Evening star., 1934-10-21

here ! do publicly protest, that Life
shall not be in the service of Death!
| You think that this is remote: that
this happened in Germany; that this
| can never happen here. I think, also,
that it can never happen here-not in
| the same form. But the whole world
| today is under the same compulSion.
It is the compulsion to establish order
and to win security. We women who
fought for equal rights for women did
so under the slogans OF the last CEN
| tury, the slogans Of the French Revo-
luton and of the American: Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity. We insisted that
taxation without representation was
tyranny; that there must be equal pay
| for equal work; that women were in
| dividuals and had the right to be
regarded by the law as equal human
beings with men.
Whole Idea Is Hollow.
Today those slogans have certain
| hollowness for men as well as for
women. Liberty interpreted as un-
bridled economic competition, equal
ity interpreted as a purely political
concept, fraternity as hollow phrase
in an infinitely specialized and urban
society, seem to be ideas which have
run their course unless they are i'm
bued with a new life. The idea of
| economic independence for women is
| hollow today because the last years
| have taught us that there is no eco
nomic independence for any one, man
or woman, but that we are all socially
dependent one upon the other.
The rejection of feminism is part
| of the rejection of yesterdays con-
ception of liberty and equality. The
cry today is for order, for order and
for security, as a refuge for dis
organized, atomized, self-destructive
| society. 1t is the desire for order and
security which is behind every move
ment in the world today for revolu-
ton or social reform. 1t is behind
communism, behind fascism, behind
| NaZi-ism, behind the New Deal and
behind the projects of social PLAN
ming which are going on in Great
Britain. 1t explains why men and
women are willing to sacrifice liber-
| ties which yesterday seemed the very
substance of life, why they are willing
| to give themselves over in blind obedi-
ence to appointed leaders, why
| they are willing to give over their
bodies and souls to state system, as
they have in Italy, Russia and Ger
many.
Women need security not so much
for themselves as for their children.
Every woman who has child wants
to look ahead 20 years, wants a
20-year lease on relative security
in which to feed and train and edu-
cate that child. In a world which is
full of goods, which can produce
enough to feed every one, the thought
that thousands must continue to live
under the threat of unemployment,
accompanied by destitution, is un-
bearable-it runs against all common
sense, all humanity. 1t is symbol
of the disorder Of our society, and it
is no wonder that social systems
which offer merely more order and a
promise - however i'll founded - Of
greater security ind women to follow
them.
Menace Of Security.
But in this worldwide cry for Or
der and security lies also a menace.
The menace is that the essential con-
tent of life shall be subjected to those
two aims; that order and security
shall be regarded as life itself, in
stead of merely an aim of social or
ganization; that the form shall be
regarded as more important than the
spirit; that we shall forget that So
ciety is made for man and not man
for society. The cry for order and
security may lead us into a greater
unity, a greater cooperation, great
er elf-diScipline, a widened social
conscience and a greater freedom for
the development of every individual;
or it may lead us straight into the
police state, where the individual
ceases to be of Importance and the
whole of life is mechanical or mill
tarized and bent to some limited pro-
gram, to some industrial five or ten
year plan, to some abstract picture
of a totalitarian state.
If any division can be made be-
tween the responsibility of men and
women toward society, I think it lies
more in inner attitude than in out
ward activity. 1t is as necessary for
women as for men to recognize the
necessary changes that must take
place in the world and to cooperate
to bring these changes about. 1t is
as useless for women as for men to
run against the grain of history. In
so far as these changes tend to di-
minish wasteful and heartbreaking
competition and substitute for them
free and voluntary cooperation, the
changes will, am sure, work for the
greater happiness of women and men,
too. I even believe that the active
participation of women in a more CO.
operative society will be far easier
and more fruitful for them than in
the almost purely competitive society
which is that of yesterday.
The Ban on Women.
There have been in other countries,
and there may be here, an attempt to
shut women out or limit their activi-
ties in this changing society. In
times of strain and economic reor-
ganiZation there is usually an at
tempt to put women back into the
IlOIIie III OrQtI 10 CTedIe extra JODS 1Or
men. That attempt has been made
in most of the industrial countries
of Europe and there is always the
possibility that it will be made here.
believe that it runs counter both to
the best interests of women and the
best interests of society. For the trae
ditional activities of women in the
modern world cannot again be CEN
tered in the home to any great ex-
tent. We shall not, I believe, again
make the family the chief industrial
and educational center.
To drive women back into the home
today merely means to sterilize their
creative functions. It is, therefore.
essential that women shall have a
clear attitude in their own minds TO-
ward work. Work is not merely a lob:
work is not merely a means of earn
ing money or supplementing a mans
income. Work is an, essential of life
itself, as necessary as bread and love;
it is the means by which the individ-
ual establishes a relation between
himself and larger society than the
fo y,oi1ry r1,,if. ;e -. zLs.f