Women becoming more political—council president

Press, 29 January 1986, Page 2

Women becoming more political—council president

PA/ Wellington Twelve or 15 years ago members of the National Council of Women would not have been asking about the Defence Review, said the council’s president, Dame Dorothea Horsman, yesterday. The range of issues the council was now tackling showed how women were becoming more politically conscious, she said. “Twelve or 15 years ago, I don’t think we’d be

asking about the Defence Review. Now women are showing that they are not absolutely happy that men are doing the best thing.” Speaking in Wellington before the council’s first board meeting of the year, Dame Dorothea said the council would this year continue its strong tradition of commitment to peace issues. The council would ask its members for their opinions on everything

from the Bill of Rights to the nuclear weapons-free bill, Lotto and the education system, she said. The council would then make submissions to Parliament on these issues. “Women generally are more conscious than men of the waste of human life. If you have the lads making decisions, look what you get,” said Dame Dorothea. Women were now concerned with a whole range of issues and not just those which could be seen as traditional women’s issues, such as education, she said. Dame Dorothea was created a Dame in the New Year Honours List. She said she was still getting used to the title. “I am one of the people that do not work for money and it is not very often that we get up to the top of the list. The sort of work women do is not always recognised as being of great use.”