A place for every girl

Press, 21 February 1987, Page 23

A place for every girl

Every Girl: A Social History of Women and the YWCA in Auckland. By Sandra Coney. Aucklend YWCA. 1988 292 pp. Illustrations. s32.94(paperback). (Reviewed by Maureen Montgomery) This is a book for every girl’s bookshelf. It is ai, delightful book packed with information about members and activities of Auckland’s YWCA from its founding in 1885 to the present. Readers will especially enjoy the photographic record of YWCA events compiled by Sally Hollis McLeod.

Sandra Coney has done a splendid job of piecing together the history of the YWCA from its report books and magazines, in addition to research materials drawn from various associations and institutions, ' newspapers and interviews with . women associated with the YWCA. She offers us two books in one for, alongside a narrative history of the association, there are substantial insets which provide biographical sketches , of remarkable women members such as Mary Geddes, who founded the Hearth Fire Movement, Ellen Melville, founder of the Women’s Club in 1911 and the first woman to sit on Auckland’s City Council, and Elsie Griffin, an energetic secretary during the War years. This volume is two books in one in another sense: not only , is “Every Giri” a history . of the Auckland YWCA, but it is also a history of New Zealand women. The YWCA reflected the changing needs and circumstances of 1 young working women, its main constituency. In 'the late-nineteenth century young women sought paid work between leaving school and getting married. Undertaking paid work was seen as a temporary period in their lives and, with the growth of towns and local manufacturing, many girls from the country flocked to Auckland and other centres to take advantage of better wages offered in factories and shops. In those days working conditions were grim and concern was voiced particularly for the morals of these

young women working side by side with men. The YWCA offered these women a place to eat lunch and spend their leisure time. It also encouraged them to contribute to a Sick and Provident Fund for their own protection. Many readers will associate the YWCA with its role of providing accommodation for young single women and indeed, in the early days of its existence, the YWCA took in boarders, newly arrived from the country or overseas. It saw its role as protecting these vulnerable young women from the white slave trade and from “ruin” and enabling them to take up their place in life as wives and mothers (in accordance with the thinking of the day). In the 1920 s the YWCA recognised that the shortage of men after the War would mean that less women in that generation would have the chance to marry, and altered its focus accordingly by promoting fellowship and preparing women for their civic role outside the home. During the depression years the association helped to find work for the unemployed, but the task was overwhelming. Attempts were made to pressure the Government to pay women unemployment benefit. Concern about promiscuity during World War Two prompted the YWCA to renew its efforts with sex education classes and it was only these classes which, according to Sandra Coney, retained their popularity during the “somnolent years” of the 1950 s and 19605. In more recent years the Auckland YWCA has become involved in community work, "Nearly New” shops, and self-defence classes. The YWCA is a much underrated institution and although, as Sandra Coney reminds us, the visions of the middle-class board members were not always in tune with the realities of a working girl’s life, they performed a wide variety of tasks in broadening the interests and activities of young women and pursuing concerns about their health and welfare in the public arena.