Women publish their own report

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33445, 29 January 1974, Page 5

Women publish their own report

The organisers of the United Women’s Convention, held at Auckland in September, were disappointed about the coverage given by the news media and so have published an 80-page booklet themselves.

“United Women’s Convention, 1973 Report” should be read by every woman interested in bringing about full equality of opportunity. It is a record worth keeping of how far New Zealand women have come since they got the vote in 1893, and of advice on how to meet challenges and changes in the

future. The convention was held to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of women’s suffrage and aimed to raise the status of women in New Zealand. The programme of speeches, workshops, discussions, findings, and recommendations included such topics as the roles of modern women, ways of helping women cope with their changing roles, and co-operation among women’s groups and among individual women.

The two-day seminar was also an attempt to correct the impression that New Zealand women, in general, tend to have a distorted view of modern feminism, to raise the self-confidence of women, and to increase the numbers of women willing to work on behalf of women’s issues, says an introduction to the booklet. Two prominent overseas speakers addressed the conference —- Katharine Whitehorn, joint editor of the “Observer,” London, and an authoritative writer on the position of women in the Western world; and Elizabeth Reid, special adviser on women’s affairs to the Prime Minister of Australia (Mr Gough Whitlam). Some of New Zealand’s most articulate and energetic promoters of social, political, and economic equality with men discussed various aspects of these issues. Among these, Mira Szaszy,

i Dominion president of the [Maori Women’s Welfare League and a part-time lecturer at the Auckland Secondary Teachers’ College, gave a paper on Maori women in “pakeha” society. Phillida Bunkie, who teaches American history at Victoria University, called her address “The women’s movement in historical perspective.” Marcia Russell, editor of “Thursday,” talked about “Women: the community and social .change,”

Family and communal living was the subject discussed by Marian Logeman, a member of the Education Development Conference working party on the aims of education in New Zealand. She lives at Chippenham commune with her husband and their children.

All the addresses are reported fully in the booklet. They are well researched, informative, and make sound reading. Reference to disappointing news media coverage of the conference is summed up thus: “Perhaps the lesson to be learned from all this is that if women want their activities and endeavours to be reported fairly and seriously, they must do it themselves, in their own way.” Perhaps, also, the women themselves should have sent out fuller and more stimulating information about the convention to arouse more interest in advance. The United Women’s Convention and the publication of the booklet were sponsored by the Auckland Workers’ Educational Association. Copies of the booklet, which is well illustrated with photographs, may be obtained from Rosemary Ronald, 48 St Andrews Road, Auckland 3. The price is $1.50.