VOTING POWER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 207, 2 September 1936, Page 14

VOTING POWER.

SHOULD WOMEN HAVE IT?

"Should Worn en Have a Vote?" was the subject of an enlightening and sympathetic address given by Miss Elsie Bennett, general secretary of the Y.W.C.A., Auckland, at the Business Girls' luncheon held in the Milne and Choyce reception hall yesterday. The majority of women, said Miss Bennett, were not primarily interested in the good of the community as a whole. As women they were inclined to be somewhat selfish in their actions and thought in more or less a personal way of that section of the community which concerned themselves. The reason why they should extend their interests and be informed on matters such as economics, civic legislation, peace and war, was that in their role as wives and mothers, these conditions affected the young lives women produc6d. The point of view of a man, on the other hand, was more impersonal and no man could adequately represent all that women required to have said in Parliament. If the vote meant to women in New Zealand what it meant to the women in England, there would be a profit deal of difference in the state of things to-day, said the speaker.

"How many women in this room today could even stand up and give a five minutes' talk 011 the present legislation ?" asked Miss Bennett, in suggesting that it was women's duty to inform themselves on vital affairs. The women abroad were studying subjects that were more or less foreign to the understanding of women here, and they were also using their knowledge to make conditions better for the young lives in their country. In'' New Zealand women said that they had . the vote out of equality, but, Miss Bennett suggested, equality also meant an equal understanding of problems and the ability to use the power to have a voice in the country's management. The speaker was introduced to the gathering, which was a large one, by Mr. R. Milne, who presided'.