WOMEN AT GENEVA

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 94, 15 January 1936, Page 4

WOMEN AT GENEVA

Secretariat Positions The work of women connected with the League of Nations in Geneva was commented upon by Mrs. Duncan Hall, who arrived in Melbourne recently with her husband, the senior member of the opium and narcotic drugs section of tlie League, work which has kept them for eight years in Geneva. Now Mr. Hall has returned to his tirst political interest—affairs connected with the Dominions, on which he wrote a book some years ago. He is now liaison officer between tlie League Secretariat and tlie Dominions, says a Melbourne writer. Mrs. Hall herself studied political science and economics at Oxford for several years, so that she is well equipped to appreciate the developments of Hie League and Its work in Geneva. “Although women do not play a large part in Hie League machinery, and are employed only in the secretariat, many positions which we would consider of a stenographer’s status are 'tilled by very cultured and highly trained women, who receive large salaries. They all dress beautifully and usually live in flats, where they entertain quite frequently, usually in the form of cocktail parties. Tlie name ‘cocktail’ is rather misleading, as often they are not alcoholic parties. They serve all sorts of fruit drinks, and tomato juice, too, is very popular,” First among the women mentioned by Mrs. Hall was Mlle. Colin, a charming Belgian, who is in charge of the child welfare branch of the social section. She has been associated with the work almost since its inauguration. Another, Dr. Dickson, was described by Mrs. Hall as “making the wheels run easily” in the internal service. Mlle, de Romer, formerly a member of the Polish diplomatic service, has transferred to the opium aiid drug section of the League, in which she is the only woman worker. Princess Radziwill is a delightful Lithuanian woman working on the intellectual co-opera-tion branch, and another well-known woman is Miss Nancy Williams, whose work is witli tlie Appointments Committee. “We are very proud of Hie women workers connected with the League,” Mrs. Hall said. “There are many graduates from Great Britain who' have excellent degrees and are doing very sound work. I'hey command considerably • better salaries than do the girls recruited from Switzerland, although the same applies to the Swiss men, too.”