The Great War altered British women out of all recognition. In four years they turned from shy, retiring housewives, imbued with a tradition of domesticity, into cool, capable young women with a But it is highly probable that, with her newly won confidence, woman will not be content to retain a passive attitude towards love and to wait Patiently until some man condescends to ask her to marry him. A shortage of men coupled with a high standard [of feminine character will mean that women will boldly seek out their mates and take the initiative in wooing. The leap year joke of today of the woman who proposes will become the commonplace of tomorrow.
Do these feminine triumphs mean that sex antagonism will be intensified? One thinks not. The reason it exists today is that women resent the prejudice and injustice of a man-made world, Even though the average woman may not think twice about the subject of women's rights, she is subconsciously influenced by feelings that are only openly expressed by the intelligent minority. Under peace conditions it might have taken a hundred years to bring about the and- customs of our daily lives.
"Women control the bulk of the nation's retail buying, and the very definite ideas of the woman customer regarding what she wants does far more than dictate the contents of the big shops and stores.
It guides about 80 per cent of the ination's output of newspapers and periodicals, because these cannot exist without the advertisements of firms catering for women. To a far greater extent than most people realize, the life and thought of the country are already under feminine domination.
What, then, will be the effect of the present war, should it be prolonged for several years and involve the death of a great number of present and potential husbands? Will Britain become a matriarchy? Will women take complete command? Will they tell us they are sick of a man-made world that does nothing but drift into a succession of ghastly wars, and proceed to show us how the country ought to be run? Will the shortage of men result in two or three women sharing a husband between them?
Those who expect sensational and dramatic changes such as these are doomed to disappointment. A matriarchy could only succeed it all the powerful nations of the world were run by women, and in most other countries the women are either generations away from such a development, perfectly satisfied with their present status, or unlikely to find themselves in a sufficiently powerful majority as a result of the war. Changes there will be, but they are more likely to be an acceleration of normal and commonsense progress.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.