THE WOMEN OF ENGLAND
By RAY STRACHEY
GENERALIZING about women has been a favourite pursuit of inferior writers in all ages. In the seventeenth century there existed in Italy a library entirely composed of works of this nature, and another very large one could be gathered together now, if all the works which have appeared since then were to be collected together. If anyone .had the patience to read all these books, little sense would be found in them ; for of all the topics which have caused rubbish to be written, this is probably the worst. Most of the books make no attempt to deal with facts. They do not examine women as they are, nor their lives as these are actually passed ; they deal instead with theory, and explain what the charms or the faults of women are, what they ought to do and be, and where their duty lies. It would be hard to find another branch of literature so, futile and so depressing.
Of course it would be a giant's task to write about women as a whole in any reasonable way. They are as various, and as unexpected as the rest of the human race, and cannot be fitted into patterns: It would be as grotesquely false to think of English women in terms of sweet young things with rosebud complexions as to think of them as elderly spinsters clasping umbrellas and wearing mackintoshes. It is nonsense to assert that they are handsome or ugly, smart or shabby, good or bad housekeepers, of friendly or of frigid manners. Some are each of these things, and some aren't ; and that is the only generalization which is a safe one.
There is however, one thing which may be obs.erved. about English women in this present year—a thing not connected with the nature of women in general, ,nor involving ' any theory of women's sphere or women's duty, but just-a plain fact which can be seen everywhere, and that is that they are extraordinarily energetic._ In every direction and in every aspect of life in- this country at this moment women arc keenly and vitally concerned, and they know it. There is hardly anything in the whole range of our civilization (unless it be the Stock Exchange) in which some women arc not now taking an active part—(and, they would undoubtedly be on the .Stock Exchange too, but that it is closed to them). In every kind of paid work they are engaged in increasing numbers, and in all the civic and social matters which concern the whole community they show a keenness and an enterprise which arc new elements in national life. This phenomenon is, of course, a post-War development, but it is not confined to those who can remember the War. The young women of today and the schoolgirls of today are fairly :brimming over with energy and enthusiasm for all sorts of unexpected things, and everyone who has to do with them feels it. Neither young women nor old ones, as a rule, figure much in the limelight ; but the fact that they CARE is within everyone's experience ; and it is important.
In politics, to take the first obvious example, every Party agent will tell you that women. are his best and mast active workers. Every Member of Parliament will say the same, and every County Councillor. The galleries of the House of Commons are full of women day after day, and the sale of Government publications and reports has gone up to more than three times its former figure since women were enfranchised. They do not stand up alai'. ask many questions at public meetings, and they do not come 'forward in hundreds to be candidates themselves, nor have they often axes' to grind. But apathy is far from them, and, whether wise or unwise in their individual judgements, at least they CARE. • In Church matters this state of affairs has long been true, and also in social work of every description. Where- ever one turns, in this 00up. of activities, one finds women, devoted, eager, and indefatigable. Some of them are tiresome and troublesome, of course ; others are helpful and invaluable ; but there they always arc. Committees arc swamped by them ; societies for every species of reform depend on them, and workers in every conceivable field arc drawn from them. And all, whether 'wise or idiotic, REALLY CARE. In the country districts the same is true. Village women have taken hold of the Women's Institute move- ment, and have made it a living force. They fairly rush into all sorts of village activities, and stir things up right and left - and stir themselves up at the same . . time. Again, of course, they. sometimes talk and act foolishly ; but it is always because they CARE.
In sport and recreational activities just the same is, happening. Athletics are inundated with women, who swim and ride and play, and go hiking in their thousands over the countryside, glowing with a real outdoor enthusiasm. No one who is in contact with this side of life can ignore the fact that here, too, women CARE.
The home, which is women's special preserve, they have always cared about. It is one of the main themes of those dull and dreary books that women always take a personal view, and judge with reference to their own families. Nowadays, in spite of the inevitable personal aspect of home interests, this quick ' new enthusiasm is to be seen in the domestic field. Women have caught hold of labour saving, of electricity, household devices, ideal homes, home dressmaking and all the rest. Healthy babies and intelligent schooling have jumped into prominence in the last few years, and women are more intelligently concerned about the technical side of their own job and about its political and social implications. Housing reform, which is, of course, one of these, has received a tremendous impetus from the passionate feelings of women about it, and the advance of public health starts from the same founda- tion. No one could have imagined, twenty years ago, that the infant death-rate could have been brought down so far ; but it has been &Me by the energy and the caring of. women. • All this, which is an obvious and evident thing in English life today; is of great importance. It is especially valuable now, when depression is so very close behind us, and recovery is so very • precariously in front. It represents a reserve of vitality and enthusiasm which the country needs, and is one of the good signs for the future. The tiresome books often say that women are a " steady factor " in the State. They explain, long- windedly, that women's natural concern with infants, and with the simple elementary needs of food and warmth and shelter, and their instinctive impulse to care for the sick and the old and the helpless, mark them out to be the guardians of tradition and • stability. Often as this has been said, it may be true. But there is certainly something else which is true also at this moment. For the women of England today are the guardians of more than tradition and stability. They are the guardians of hope. In themselves they form a body of new recruits to their country's service, fresh, eager, hopeful. They are inexperienced, indeed, but neither discouraged nor disillusioned. They are putting into English life an element of determination and enthusiasm which is profoundly needed, and which, as each year goes by, seems likely to be turned to better and better account.
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