Political alliance for women

Press, 13 December 1982, Page 18

Political alliance for women

Women members of the National Party throughout New Zealand can now combine with women of similar political affiliations in the Pacific and Europe to make a strong and united stand for women's issues and against socialism. The national women’s vice-president of the Australian Liberal Party. Mrs Joy Mein, has been in New Zealand attending the inaugural steering committee meeting for the Pacific Union of Women, which was formed in June, in Japan, at the Pacific Democratic Union Conference. Women of similar political affiliation, including Mrs Sue Wood, president . of the National Party, and Mrs Margaret Murray; women's vice-president of the National Party, met Mrs Mein in Wellington last week to form a steering committee. and appointed her coordinator. The Pacific Union of Women will meet next in Hawaii at the same time as the Pacific Democratic Union conference next year. "We can present a strong, united voice, which will be much more significant than one woman in a small town saying what she thinks," Mrs Mein said. “If, for example, the women's division of the National Party has an issue it feels very strongly about, and if the Pacific Union of Women agrees with it, that issue will be raised at an international level at the

United Nations,” she said. "The P.U.W. will have a voice at the United Nations, with its European sister organisation. the European Union of Women." Women in Japan, the. , United States (Republicans). . and Canada also belonged- to the union, and Papua New Guinea had shown interest in it. Mrs Mein said. By combining with the European Union of Women, the two groups would be able to present a strong voice internationally against socialism, the Socialist .J International Party had been . . in- existence for about 30 C years and now, at last, there " was a democratic group to combat it. .. s Because of the consider- ? able expense involved in travel, the members of the Pacific Union would not meet very often, but communication would be kept up through letters. Mrs Mein said that she • believed the Pacific Union would be valuable in bringing such issues to the fore as equality of men and women £ in the work-force, equality ■*' under the law (especially, in ? Japan), technology in industrial relations, education, and family concerns. “The Liberal Party has gone a long way for women in Australia. We felt perhaps we did not need a special section ih our party platform for women. However, the young liberal women, sur- : prisingly, were the ones who voted for it to stay,” Mrs Mein said.