Evening star., 1925-08-16
BY REBECCA WEST.

TIME position Of women in Eng
land might well seem to the
casual observer to haXe i'm
| L proved but little during the
last 20 years. 1t might not
unfairly be compared with the position
of the educated negro in the United
States. The negro of the past who re-
sented being treated as the white
mans inferior was told by Booker
| Washington that all would go well
with him if he would prove to all the
| world that such inferiority was leg
end by becoming as well educated, as
| industrious, as respectable as the
| white man. He has done all these
| things. There are innumerable ne
groes who have had distinguished Ca
reers at the universities, who are prac-
ticing the professions or engaging in
| commerce and industry with the ut
most credit, and the negro community
Is very often highly respectable and
| progressive. But the white mans at
| titude has altered hardly at all.
| Women In England are in very
much the same position. In the past
| they were treated as inferior to men
on the ground that they were incap-
able of rising to mans intellectual
level: that they were neurotfc and un-
stable and incapable Of exercising
| judgment in the everyday business of
| life, and that for reasons largely
| physical, but partly psychical, they
| suffered from an incapaCity for con-
tinuous work which would always put
| them at a disadvantage In every
sphere save the domestic. And femin-
lists argued that II women disproved
these allegations they would auto
equals Of men.
StiII Treated as Interiors.
Now women have disproved these
ALLEGATIONS. For long they have been
going to the universities in their thou.
sands, they have been entering the
professions and making their way into
commerce and industry, and in all
these enterprises they have acquitted
themselves well. Then there came the
war. During its later phases there
was practically no activity Of man
which women did not undertake under
rather more onerous conditions than
he had ever been subjected to in
peace, and they passed the test very
honorably. But it would be fatuous
to pretend that women are not still,
in many ways, treated as the inferior
of men. 1t is a commonplace that
they are denied the rewards of per-
formances which, tested effectively
are equal to the performances of men,
on the ground that they lack the mys'
tical essential superiority which en-.
titles men to the higher recompenSe
and better treatment.
Illustrations Are Cited.
Illustration of this Is to be found
in the disappointing position Of wom-
an doctors and woman barristers
There are more than a thousand
woman doctors in England and
l T ToI al NF -haT1 q y-c
graduated and practice with great
distinction. But 1t would be absurd
to pretend they are given a fair field
in the profession. They are not ad-
n!tted as medical students in some
schools, they are discouraged IN
others. They are not smiled on by
their male colleagues before oil
after graduation. Three great doc
tors, bidden to a banquet by WON
an doctors last year. thought fit L
make the trend Of their after Dime!
speeches the unsuitability of thei
hostesses for the profession they hat
adopted. The lot of woman barris
ters Is even less satisfactory. How
ever brilliant q woman barrister may
be, she finds II 90 per cent more
difficult to establish herself in prac.
tice' than a man of equivalent gifts
would find it.. For solicitors simply
will not brief women. Their clients
would not like them to do so; and
am bound to confess tha / would fee
nervous II a case of my own fol
which had briefed a woman barris.
ter came up before certain Of tn.
more moss-go judges.
Competition Is Feared.
Now. there is a reason for this
and cognate facts. such as the pool
position Of women in the civil serv
ice, and their exclusion from all tn,
> best-paid departments in industry
| just as there is for the attitude to.
wards the educated negro. The in
habitant of the United States, over
burdened with his task Of imposing &
, white civilization on a new land o.
many races, feels he cannot AFFORD
to make any gesture that might leat
to too close racial contacts and con.
sequently to racial mixtures. AnS
the average father Of a family, tryins
to make ends meet in post wal
Europe, where there Is not enough
work to go round. Is really not in q
position where he can well be ex.
pected to cheer women on when they
; announce their intention of compel.
ing with him for such work as there
is The moment is singularly unpro-
pitious for the breaking down ot
prejudice in this matter. But tn,
temporary shelving of the problem
must not be mistaken for any failure
on the part of women to make goot
in the new spheres they have chosen
But in other departments of life
women have richly benefited by tn,
steps they have taken to esta bIfsf
their equality. There is a psychologi
cal gain which is beyond price. They
know now that if women do not dc
the same things as men, it is not be
cause they cannot do them, but be