Attitude of European Women to War

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 28, 3 February 1937, Page 15 (Supplement)

Attitude of European Women to War

What are the women of Europe thinking and doing? How do pub!?# events affect the lives of average women in those countries in the public eye? The answer is: Much less than one would, expect. Human nature demands continuity; the possibilities of to-mor-row must not affect the realities of to-day, writes Helen who recently returned from several years abroad, in the Sydney Morning Herald. Of course, the reacting of groups of women is enormously affected by many factors, headed by these—the fact of war, present or to come, and the fact of nationality. Take Holland as an example of a small, neutral country. Her business is always to keep out of trouble. This has produced women whom I would call the sanest, most balanced women in Europe. The frenzy of war and patriotism and post-war hysteria alike missed them. By that they may have lost a certain nobility of sacrifice, but they gained a poise which enabled them to perform a remarkable feat. Tho women of Holland have become modern, without letting the swing of the pendulum carry them too far. This makes them friendly and easy to get on with—without a trace of that inferiority complex which makes so many races touchy. A Dutch woman is confident, eager to exchange ideas, to tell what her country is doing, and to hear what yours is about; she radiates a charm more of character than art, since she seldom excels in smartness. Her secret lies in a splendid balance between practical and intellectual interests. Princess Juliana is typical of this double attitude, contriving to combine a doctorate of jurisprudence wifi a sound knowledge of jam-making, and with them retaining a genuine simplicity.. Not all the girls pedalling on bicycles along the flat Dutch roads go that way because they cannot afford cars. Many, of them prefer the healthy, informal, openmir way. That is the keynote of Holland. No Promise for Women. Just across the frontier, the. picture is very different. The Kaiser prescribed the interests of .pre-war German women as the three C’s—church, children, cooking. The war opened all doors, but the Germany which emerged was far from happy. .Women were in a ve’ry bad position. I exchanged lessons with a doctor of economics; we ceaselessly discussed her suicide. The future held no promise, her resources were exhausted, her family has strained every nerve to give her a chance, but no woman would get such a position as she sought; .there were too many men waiting . . < Italy, too,, is a land of silent women, but the change there is less remarkable; they have not lost so much nor in so marked a way. The Italian woman has always been content with a less public role, for her influence la less through the platform and Press, than through the home. She has never been vocal/ hhs-always been more prone to exercise her privileges by subtlety and tact, than to advertise them. She, too, has suffered, however. Fascism is as masculine as Nazism, and even less cooperative. Besides, women in Italy have recently had to bear the brunt of a war which, though popular now in its results, was not pop.ular at the time, when even mourning was forbidden for the fallen soldiers and there was general hardship, at home. Italy makes me glad of my, British passport.

In Austria, however, women take their share in political feeling, but the country is so jmor, and conditions so hard, that most of the time is spent keeping the home together. Hero pessimism is to be met with; the experiences of the last few years have left deep traces. The average Austrian woman has lost, for the time being, her traditonal gaiety* When one talks to educated women, they shrug their shoulders and hope the future will be better, though.they do not see how; the working women hear passively stories of better conditions in other lands, but do not seem to think they will reach Austria. Polish Women Prepared. The Teutonic races lost the war, and the Slavs won it, in the sense of profiting by it. It would be hard to say which group suffered most, but that fact colours the mental attitude deeply. War, for the Slavs, is a serious thing, but justified by its results. The women of Czechoslovakia and Poland do not want war,' but, if they must have it, there are no regrets. Polish women, for the most part unathletic, adoring clothes, and perfumes, and dances, and an indoor life, have yet thrown themselves into preparations for defence; for training as soldiers; preparing for gas attacks. They have not yet taken to raining down on Prague and Warsaw in parachutes, like their Russian sisters, but I put that down largely to a more limited supply of parachutes, not courage. In any case, if a call comes, they will bo ready. But under all these differences of attitude lies a fundamental sameness, in the fact of their all being women, members of the steady, the persistent sex. Whatever happens anywhere, today, to-morrow, you will find women clearing up tho mess and going on. There may be war to-morrow, says tho practical sex, but meanwhile there must bo dinner and a clean house to-day. Bo that is how you find them, in the intervals of all other occupations, doing the immediate job of feeding, clothing and amusing themselves and their families. ’ They probably were doing that while the walls of Jericho were falling, and will probably bo doing it when the aeroplane squadrons arrive from Armageddon.