662 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTIOX J. 



physical was moral health, and there was no reason why girls 

 shoulji not be taught ethics as well as boys. She strongly protested 

 against the prevalent idea that girls had no use for the higher 

 branches of education, and the arguments often put forward that 

 all that was wanted was that they should carry out household duties. 

 Statistics showed that 20 per cent, of the women of the world did 

 not marry, and it was a rank injustice that they should be cramped 

 within such narrow limits of education on the chance of their 

 getting married. The difficulties of teaching were grea'er with 

 girls than with boys, for by the nature of their sex the}^ lived more 

 in a groove, and the long use, custom, and necessity which forced 

 women to live chiefly within doors had narrowed their views to a 

 certain extent. With regard to woman's work and position in the 

 present day, there was no doubt that there had been a steady for- 

 ward movement in all civilised countries in the direction of woman's 

 emancipation. Women were beginning to find " that the hinges 

 of custom were not always the hmges of reason." When that 

 emancipation had come every woman would have her lawful work 

 to do, but during the reaction there would unfortunately be certain 

 to arise that class of women who, having thrown off conventionalism 

 and men's absolute authority, would plunge violently into the 

 opposite extremes, thereby jarring against all that was refined 

 and delicate in true woman. However, given equal training, history 

 itself proved that women were quite as capable of work as men 

 were. The emancipation of women M'ould have to be founded on 

 economic principles. If every woman, no matter what her rank, 

 were trained to some business or profession by which she could 

 sustain herself if necessary the days would soon be over when girls 

 would look forward to marriage as the great aim and object of 

 their existence, or, as was so often the case, as a means of liveli- 

 hood. 



The granting of suffrage to women was only a matter of time, 

 and they would have to make the strongest point of educating 

 their girls in a manner to fit them to influence for good those who 

 would fight out those fights and reap the benefit of the present 

 struggle towards the emancipation of woman. The plan of co- 

 education of girls and boys had been adopted in. America, and 

 had answered well ; it seemed to be a natural system, and there- 

 fore a good one. The special difficulties in the training of 

 Australian girls were that they showed a want of reverence and 

 veneration, a certain defiance of authority, and a growing tendency 

 to criticise the methods and skill of their teachers. '1 he present 

 age also demanded quick results in education instead of that 

 "infinite capacity for taking pains" and that " humiliating exact- 

 ness," without which no really great work had ever been achieved. 

 The extraordinary accent which distinguished the speech of young- 

 Australians threatened to become as objectionable as that of the 

 Americans, and great effort should be made by teachers to make 



