ROLE OF WOMEN IN DOMINION HOUSING

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28529, 7 March 1958, Page 2

ROLE OF WOMEN IN DOMINION HOUSING

The extent of women’s part in’ housing in the Dominion from the-, pioneer days of the cob cottage,; with its outside water well, to the present era of the carefully-! planned, comfortable home with; all modern conveniences, was outlined by Miss Mary McLean in a report on women’s role in housing in New • Zealand to the Christchurch Area Group of the PanI Pacific and South-east Asian Women’s Association, last evening. Miss McLean, who is the New Zealand representative on the International Council of Women’s standing committee on housing land the National Council of 'Women’s representative of the 'New Zealand State Housing Council, said that in future women’s (work in housing would be the | elimination of the few sub-stand-I ard areas and their replacement with homes of a high standard. The New Zealand woman regarded the home, which houses a family unit as' the most valuable and sacred adjunct of the Christian civilisation, Miss McLean said. The National Council of Women, through its affiliation of nationally - organised women’s groups, took housing as one of its most urgent problems of study. Approaches “This organisation has not demanded' revolutionary legislation ■from the Government but has | worked for additions apd amendi merits to existing legislation

through quiet approaches to members of Parliament, to special departments and to Ministers of the Crown,’’ _ she said. “Past and present Dominion presidents have been active in this respect. So helpful have they been that the Government State Housing Committee has consented to have a woman member, representing the National Council of Women on its executive.” More than 30 years ago the Christchurch branch of the National Council of Women gave strong support to the Christchurch City Council’s effort to establish the first cottages for pensioners’ scheme in New Zealandscheme had since been copied by municipalities An the other mam centres, she said. Through its branches the National Council of Women, had supported the Government in its endeavour to get young men to take up apprenticeships in the building trade, thereby reducing the employment of unskilled

labour, said Miss McLean. All women in New’ ’ Zealand were concerned about the housing conditions in old and depressed town areas, she said. y Several branches of the women’s council had* supported the municipalities in these areas in their application to the State Housing De-

i• partment for alternative accom\modation to be made available , i for people whose homes had been condemned as unfit to live .! in. This has already been granted i to some extent in Auckland and - Wellington. where depressed l areas were being reclaimed. r Aware that low rental houses . were those which, in time, became . slum areas, women were urging r that rents be fixed on an econo- . mic basis at an amount sufficient to cover maintenance, thereby , preventing the property from dej terioration, and that the landlord ' and tenant had equal rights to , terminate the tenancy. f More Rental Houses s ‘’Reforms such as these would - result in more rental houses bes coming available for people who a are unable to purchase their own - homes, Miss McLean said. t Discussing planning, Miss McLean said that each metropoli- - tan area had a town planning a executive board and at least one e of these was under the guidance e of an experienced woman architect jand metropolitan town planner. All the four main centres t in New Zealand had its own j regional planning committee, on s which women were included. s “Although our housing problems are statistically small, our women’s organisations consider that in a young country such as New Zealand, they should be n tackled now, rather than when >s they have grown to unmanagel- able proportions,” said Mrs Gern trude Cree, convener of the hous-

ing sub-committee of the Christchurch branch of the National Council of Women. “In Parliament, on local bodies, in Church societies and women’s organisations our women are pressing for urgency in solving such problems as we have,” she said. Mrs Cree discussed slum development, the need for economic rents,- for cheaper houses for young families, and for homes for the aged. Maori housing w T as discussed by Mrs T. Moss, president of the Christchurch branch of the Maori Women’s Welfare League: Maori women in -the Dominion had contributed a great deal towards the formulation of the Maori housing policy, through the Maori Women’s Welfare League, Mrs Moss said.