WOMEN IN THE PAST YEAR

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 84, 7 January 1928, Page 16

WOMEN IN THE PAST YEAR

GREATER PROGRESS OVERSEA

The year which has just passed was barren of legislation, especially for women in New Zealand, and very little was done in England, with the exception of a Legitimacy Bill, which has brought England into line with Scotland in that much vexed cpiestion Tn England Miss Margaret Bondfield regained her place in Parliament, and Lady Iveagh has taken her husband’s seat, but this has meant no advance in the number of women M.P.’s. New Zealand has a few more women J.P ’s, but this means very little, as, except in the case of the Children’s Courts, they do not sit on the Bench. No women police, no women jurors, and no women M.P.’s can we lay claim to. It is to other countries, and more especially to the Eastern European countries, that the past year has brought progress to women Mustapha Kemal’s Ministry has instituted dress reform for Turkish women, women’s progress clubs, and compulsory education for girls. A woman has been made head of the Bureau of Hygiene in Turkey. Tn Persia a woman, Zorali Khanoum Herderv, is a member of the new Ministry. Finland has appointed a woman member of Cabinet, and two women councillors were elected in Bucharest. Tn China a resolution of the Canton Council of Reform admits women to all advantages, political, economic, and educational, although it is, perhaps, hard to say whether this means anything in the chaotic state of the country. Tn India efforts are being made to better the female illiteracy of the country, while in “Mother India” Miss Kathleen Mayo has produced a scathing indictment of Hindu institutions, which should stir its women to action to see to the betterment of the conditions. The Indian women themselves are moving, and in

'the past year there have been formed a number of councils of women, conducted entirely by the Indians. In England a woman Lord Mayor was elected at Liverpool, and Mrs. Foster Welch, through her election to the Mayoralty of Southampton, becomes exofficio Admiral ol that port. In New Zealand Mrs. E. R. McCombs won a seat on the Christchurch Tramway Board, and was the first woman to do so. In Wellington, the Elucational Institute elected a woman as its president for the first time. AuckInad gained a second lady city councillor in Miss Basten. Australia continues to include a woman in its delegation to the League of Nations, but New Zealand still holds back.

In England several women have now been included, one being Dame Edith Lyttleton for the second time. A woman was ordained to the ministry in South Australia and in Scotland Miss Frances Melville, of Queen Margaret College, Glasgow, received a divinity degree from Glsagow University (the first woman to do so). The Presbyterian.. Assembly in New Zealand during last year confirmed the principle of their having women elders, and the measure will go before individual presbyteries this year, when very likely it will be agreed upon. We are not so far from women being ordained, and nerhaps the coming visit of Miss Maude Royden, who for years has conducted services in London and preached to thousands, will give an incentive to those who press for this reform in the Church.

In November a great International Peace Conference of Women was held in Amsterdam. No report of this has reached New Zealand yet. but it will doubtless provide something for the women to work at in the present year towards world peace.