RAISING STATUS OF WOMEN

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26639, 26 January 1952, Page 2

RAISING STATUS OF WOMEN

Illiteracy “Greatest

Hindrance”

EVALUATION OF WORK OF PACIFIC CONFERENCE

lhe conference had disclosed that the greatest hindrance to raising the status of women was illiteracy among the Asian countries and apathy among the Western countries, said Mrs F. Balboa (Philippines) yesterday in an evaluation of the work done during the last fortnight by the sixth conference of the Pan-Pacific Women’s Association. Mrs Balboa suggested that an intense campaign for literacy should be launched in backward countries and that all possible media should be used to that end.

Women should join political groups in sufficient strength to give them a voice in shaping the policy of their government, they should study such measures as the Colombo Plan and the South Pacific Commission, and approach sympathetically the whole problem of peoples in need of help, said Mrs Balboa.

Women should take special responsibility in the matter of labour relations, because it was the women who were most affected in the event ol disruption, said Mrs Balboa. They should agitate for better conditions for people on farms. The Pan-Pacific Women s Association should help Cambodia and other undeveloped areas in their efforts to get help from the United Nations or any of its agencies. They should press for equal standards of education for boys and girls. The association should use its influence in determining the type of audio-visual education and see that proper censorship was wisely exercised. Mn Balboa also suggested that all delegates from member countries be urged to come to conferences well prepared for discussions, that member countries should send an evaluation ol the progress of their work and an account of their problems and difficulties once in six months to the association’s council, which could probably help with advice on ways of solving them. Member countries could send surplus material to illiterate countries like her own. She added that in her country, they had an international garden where they planted trees and plants sent to them from other countries in exchange for trees from her land. This tended to promote friendship amongst nations. Tolerance and Understanding Miss M. I. Lambie (New Zealand delegate) said the success of the conference was due, she considered, to the fact that every delegate was desirous of giving her service for women, not on|y in her own country but in all countries, because of their interdependence. She was impressed by the tolerance and understanding of the delegates, and she felt that the addresses from representatives of the less favoured countries would increase the tolerance and sympathetic understanding of all who had heard them To acquire real tolerance and understanding required not only education but an open mind and a warm heart “We have been inspired during the last two weeks by many fine addresses with different points of view,” said Miss Lambie. “Now comes the future and the next three years until we meet again. What are we going tc do—go away saying: ‘What a wonderful conference?’ and become absorbed in our daily lives, or try to carry the inspiration we have received into out daily lives and the communities we live in?” To achieve this end, which she knew all wished to do, she suggested thai every woman must begin with hersell as an individual. She should be as knowledgeable as she could about the many problems confronting her, and the many agencies that might be employed to help her. “But that is not all,” Miss Lambie continued, “We may be knowledgeable but Selfish. Thailand referred to that wise proverb ‘We must give to receive.’ This demands that we be prepared to give of ourselves in the service of our fellow women. From such a beginning the effect will be like the dropping of the stone in the pool. The ripple goes on and on affecting not only the lives of those we come in contact with in our own community, but through-them the lives in other countries.

More Free Time Suggested “We have established at this conference the right atmosphere in which to exchange confidences.” said Mrs Willowdean Handy, of Hawaii. “We have trusted one another, we have worshipped together, we have realised that women are women wherever they come from." She suggested that at future conferences as many delegates as possible should live together in hostels, that there should be less entertaining and more free time for, she said, there was much value in a pause, and in quiet ideas took root. The conference had established friendships and had promoted co-operation amongst women of different nations. Individual delegates were not waiting for funds to help the poorer nations, they would exchange information and literature and give help until a plan commensurate with the needs of the problem of the undeveloped natiohs was established. Mrs Handy commended the plan of having experts from outside the conference as well as experts amongst the delegates to give addresses at the conference, and suggested that to maintain the high standard, delegates should begin to prepare for their addresses a year ahead. It was important, she considered, that women should realise that the order of life had changed and they should prepare their minds to meet this change. They should read news from more than one source, they should impress upon their Governments the need for economic and social progress, with the knowledge that they were backed at every turn by the United Nations, they should not fail to answer any questionnaire sent by the United Nations, and they should all become subscribers to the United Nations’ bulletins. “We all know that we must discipline ourselves, and that, the effort of each individual in this troublous world must be a total effort.’* she concluded. Other speakers were Miss Joan Rattray (New Zealand), Miss Sala Malietoa (Samoa), and Miss Y. S. Law (Singapore). Miss Rattray strongly urged women to fit themselves for public life by gaining factual knowledge of local and national politics. She considered that women should do their part on school committees, that more women should serve on juries and that they should prepare themselves for being useful and forceful representatives by gaining a knowledge of their own countries. Miss Law. who recently gained her dioloma of social science at Victoria University College, said she was going back to her own country where there were malnutrition, poverty •nd slums, and she hoped to be able to put into practice much that she had learnt at the conference. She thanked the officials for allowing her to attend the conference and "pick the brains" of the delegates, and expressed aopreciation of the hosoitality and friend* ship shown her while she was in New Zealand.

“We are of many different colours but we are one at heart'.” said Miss Malietoa. She said she was pleased to be a link in the chain of friendship formed at the conference. She had learnt how the women of other countries worked for the education and health of their people and she would try to develop the women of her country and help them to progress. Deetien of Officers The following officers of the association ware elected yesterday: president, Miss J. Schain (United States); first viee-nresident. Miss Amy Kane <N®w Zealand); second vice-president, Morelock (Hawaii); other vice-president*. Mrs F. S. Balboa

(Philippine Islands), Dr. S. Kan (Japan), Senator A. Robertson (Australia), Mrs R. Saran (India); secretary, Miss Ellen B. Lea (New Zealand); treasurer, Miss K. Moore (New Zealand). It was decided that the next conference would be held in the Philippines. Speaking in warm appreciation of the work done by the Christchurch Ideality committee and of the locality committees in the other main centres. Miss Kane, chairman of the New Zealand national committee, said yesterday that she was proud of the widespread interest taken in the conference in all parts of the Dominion and grateful for the splendid financial support her committee had received. She said that the Government had undertaken to subsidise money raised by the national and locality committees. An appeal had been made to all affiliated bodies and Miss Kane said the spontaneous response had been most heartening. Much of the money had been received in small sums. Individual women and members of small groups who had no hope of attending the conference had sent donations and a considerable amount had been contributed in sums of ss. This, she thought, was proof of the fact that the association had the confidence and goodwill of a great number of women in New Zealand. In the closing stages of the conference yesterday, Mrs Arthur L. Andrews, leader of the Hawaiian delegation, presented gifts to Miss Schain, Miss Kane, Miss Lea and Miss M. Seaton (chairman of the association’s programme committee). All received orders for books and in addition Miss Schain was presented with a eopy of Sir Peter Buck’s book “The Coming of the Maori.” Last evening an impromptu Maori concert was held at the Training College Hall Many delegates returned to their homes late yesterday and a large party will leave this morning for a tour of the West Coast.

Miss Josephine Schain (New York) will spend some days with friends in Canterbury before visiting Dunedin and Queenstown. She will make a tour of the Dominion in the next few weeks and will leave Auckland at the end of February to visit Fiji and Honolulu before her return to the United States. Miss A. Kane and Mrs E. McNaughton, who like Miss Schain have been attending the Pan-Pacific conference, will go north on Monday. Mrs Grace (Honolulu), another delegate, will remain in Christchurch till the end of next week.