MRS. KITSON CLARK'S PAPER 103 



THE WORK, OF VOLUNTARY HEALTH 

 SOCIETIES IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



BY MRS. KITSON CLARK. 



President of the Leeds Babies Welcomes A ssociation. 



THE Association of Infant Consultations and 

 Schools for Mothers (a department of the National 

 League for Physical Education and Improvement) has 

 just published a detailed report on the work of these 

 societies, 1 and experts at this Congress will measure 

 their scientific value. It only remains for me, a 

 woman and an amateur, to enlarge upon their 

 voluntary aspect, and especially on women's part in it. 



Amateur women are out of fashion ; the Early 

 Victorian elaborately useless lady was discredited by 

 a better educated generation, who recognized that a 

 lady could remain a lady although she trained for a 

 profession. At first the preparation was regarded as 

 an unfortunate necessity ; the ideal lady's education 

 covered too much ground to enable her to excel in 

 any one branch. But now every girl, rich or poor, 

 specializes, and will not practise an occupation in 

 which she is not expert. 



Duties are parcelled among experts and soon 

 social, domestic and parental amateurs will no longer 

 bungle over the care of their children, the ordering of 

 their homes, the entertaining of their guests ; and 

 each recreation will be practised by its own pro- 

 fessionals. Specialists can direct in nursing homes 

 the bodily functions of women weary with piecing the 

 patchwork of other people's effort, which they call 

 their lives ; but how will such women learn to deal with 



1 " Infant Welfare Centres : The Work of Infant Consulta- 

 tions, Schools for Mothers, and similar Institutions." By I. G. 

 Gibbon, D.Sc. National League for Physical Education and 

 Improvement, 4, Tavistock Square, London, W.C. Price 6d. 

 net, post free 7d. 



