Federation Formed

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 155, 4 July 1939, Page 11

Federation Formed

BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN OF Y.W.C.A.

Tho need for linking together the Business and Professional Women's Clubs of tho Y.W.C.A. of New Zealand has been long felt, and was at last accomplished at a most happy and constructive Dominion Conference held in Wellington last Easter. Through tho kindness of Miss Irene Wilson, tho principal of Queen Margaret’s College, the conference was held in the pleasant surroundings of the college, a privilege which was greatly appreciated by the delegates.

Business and Professional Women’s Clubs of the Y.W.C.A. of New Zealand were represented as follow: Whangarei, Miss D. Lupton; Auckland, Miss E. Stubbs, Miss C. Currie; Hamilton, Miss F. Young; New Plymouth, Miss M. Allen, Miss N. Gallagher; Wellington, Misses E. Harper. C. Norris and M. L. Toulson; Christchurch, Misses Duncan and M. Flindle; Timaru, Misses J. Simpson and G. McDonald; Dunedin, Misses Carson and Duncan.

Dr. Sylvia Chapman, Miss Irene Wilson and Miss Ethel Law were chairmen in succession during tho conference, and tho following officers were elected for the Dominion:—Dominion president, Miss Margery L. Toulson, Wellington; Dominion vice-presidents, Miss Dorothy Lupton (Whangarei), and Miss Eileen Stubbs (Auckland). Dominion executive, Miss Myra Duncan (Christchurch), Mrs. de Muth (Wellington), Miss Gladys McAndrew (Wellington), Miss Irene Madden (Palmerston North), Miss Elsie Harper (Wellington), Miss Mary Seaton (Wellington).

The new Zeaalnd Federation has now applied for affiliation with the International Federation of Business and Professional Women, an organisation with a membership of many thousands throughout the world. The New Zealand Federation will thus have two important world links, one- with the World's Y.W.C.A. at Geneva and the other with the International Federation of Business and Professional Women, with its presidency at present in New York. The president of the International Federation is Miss Madesin Phillips, of New York, and the officers and executive of the federation form a notable group of women from many countries representative of the highest standard of intellectual and commercial achievement. They include Miss Gordon Holmes, of London, considered to be one of the ablest women financiers in the British Empire; Dr. Maria Castelline (vicepresident), educated at Bryn Mawr College, U.y.A., a European statistician and head of the statistical bureau of tho State insurance organisation in Italy, handling insurance problems of upwards of 10,000,000 workers; Miss Dorothy Henoker, a leading lawyer of Canada; Miss Caroline Haslett, Great Britain, one of the outstanding women engineers of the world, who is honorary secretary of the Women's Engineering Society of Great Britain and founder and director of the Electrical Association for Women; Senator F. F. Plaminkova, of Czechoslovakia, a member of Parliament of her country and a suffrage leader, a greatly beloved woman; Madame Anna Paradowska-Szolagow-ska, banker and economist, of Poland; Miss Caro Adsen, a widely-known Norwegian publicist and editor; and Mrs. Ell6n Libby Eastman, a certified public accountant in U.S.A., one of tho three women chosen to attend the gathering of 2000 which marked the last meeting of the American Institute of Accountants.

The first Dominion executive meeting was held in Wellington recently and it was interesting to note that the annual board meeting of the International Federation was also sitting at the same titne, in tho beautiful town of Trondheim, Norway.

There matters of world-wide interest to women have been discussed and under the comprehensive theme of* * The Business Woman and the Social and Economic Challenge," with such titles as, "Urging vocational equality through the International Labour Organisation at Geneva," "Tho Status of Women," “The Married Woman’s Cause," "More Women in Public Life," "Moro Women in Executive Positions," Unmasking the Fallacies," in which experts will give the lie to the fruity concepts that lack of exccutivo ability and incapacity for working Jong hours are feminine attributes and a deterrent to women’s business success. At tho Dominion executive meeting in Wellington the linking up of the programme with these interests was discussed and club programmes now being carried out in the Dominion were found to be strongly in line with the international programme, striking evidence of the world-wide interests that are binding women together. A letter of congratulation from Miss Gordon Holmes, president of the International Federation of Great Britain, was received with great pleasure, and also a cable wishing the New Zealand federation every success from Miss Ruth Woodsmall, secretary of tho World’s Y.W.C.A. at Geneva, who was visiting tho Dominion earlier in the year and who will be remembered with such great pleasure by many Business and Professional Women Club members. It is felt that the forming of the Federation is a step of importance to women in New Zealand and the representative group of business and professional women steadily gathering under the ever-widening ramifications of the Y.W.C.A. not just of New Zealand, but of the world, will link women still moro closely together for the common good.