Society News — The Wife of the Argentine Minister Speaks of Mrs. Eva Perón

The wife of the Argentine Minister speaks of Mrs. Eva Perón:

Mrs. Pineiro, wife of the Argentine Minister Plenipotentiary in Beirut, gave a talk on Eva Perón and her women's and social work, to which she invited a company of ladies active in this field. At this moment, when talk of woman and her rights is being stirred up everywhere, Mrs. Hassana Daouk was kind enough to let us see a summary of this talk, which shows the influence of woman upon society.

Mrs. Pineiro said:

It is very much expected that the Buenos Aires seat in the Argentine Senate will be occupied by a woman in the coming electoral session. And for the first time in the country's history, women will occupy several seats in Parliament, after a woman has already held the seat of Minister of Education in one of the provinces of Argentina.

Next month, for the first time, four million women will come forward to vote. In the face of these events Argentina finds herself before a great revolution and upheaval, for six or seven years ago this idea would not have crossed anyone's mind, so far did it seem from reality. It was given to General Perón to surmount these obstacles, and that with the help of his wife, Eva Perón.

From the moment her husband took power she showed her grasp of the idea that was later named Justicialiste. And she was intelligent enough not to set herself up as the power behind her husband, or as his first counselor; she left that to the men of state. She directed her keen attention and her intelligence to the matters that need a woman's heart, namely: poverty, childhood, and old age. And she found solutions for these three problems.

First: she replaced charity with what they call social assistance, assistance sociale — a law upon the rich and a right of the poor.

Second: within a few years she established, in every corner of her country, children's cities where the little ones receive the affection and tenderness they had lacked.

Third: she fought until she won recognition of the rights of old age, and this recognition passed beyond her own country, to become in time an international law. Nor is this all she did; her work for the improvement of the workers' condition was very great indeed.

The important thing in all this is that she showed public opinion that the place woman assumes in public life, in political and social life, and the part she undertakes there, does not oppose or crowd out man's part in it, but completes it — and in this respect no creature can take her place.

The modern social structure is so complex that it compels us to enlist everyone in securing the common good of the nation.

Woman cannot remain far from the field. And so the Argentine woman will vote for the first time, fully certain that participation in public life is no longer a mere experiment, but has become a right and a duty whose benefit accrues to all.