World Y.W.C.A. Conference Impressions

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29778, 22 March 1962, Page 2

World Y.W.C.A. Conference Impressions

The increasing part being played by the Young Women’s Christian movement in the emancipation of women in Asia was one of the outstanding impressions gained from the recent world Y.W.C.A. conference in Kuala Lumpur, according to Miss Jean Sewell, a Christchurch voluntary youth leader.

One of the two New Zealand delegates who attended this conference on "Work with youth in. Asia,” Miss Sewell was one of 30 delegates and observers from 11 different Asian and Pacific countries. The other countries were Korea, Japan, Burma, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Singapore, Ceylon, Australia and Malaya. The other New Zealand delegate was Miss Doris Irvine, of Wellington.

Held at the University of Malaya, the fortnight conference was the second of two such meetings held under the same auspices. The first, conducted in the Philippines some weeks ago, was held on similar lines. Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of the whole journey had been the valuable contacts made with the various Asian youth leaders, Miss Sewell said yesterday. Although their ways of thinking were so different, all were still fundamentally similar in outlook. Another valuable aspect of the conference had been learning something of the great variation in the functions of the movement in each of the countries represented. In Malaya, for example, Y.W.C.A. work was largely concentrated in educational activities such as shorthand classes for young women. In Thailand the movement was running special nursery schools for children of preschool and primer class age. In Korea, organisation of Y.W.CA.. work was not confined to women. Many men took part in the various leadership tasks. In many of these countries the movement’s work was so concentrated in essential activities that there was little room left for varied club activities as practised in New Zealand. Problems met by the movement in most of these

countries were largely concerned with the difficulty in making contact with the I lesser-educated social groups,! Miss Sewell said. In many cases, the lack of a unified) language was an immediate! barrier to any further advancement. Training Classes On the positive side, however, there was no doubt that the development of instructional classes in cooking, homecraft, and other domestic accomplishments in some Asian countries by the Y.W.CA. was having an effect on the gradual emancipation of women there, Miss Sewell said. Husbands there were slowly coming to realise the advantages of such courses and were coming to allow their hitherto subjugated wives to attend, she said. All these points of discussion had served as a valuable experience which had undoubtedly given a broader vision to the whole question of Y.W.C.A. work, Miss Sewell said. After attending the conference, Miss Sewell sipent several weeks in Thailand, Burma, and India where she was able to observe various aspects of Y.W.CA work in some of the principal cities.