WOMEN IN COUNCIL

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 148, 27 June 1929, Page 7

WOMEN IN COUNCIL

WORLD GATHERING

PROBLEMS OF HUMANITY

NOTABLE PEKSONAGES

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

LONDON, 3rd May

, Some 200 delegates representing 40 countries are at present attending the Quinquennial Conference of the International Council o£ Women. This is the first general meeting of the council to be held in London for thirty years.

The International Council of Women was formed in 1888, and represents to-day some 40,000,000 women in all parts of the world. Members of all women's organisations in New Zealand affiliated to the National Council of Women of New Zealand automatically become members . of the International Council of Women, and members of such bodies as the Girls' Friendly Society, the Y.W.C.A., Mothers' Union, and Women Teachers' Association are allowed to attend the meetings here. Lady Guason, of Auckland, who was elected by the New- Zealand National Council of Women to represent the Dominion at the conference has circularised Aew Zealanders in London, and done all she can to obtain a good New Zealand representation with some success. Not only are meetings being held in private, but there have already been several public meetings. First of all, however, the council entertained. a number of Press representatives at a dinner at the Lyceum Club, the Marchioness of Aberdeen and Teinair (president), being in the chair. Several members of the council addressed the guests and explained the power and purpose of their movement. A particularly interesting speech was that of Princess Alexandrine Cantacuzene, of Rumania, who is the centre and mspirer of the women's movement in her country. She spoke in French. Another lady who spoke in French was a Senator of Czecho-Slovakia.

Mr- Baldwin, who was accompanied by Mrs. Baldwin, welcomed the delegates on Monday evening at the Westminster Congregational Church. Alderman and Sheriff Sir William Waterlow extended to the delegates a welcome to London on behalf of the Lord Mayor, who was unable to attend owing to a previous engagement; and Mr. Ernest Sanger, vice-chairman of the London County Council, welcomed the. delegates on behalf of that council. Lady Emmett, in introducing Mr. Baldwin, said that they now had 80 branches and 150 international organised .societies affiliated. . -„.'. MR. BALDWIN'S SPEECH. Mr. Baldwin; who was received with loud cheers, and whose speech was broadcast, said he was one of those, and possibly certain political activities of his had made that clear, who had a great respect for women. What they all looked for from women politically and internationally was what every decent man looked for from his wife, and- that was a clear, cold criticism, of common-sense tempered by heart. It was a great mistake to think that women were more emotional than men. There was a phrase often used in rather a derogatory sense that a certain person was "an old woman," but most of the old women he had known had been men. He welcomed them there, he welcomed.their work, arid he could not do better, he thought, for the few minutes allotted to him, than to say a word or two about a few of their principal activities. They were interested in so many things that time would, fail him were he to attempt to speak of them all.

First of all, with regard to women's labour. . There was a great deal that women could dp in investigating conditions of labour—not only conditions of organised labour in factories, but, what was much more difficult to get at, the conditions of labour done in the home. They could do a great deal to raise public opinion in different. countries, and Jrb help them towards that goal which many of them had in view—namely, the raising of the conditions of labour of women as well

as of men by international arrangements. International arrangements were very little better than national arrangements unless they were backed by strong public opinion. It was that public opinion that they could help. He was very interested to notice that among their subjects they had put down the cinema. He thought the eyes of Westerners had been singularly blinded with regard to the power of the.cinema. There were few subjects, in his opinion, on which a sound public opinion was more necessary. He did not himself belong to that noble army who were designated as the "Kill-joys." He did not expect that cinema exhibitions should be in all* respects of a kind that would appeal to him or to some others. . That was not necessary. What he wanted to say was this: there were a great many films at large in the world—and he was not going into detail—which were a gross travesty of our Western civilisation, and the'display of these films at large throughout the world constituted, to his mind, one of the greatest dangers to which our Western civilisation to-day. was subject. He suggested that matter as one worthy of the most serious consideration at the last Imperial Conference. Whether it would be his duty or that of another, he | hoped that at the next Imperial Conference the same matter would be considered. The whole influence of the Western races in the tropical dependencies of the Empire depended on the respect in which those races were teld. (Cheers.) Jtf it tvere gradually instilled into" the^mmds of those more backward in many ways than ours that our civilisation was a veneer and a sham, not only did we lose all power of influencing and raising in the human scale those races, but we might imperil the very stability of the conditions in those lands which rendered it possible for our men and our women to live at peace in that small minority of white people that existed there.

CHILD WELFARE,

Child welfare was a subject in which they took great interest." There was no question at the present moment which was of greater interest to Mm, and that he thought was more interesting to every one who tried to get a move on in this world. It was a remarkable thing, not only the improvement which had taken place with regard to the mortality and the health of young children since the time, for instance," when he was born, but that even sincel the war immense progress had been made. But we were only starting, and we wanted both, in regard to that and in regard to maternity the force of public opinion that would compel the country to pay attention to those problems, and would compel Parliament, whatever-party was in power, 'to pay attention to those matters, and to dp what might and could be done by the Government .to help the people themselves. That was a universal problem. It did not only affect Great Britain. We had long laid the flattering unction to our souls that we led the world in these things. We occupied a highly honourable place, but we did not lead the world in every direction. Some countries had got ahead of us •in some ■ questions connected with maternity, and we wanted to confer together to create not only a British but a European, arid not only a" European, but a world " public opinion so that we might carry all before us. " That could be done. That was the kind of work in which they could render incalculable service to the people of their, own country. There was one question which perhaps concerned this country more than many others, and that was the question of emigration, in which he was told they took a : great interest. That was very largely a woman's question to-day. The need .of women immigrants into many parts of our Dominions was great for the sake of the future of those Dominions. We knew at home that owing to the war there would be many better chances for -women making happy homes overseas than they could hope to make in the nest few years in the Old Country- There was a great chance for the help' that women could give., their sisters. They could find out facts, they "could advise, they could help.' The scope-for their work was unlimited; ; „: PEACE OF THE WORLD. x .Princess •■ Radzi will, representing the League of Nations, "said she conveyed'the greetings of. Sir Erie Drummond, the Sec-retary-General of the League. - The programme which the International Council were preparing for the quinquennial meet-

ing at Vienna next^year was sufficient to show how closely interwoven was it« work with that of the League. The International Council did not limit itself to following and co-operating with and supporting the work of the League Committees; they had inscribed on their banner in large letters the chief aim of the League —"Peace."

Lady Aberdeen, the president, expressing thanks to Mr. Baldwin for his presence, said that the delegates assembled represented the great progressive movements of the world. They belonged to all races, all languages, all religious faiths, all. social classes. They had individually and collectively pledged themselves to work m unity of thought, sympathy, and purpose for the good of humanity by supporting the causes of peace, equality of citizenship, equality of opportunity for every child that came into the world to develop to the full its physical, mental and spiritual gifts with the object of nttmg it for the fullest possible service to its day and generation, and by championing all forces that made fo"r what was true, just, lovely, and of good report, letting all their work be permeated by the spirit of the golden rule. The Prune Minister by extendir.e the right hand 01 fellowship to them thereby told them that the British nation and commonwealth of nations welcomed and stood by the ideals pursued by that company of women of all nations—ideals which if attained, would transform the world. That pledge meant much, and they would endeavour to be worthy of it and of the confidence which was . also manifested in £ m by th<: Lea Sue of Nations. (Cheers.) The presidents and representatives o£ the various national councils of women attending the conference were afterwards introduced by Lady Aberdeen, and-a number of them addressed the meeting Lady White spoke for China, Lady Forste'r for Australia, and Lady Tata for India Representatives of Lithuania, Poland, L-zec'no-blovakia, Hungary, Nprway, Greece Rumania, and the United • States alsa spoke, either in French or English of the, work in their respective countries, lne representative for Germany gave a very fine speech in her own language At a public meeting at the Central Hal!, Westminster, on Tuesday night, Princess Alexandrine Cantacuzene gave an address on Home Arts in Rumania"; Professor Patrick Abercrombie (University of Liverpool) spoke on "Our Responsibility in tlic Uare ot the Countryside"; and Professor Alfred Zimmern (Deputy-Director of the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation, League of Nations) on "Learning and Leadership." Other public meetings were held yesterday afternoon and last evening. At the- latter Professor Dr. <ro Altmann-Gottheimer spoke. on "Women in Industrial '"Reconstruction."