Evening star., 1916-08-05
WAR AND FEMINISM.
By Frederic ]. Haskin.

The war. which has wrecked the lives
OF so many European women, has, new
ertheless. been a great victory for the
sex While the men have marched OF
to the firing line. the women have
calmly filled their places in finance.
factory and even politics. and have
raised funds for hospitals and supplies
! for the wounded on the side. They
have met the demands of the war with
a high courage, set aside the campaign
for tine ballot and have displayed a
| remarkable degree of efficiency in
their new occupations. which has been
none the less conspicuous because of
its quietness and calm.
| AS a result the men are beginning
| to be worried. Some already are enter
taining disQuieting visions OF a time
when. the war over, the status OF the
sexes will be changed and the men will
be dependent on the women for sup
port. The Germans were the first to
recognize the danger of woman
success in former masculine monopo-
lies of work and to compile neat list
of statistics on the question. which is
soon to be made public. The other
belligerents followed suit. and heated
discussions on the subject now are
being held in all the capitals OF Eu-
rope. 1t really is very difficult prob
lem. The women have become used to
| their economic independence, and nke
it. Not only have they supportea
they have unse1fishly spent most OF
| their spare cash in buying bandages
and tobacco for their soldiers. NOW,
when the war is over the 1alr sex may
object to returning to their old status
of feminine inferiority and insist upon
keeping the mems jobs. At any rate,
| there will be no denying them the vote!
| The remarkable work OF the EURO
pean women in the war Is clearly IN
,licati of the progress of the sex. Sew
eral years ago, when the Boer war was
occupying the attention or England,
group of English society women con-
ceived the romantic idea of onering
their services in taking care of the
wounded. They packed several trunks
with dainty feminine apparel and jour
neyed south to the military camps:
where they informed the authorities of
their intention. The general in charge
was a patient man, but within very
short time his amiability gave out and
the young ladies returned to London
with more experience. but less enthu-
siasm They had not known how to
make even the crudest bandages or do
anything useful. and they proved con-
slant disturbing element among the
soldiers. who could not keep their
heaved a sigh of relief when they were
gone, once more became amiable and
referred to the episode thereafter as
1.-The plague of women"
Today, when women are doing half
of the administrative work of Europe.
showing espe-
British Women Work cial efficiency
Alongside the Men. and relief
CORDS. the. adventure of the English So
ciety ladies appears almost medieval
Now the English society woman Is en-
gagged in conducting the family invest
ments, looking after the orphans OF
lost soldiers and organizing new so
cieties for making war apparel she
and her sisters have worked side by
side with the men. for the men ana IN
the places of men. proving their value
as citizens at every turn. Not once
since the war began have the men ven
tured the opinion that woman's place
was the home, and not once nave the
women attempted any aggression Ior
the ballot. Just recently, however the
significance Of this fact has begun TO
dawn upon the European male and ne
has ordered commissions established
for the investigation into the question
of the future political status OF women:
In this country, too. the example OF
the European women has had its in
duence. Here the agitation for the
ballot is still conspicuously manifest
but lately the critical international re-
lations of the United States have
caused every private propaganda to be
sacrificed to the more urgent question
of preparedness. War with somebody
has been constantly imminent. the
southwest border has already been in
| \ oil
wives and daughters of militia men
have already experienced some Of the
deprivations of war. While there is
undoubtedly large woman's peace
party which opposes the business OF
preparedness. the great majority OF
American women are making every ef-
fort to prepare themselves for a pos
sible war with the same high courage
and quick versatility displayed by the
European women. 1t is the great op-
portunity to show what they can do.
The education of the American wom-
an. also. has progressed since the
country fought its last big war. When
the civil war first broke out the north
ern women wasted great deal of mis-
directed energy in making articles
called havelocks for the soldiers. Have
lock societies grew up over night;
sociable were given with regular fire.
havelocks, and the whole thing became
a mania in which almost every woman
in the north was busily engaged IN
making the articles. Fortunately, how
ever, after many hundreds of have
locks had been shipped to the soldiers
a number of sons and brothers wrote
home and asked what under the sun
the havelocks were for. AS it hap
pened they had put them to every use
except the correct one. which was to
protect the head from the heat of the
sun 1t took many months for the
women of the civil war to learn the
list of military equipment and to
systematiZe their work so as to make
every hour count.
Another war will not find the, Amer
lean woman unprepared. During the
past two years
Next War to Find she has devot-
ed a good deal
Women Are Ready. Of her spare
time in knitting and sewing for the
armies of Europe. She has Joined
training camps, where she has been
taught the intricate processes of maxi
ing hospital supplies. Of field and home
nursing, of dietetics and of wireless
telegraphy While this knowledge is
extremely general and not sufficient to
hermit a woman to go Immediately to
the front in the capacity Of nurse.
the basis of military usefulness is thus