WOMEN IN WORLD AFFAIRS.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20916, 25 July 1933, Page 12

WOMEN IN WORLD AFFAIRS.

THE MORAL ASPECT. INTERNATIONAL PROBLEMS. The particular part being played by the women of all nations in assisting to promote greater international understanding of things material by concentrating on the things of the spirit, was explained by Miss Charlotte Niven, world secretary of the Young Women's Christian Association, in an address given at the Young Men's Christian Association's rooms yesterday. Mr J. L. Hay, president of the association, presided over a large attendance, including members of the Christchureh Rotary Club, who were present by invitation. Miss Niven said the women of the world would perform a lasting service if only they could save the moral aspect of international problems from burial beneath the stifling weight of technicalities and details.

Miss Niven said she had not come to speak of feminism, but of the new habit of co-operation which had grown among women during the last few years. The formation of the League of Nations had given this movement a great impetus, with the result that women's organisations had been enabled to join internationally in all forms of social welfare and humanitarian work. There were many who had hoped that the league would achieve all that was hoped of it in a reasonably short time. But they had learned that the way to enlightenment was not so easy, and that there was still almost as far for them to travel along the road to the ideal as there was when they first set out upon humane endeavours.

The league, however, had not failed utterly, for its machinery was cutting some sew channels and the women of the world were learning how to make use of those channels. It was true that the political work of the league was better known than anything else it did. There was much humanitarian, social, and educational work done, but the political achievements of the last few years had not been remarkable. Thus people were inclined to wonder whether this international organisation at Geneva was functioning as it should. ' Actually, in China and Japan, the league was treated with the utmost contempt. Humanitarian Work. For these and other reasons it was time for the world to pay more attention to the other side of the league's wcrk, not only in defence of what was being done, but also as a means of explaining the endeavours being made for the moral betterment of mankind. Miss Niven said it was her conviction that the nations were readier to reach agreements and sponsor advances on humanitarian questions than on political issues which touched them within their own borders. The first time that women made any real use of the machinery of the league was in 1925, when a commission was appointed to investigate and report upon major questions relating to international morality and moral hygiene. The work of the commission went ahead satisfactorily until the time came to make the searching enquiry necessary into such things as traffic in women in European and South American countries. The first part of the report, which was mainly statistical, was published, but when it came xo the publication of the second part, embodying findings and reeom-

mendations, the nations concerned did all in their power to prevent it from being printed, for it reflected too greatly on them. The women's organisations interested brought pressure to bear, with the result that the report was ultimately made available.

Advice to the Nations,

One of the most remarkable advances in international co-opera-tion was indicated by the way in which individual nations were now prepared to listen to advice around the conference table. The lesson was a hard one to learn, but if the work of the league throughout all its ramifications were to be of any value it could not be avoided. Japan had sat at the council table between October and December of last year listening to some very hard things about herself, which must have hurt the pride of the proudest race on earth. After the enquiry in Europe and South America on moral hygiene, it was decided that a commission should go to the East, a thing which some considered might be unworkable, as it was realised that the problem of collecting information on such delicate questions in countries with such a different moral outlook and mental tradition from the West, would be very real. Tbe Young Women's Christian Association and the Women's Christian Temperance Union were the two strong women's organisations in the East, and their influence proved of great avail. The ! commission of three women, which included a Swedish doctor, returned : to Geneva with much information J and a valuable report. I

Trafficking in opium was another question which interested the women's organisations at Geneva, and also the Young Women's Christian Association, Miss Niven added. But, like other things, the evil principles of this traffic and the ideal to be aimed at were largely lost beneath the flood of detail and technical arguments which always tended to hinder progress.

The Moral Aspect,

For this reason, the women considered that their real purpose was to keep the moral aspects of various questions to the fore in all international work. This was, in fact, the particular contribution they had been attempting to make at the conference for the reduction of armaments, for which women had worked in the greatest co-operative effort in the history of women's organisation. They took no part in the technical discussions, attempted no coercion, or threatened boycotts, but tried to emphasise the moral aspects of the problems being faced by the nations by international publicity, by reminders to governments, and, if necessary, by bringing pressure to bear upon governments to show that the women of all nations were vitally interested in the questions of war and peace.

| Miss Niven said that she was not a pacifist, but no one with a knowledge of the facts could deny that the majority of countries had long since passed the stage in their armaments when defensive interests were the only consideration. Armaments had passed definitely in many instances into the purely aggressive category, to the great expense of the nations concerned. It was the women's part to concentrate on the voce m aggressive armaments and

to bring home to the nations the unnecessary disparity between national expenditure on education, for instance, and engines of war. The task of women in the modern world, so it seemed to most of them, should be mainly educational. A German philosopher had said in a spirit of indictment that women were not fitted to take part in public affairs, for they were too ready to sacrifice the present for the future. But women regarded this more as a compiiment than as a slight. It would be ungracious for her, speaking to an audience of men very much concerned about the future, to say that men generally had not looked far enough ahead. But she could only say so, if she added that this was because men had many things to attend to. Those things which did not concern the immediate present tended to be crowded out.

Looking to the Future.

There was no doubt that someone had to look to the future and that someone had to think about the spiritual side of life, which, after all, was the only thing that mattered in the long run. It would make all the difference to the world of 200 years hence if the right thing, the wise, the generous, and the humane thing, were done by this generation.

Mrs W. Machin. president, of the Young Women's Christian Association, thanked the members of the Rotary Club for attending to listen to Miss Niven. A vote of thanks to Miss Niven was proposed by Mr Denys Hoare, president of the Christehurrh Rotarv Club, and earned by acclamation.

Two Frankton relief workers have arranged to make their home on a Mamaku farm, where they have been offered accommodation in return for part-time labour. They will spend part of their time on relief work and the remainder on the farm. One man has 12 children and the other six. The transport of the two families has been arranged by thro<» relief organisations.