Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-14
Better Half of Britain


with its correctly uneven hem line. ETC.,
was much smarter than that carried out
on sound" linesl
This by the way. As to the general
effect of this particular propaganda
effort, am convinced now, as was
when I first met 1t in my own constitu-
ency, that 1t did the Conservative cause
little but harm. The average woman
voter with whom came in contact took
her new responsibilities very seriously.
The relatively few who declared they
took no interest in politics also stated
that they were not going to vote at all
Any effect on them was wasted; the
effect on the others was that they felt
slightly insulted.
Working Women Vote.
The whole thing was really a miscal-
culation Of what was and Is, after all,
the most obvious fact about the new
electorate. The new women on the regis
tiers vary widely In age, but the great
majority Of them belong to the working
class. They are affected, therefore, by
the issues that affect the men whose
homes they share; and, like those same
men, they are moving increasingly into
the Labor party. Candidates, whether
successful or not, are VIGOROUSLY apt to
be more interested In their own fights
their opinions of the general result from
their own experiences.
So at this point may be excused II I
turn for a moment to my own case.
Blackburn-the constituency now rep
resent, after contesting 1t vainly in 1924,
when had 1000 ajority against me
is In Its way very good specimen
exhibit of the new electorate, as found
in the big industrial centers. It is
one Of that dense agglomerate of tex
tile towns that live under the perpetual
smoke pail Of East Lancashire. It
lives in the main by weaving. OF its
$4,000 voters, just under $1,000 are
women and just over $4,000 are men.
Must Work to Live.
But the sex division is quite unreal,
for In these Lancashire towns the in
terests Of the man and of the woman
voter are very much the same. They
both work in the mills. The young
women work in the mills before they
marry, and they tend to go back to the
mills after they marry, while their chill
dren are young. There Is not enough
for the family to live on If they don't.
No less than Sc per cent Of married
women under A and 229 per cent
of married women over A. are in en-
ployment there. In industry, so far
as wage rates go, men and women are
on equal terms.
On the other hand, it is not to be
forgotten that, socially, Lancashire is
very conservative county. ! found in
1924 that being a woman candidate
was a real difficulty; then even my own
chairman would describe me as "a pity
but" and then some well meant
compliments at the expense Of women
in general. II that dificulty apparently
has ceased to operate, attribute that
partly to the fact that in the inter-
vening four and a half years have
spent good deal Of time in the town,
nursing" it. but mainly to the fact
that my being Labor candidate meant
more to the voters than my being a
woman. I don't think my being o
woman lost me many votes this time
but doubt whether 1t gained me
many.
A handful of middle class women of
other Affiliations than Labor did per-
haps give me a vote-but the middle
class vote in these industrial areas
doesn't really affect the result, one way
or the other. This, think, is broadly
true; but false picture of the election
campaign would be suggested were not
to mention the marvellous loyalty and
even demonstrative affection showered
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