Welsh Journals

WOMAN'S OPPORTUNITY WOMAN is to-day face to face with her greatest opportunity. The heavy burdens and responsi- bilities of War she bore with courage and skill the pro- blems of peace and reconstruction will make even greater demands on her fortitude and resource. Housing, health, education, the provision of a better standard of life for those who grind and toil for the production of the country's wealth-all these problems must have the woman's hand to help in their shaping. Her great opportunity lies in the fact that for the first time she has political expression. She is not bound by the shibboleths of old party distinc- tions, empty enough in 1914, but sheer dry husks now. Unlike her men folk she is not tied to the chariot wheels of any one party she is free to support the measures which are in the highest interests of the community, whichever political group may have sponsored such measures. This is true of woman throughout the kingdom, but it has a special significance for us in Wales. Wales has been for so many years the battle-ground of conflicting political groups, all of which claim to act in the interest of Wales Conservative and Liberal for 50 years fought over the question of religious equality. They still fight each other, tradition exacts it of them. Both are suspicious of the Labour forces, and Labour is even more suspicious of them. Nationalism in this tug-of-war is in danger of being torn to shreds. These heterogeneous elements prevent the present Welsh Party from being anything but a species of Debating Society, since the members are tied by the separate parties, from whose platform they stepped into Parliament. A real Welsh Party, with a policy based on Welsh nationalism, a policy that would make Welsh national needs its first and foremost consideration, irrespective of the tenets of any existing political party a policy that would co-incide with that of the Labour Party if it answered to the requirements of Wales, with that of the Liberal or of the Conservative Party if the interests of Wales so demanded, that is the only thing that will save Wales from being torn as\nd*r by the ever increasing factions which seek to govern it. Our men-folk, partially blinded by the prejudices of past bitter struggles often fail to see all the issues. Na- tionalism for many of them has lost its meaning they confuse it with Chauvinism. In their yearning for a broader international conception-that of the brotherhood of man-they forget that the basis of internationalism must be sound nationalism. The highest ideal of world brotherhood should have its roots in real love for one's own country, pride in its tradi- tions, faith in its destiny. By Gwladys Perrie Williams. There are welcome signs, particularly among the young Welshmen of to-day, of dissatisfaction with the various policies which fight for the cloak of Welsh nationalism. Groups of these young Welshmen have pledged them- selves to the furtherance of the true interests of Wales, to the preservation of their language and native culture. However well they plan their movement is foredoomed to failure unless the women of Wales are ready to act as flame-bearers of Welsh traditions. Their power in the State is a force to be reckoned with, for they form more than half the electorate. Our women have proved themselves, during four and a half trying years, in every way qualified for admission to full citizenship. Let them use their newly acquired political power to weld together a United Wales, to obtain for her that recognition of national entity, without which her full development is impossible. Administrative work is no new thing to the Welsh woman, nor is she unaccustomed to handling a vote. Nonconformity has given her all the opportunities, on a smaller scale, which a benevolent State at last bestows on her. She is perfectly ripe for political organisation. It is the hour of her great opportunity. What will she do ? Will she put Wales first, or will she subordinate it to the considerations of one of the political parties which have our men in their grip ? On her answer depends the political future of Wales. The influence of woman is infinitely deeper and more far-reaching than when reckoned in terms of voting-strength. There is a power which can strike at the very root of all movements, and that power is in the hands of the mother. Men may plan and evolve ambitious schemes for the national development of Wales, but the ideals of the future are in the mother's keeping. Hers is the supreme power, the power that no political organisation in itself can equal. The measure of her power is the measure of her responsi- bility, for the Wales of to-morrow depends on the mothers of to-day. There are still, alas, homes where children are brought up to regard their v.tive language as something inferior, and their race inheritance as something to be carefully hidden ur„der an artificial crust of English veneer. The need for a national atmosphere in the home was never greater, for no programme of national development can hope for any but ephemera! success unless its founda- tions are securely laid in the home. The future definition of the term Wales depends on the attitude of Welsh women of to-day. In the darkest hours of the history of the race, the women never faltered, never failed. What will they do now?