Evening star., 1938-12-25
By Lydia Van Hagan Yam Zandf.

TIeHtIeI MuooottHt yeeLo Jtuy-
1paDing Italian 1Uonlen and chill
dren during tour.
Wide World Photo.
balance was shared by the Fascist party
and the Institute of Africa Italian. Hav-
ing just returned from camp these girls
we're being entertained before their de-
parture to Ethiopia.
Hundreds of applications for colonial
service we're received daily. and they in
creased as the discrimination against
women in paying jobs became more Sc
we're.
Rewarded for Services.
Fewer women in the higher salary
groups will be affected because there has
women in public or professional life or
in executive positions in commerce and
industry. However, they had a taste of
freedom and independent action during
the World War when many worked in
the Red Cross and shouldered the Jobs
of men at the front.
AS reward for their war services the
King granted italian women equal prop
erty rights with men. Having gained this
much ground. the educated women are
bending every effort toward keeping it.
Countess Daisy di Robilant, pioneer
in maternity welfare work, puts it this
way: eve italian women are not DO
litically ambitious but we make our in
f1uence felt in other ways"
They are working today to make this
influence felt through volunteer social
service. In the rural communities titled
members of the Womens Fascist party
are teaching child care, hygiene and
home economics to farm women.
At the little town of Santa Marinella
was met at the railway station by
Duchess Elena Lante Della Rovere, who
organizes and trains the farm women
Of her community. We made tour of
the farmhouses, which consist of one and
two room cottages housing from four to
nine people. They were all surprisingly
clean and cheerful, and the housewives
| proudly showed us a new rosebush, a
new hen or more frequently new baby.
Sewing Lesson Held.
The Duchess, who is the mother of
eight children, devotes several hours
each day to helping these women solve
| their family problems. 1t was very evi-
dent they adore her.
That afternoon they gathered at the
| Fascist Women's headquarters in Santa
Marinella for sewing lesson They
were colorful group in their gala peas
ant costumes with billowing skirts which
vary in color and material, but every
woman wore the required neckerchief
of ecru cotton stamped "Duce" in large
red letters.
The former Mayor of Rome broke
with tradition and appointed a woman
on his City Council. Countess Giacchi
Mazziteln was made the head Of the
Social Welfare Department, but the
present Mayor did not renew the ap-
pointment. However, the Countess vol
unfairly carries on her work directing
the classes of volunteer women social
workers.
The training of these workers is very
professional. Thirty-flve lessons consti.
tute course. The classes are held in the
institutions with which the women must
be familiar, such as delinquent homes
hospitals, maternity homes, nurseries
and insane asylums. The doctor ir
charge at each of these gives the lecture
and the classes inspect the premises anc
the inmates. At the end of the course
an examination is given. Those who pass
are assigned to accompany an expert
enced social worker on her visits To-