NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN

Evening Star, Issue 23113, 12 November 1938, Page 27

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN

The November meeting of the National Council of Women, Dunedin branch, brought to a close the activities for this year. There was a fair attendance, presided over by the president (Mrs W. N. Benson), to whom were extended the congratulations of the branch on the honour conferred upon her of being the first woman elected by the Court of Convocation to the Senate of the University of New Zealand.

Members were pleased to learn that a committee of interested ladies had now been formed to co-operate with Miss Green at the Occupational Centro for Backward Children, and that there had been a gratifying response to the request for materials and toys. A paper, prepared by Miss Mabel Rice, B.Sc., on the staus of women in the home was read. After dealing with the status of women in early historical times, Miss Rice proceeded to show that the nineteenth .century witnessed the industrialisation of life, involving the withdrawal to,the factory of many of woman’s previously essential activities in the home. In our present civilisation the status of woman is different from that of man. The ideal will bo attained when it is possible to create a form of living in harmony botli with woman’s essential nature and with modern conditions. The paper then dealt with conditions and legislation in New Zealand affecting wives and mothers, and with family allowance. A vote of thanks to Airs Rice was carried by acclamation.