The Washington times., 1935-04-24
NOW
IsU.S. Feminisnu
On the Wane?
REP. KAHN'S mo-
BY HELEN EssARY

Mrs. Parkhurst, if they don't
soon wake up to what is hap
pening, be as powerless in pub
lie affairs as women in Ger
many now are? Is the Federal
Government taking advantage
Of the business slump to give
women's jobs to men? Is not
the number of women who have
attained political distinction
small?
I repeated these questions to
four women. To Representa-
tive Florence Kahn, a Republi-
can, one of the smartest mem
berS of the House of Repre-
sentatives, and a practical poll.
tician.
To Doris Stevens, a practical
feminist. An internationalist
who went to jail fighting for
women's rights in 1917; who
last year at the Montevideo
Conference got over the Equal
Naturalization Treaty, and who
Is now chairman of the Inter
American Commission of
Women.
To Mary Anderson, chief of
the Women's Bureau of the De-
partment of Labor for 19 years,
a practical organizer who be-
gan her understanding of
women an dtheir difficulties in
industry as a factory worker in
Chicago.
And to Mrs. James H. Wolfe,
director of the Women's Divi-
sion of the Democratic National
Committee, who knows about
every political job held by
women under the New Deal.
The reaction of the last three
of these very Leading Ladies to
the Death of FeminiSm I shall
print in succeeding columns.
Today are given Mrs. Florence
Kahn's ideas on women and
their rights.
found Mrs. Kahn in her
office at the Capitol at $3.50
yesterday morning. Stopping
her dictation to a secretary, she
said:
"Certainly feminism isn't
dead. Not in America, any
how.
Gould there be a more con-
crete expression Of wOmen'S
present independence, of her
power and her desire to help
along the world than Mrs.
Franklin Roosevelt?
"Mrs. Roosevelt is the first
woman, except perhaps the first
Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, who
even looked outside the White
House walls. Her example has
put other women on their
mettle.
''Many women all over the
country, not so prominent as
Mrs. Roosevelt, are working
energetically and intelligently
as she is"
Then Mrs. Kahn wanted to
know a few of the other rea-
sons why GenevieYe Parkhurst
was troubled about the future of
American women. I quoted
these:
"Feminism is at least def
nitely sleeping. Much of the
ground that has been gained is
lost.
"The wage-earning W m a n
has come to a point where she
is eking a meager existence.
can influential lobby is at
work to repeal the Nineteenth
Amendment.
"These things are happening
principally because wOmen's or
CARNATIONS have not inspiring
leaders"
"Women are inactive, ruled
by self interest and unable to
pull together"
Florence Kahn thought out
2oud when I had finished. She
said:
perhaps the OId-style fem.
iniSm IS dead. American wOm-
en- today have no reason to be
militant. They've learned it
isn't necessary to demand or
even to ask favOrs, simply be-
cause they are women.
Generally speaking, life is
very good to modern American
women. They realize this and
have stopped being self-cOn-
sciOus. They are thinking of
themselves as people, as citizens,
taking their part in public life
naturally. Incidentally, the
more surely women regard them
selves as people and citizens, the
stronger they will be, the more
opportunities they will have"
"But what about the failure
of wOmen's organizations in
America, Mrs. Kahn?"
"That'S pretty sweeping queS-
tiOn, and it covers big coun-
try. The real value of wOmen's
organizations now is their local,
not their national, influence.
Locally women are doing
fine work. However, nobody
could complain about the value
of such national organizations
as the Business and Professional
WOmen's Club, the League of
Women Voters, or the Parent
Teacher groups of the WOmen's
&Na-.4n&a.a nR AhA National nA.aan