Altrusa head visits Chch

Press, 1 April 1980, Page 19

Altrusa head visits Chch

The Altrusan president !s not the creation of some sciencefiction writer. She is a quietly spoken greatgrandmother from Carlsbad. New Mexico. - Mrs Jen Hanson is world president of . Altrusa, an r ' international women’s service organisation. The women in its exclusive “professional and executive” membership call themselves Altrusans. Mrs Hanson was in Christchurch last weekend to meet members of the 17 local clubs. On Saturday she presented a charter to the 40 Altrusans of a new Greymouth club.' She said the organisation had 30,000 members world-wide and 860 in New Zealand. Tn the 67 years since it had started it retained its rules and aims in spite of the growth of women’s liberation and egalitarianism. .. : Membership was by invitation only. and was restricted to .women in business, executive and professional jobs. •' In that way Altrusa

gained the benefit in its work of the' “top people and the most knowledgeable people.” Altrusa had been formed by working! women in ■Nashville, Tennessee, who had decided to band together in a-club “because they could do more that way. than as'individuals.” The name had been derived from the word altruism, which meant “putting the welfare of others before vourself.” .• To this end Altrusa tlubs had adopted a motto for the next two years: “Rise to Human Needs.” This meant helping “children, the elderly,, wayward girls, battered wives, and anyone in real need in your community and throughout the world.” . A campaign against i!!it-» eracv was part of this programme. “We send books to India, where there are more illiterate people than anywhere in the world;” said Mrs Hanson. Altrusa was intended to work for the “betterment” of women but not to become involved jn politics. Women should have to work fo' , what they received, not be given special treatment simply because they were women. “Women should get equal pay if they produce the same-amount for the firm- or work as hard as men,” said Mrs Hanson. The Altrusa motto was reflected in the “Sun Face Kachina” pendant she wore. This was of North American Indian design and meant “the giver of life and ail things good.’ Mrs Hanson • and her husband, • Roy, manged an electrical contracting firm for 31 years, before retiring two years ago. '