions. (g.) Catherine Booth; peeress of preachers, flinging wide open doors to the platform and the pulpit for thousands of women. (h.) Frances Willard, reformer and organiser of women into battalions of aggressive service for humanity, and a great multitude who stand in the firing line of earnest devotion to-day fighting for liberty, truth, sobriety, and purity THE NEW CONDITIONS. Why, it may be asked, is woman only waking up in the 19th and 20th centuries to a realisation of the full heritage of her womanhood? The question may be answered at least partially by recalling the changed social, political, and economic conditions prevailing. In the "good old days" woman was shielded by the chivalry of man in the higher circles of society. She became his slave oftentimes in the low cist rata. The home was not only the centre of family lift and pleasure, but of industry also. The ladies it the castle halls and their hand maid*ns, the serfs in their cottages, carded the wool, spun and weaved and sewed. All the garments were made in the home. The food was grown in field and garden, and the fruit in the home orchard. All was prepared, preserved, cooked and cared for in the home, whether castle or cabin. If necessity demanded, the woman finding other employment, she wont into some other home, a domestic helper, a waiting maid, a needle woman, or a governess. The mother kept hei children una r her own supervision. Hor influence 1 irmed the child’s character. She cared or the child’s education But a chi. ege came. Modem civilisation in pre-wer days restricted woir.au’s former opportunities within the 'im:t c? the domestic sphc ,v \ There has l>cen a tendency to rob her of the more valuable of the productive labour which engaged her in her ancient domain. Our spinning wheels are broken. Steamdriven looms now unde? the *voik. machines, knitting machines, and sewing machines, run by electricity, now manufacture the garments. Vegetables and fruits are preserved in great factories. On the farm, machinery minimises woman’s toil.

At an early age the little one* trip away to school, anil in their youthful days rush out into life to engage in its pursuits. Woman’s work in the sacred precincts of home has contracted fully three-fourths (says an authoritative writer). An economical revolution has been gradually effected. Modern machinery and science has wrought the change. Everything once made in the home is made in factory and shop. Her work has largely found its way out of the home circle; and woman has followed it! Womanhood woke up in a new sense! She began to feel her own need and realise her own powers. She demanded and obtained better education. She knocked at the hitherto closed doors of mercantile, professional, and official life. She heat down walls of prejudice. She won her way into every line of enterprise. She found herself handicapped. She saw that greed for gold increased the evils of the liquor traffic and th«* oppressions of labour among her sister workers. She saw that her sisters were entrapped into ways of sin. She found laws unjust, inadequate. She was hampered because she had no civil or ixditical power. She found that her power of moral suasion and personal influence, valuable and important as that force undoubtedly is. failed in working necessary reforms. This is the primary cause of woman's demand for equal citizenship. This is th«‘ reason, the real underlying reason of the so-called “unrest among women.” Many women who are surrounded by wealth and luxury, enjoying Ihe adoration and indulgence of their husbands, fathers, or brothers shielded from the world’s blasts may not have heard the soul cry of the world’s need. The> may lx* indifferent, careless, or even critical. They have need of nothing. They do not understand the conditions under which many of their sisters live. They know nothing of the woman’s anguish and the burden she bears from the drink traffic and the social evils or the suffering imposed by unjust economic conditions. We cannot think any true woman would lx- heedless if she really knew. Those who have wiped the tears of the sufferers and cared for the neglected ehildnood the victims of men's gix eil and selfishness have had the need and value of a ballot thrust

upon them. They feel it a “divine opportunity" rightly u**;d, would, in time, help to mitigate the undesirable conditions that have pressed heavily upon heart and brain, and so make the world a cleaner, safer place for the young. 1/Ct all who feel disposed to criticise ways and methods look into the deep heart of this whole woman’s question, and they will find in it a tidal wave of powerful forces which cannot lx* turned bade until it sweeps into the calm waters of victory and free, full citizenship, and woman enters into her first (lod-given heritage of “Dominion” not over man, but with him. overall things that a Ixiving Father made for His children.