WOMEN'S MOVEMENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22398, 20 April 1936, Page 3

WOMEN'S MOVEMENT

NEED FOR SERIOUS WORK INTERNATIONAL ISSUE " The various women's organisations at present in existence all over the world arc doing very splendid work in a variety of directions, but are not doing as much or taking their opportunities as seriously as they might," said Mrs. l>. M. Rischbieth, J.P., 0.8. E., of Perth, who passed thorngh Auckland last week by the Mariposa, en route to Australia. Mrs. Rischbieth attended the sixteenth assembly of the League of Nations as one of the Australian Government's representatives, and the twelfth conference of the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship, which was held in Turkey. She is president of the Australian Fedaration of Women Voters.

Mrs. Rischbieth said in order to possess any power that could be wielded effectively it was urgently necessary that women should consider their status much more seriously, not only in relation to themselves or to their country, but also in relation to the world. Women's work should be an organised world movement, and only by definite action and serious purpose could this be evolved. Many women talked a great deal about peace work, but most of them regarded a definite international peace as a kind of Utopian dream and did not realise how urgent the work reallv was.

Although New Zealand women possessed many organisations, they seemed to possess with them very little power, Mrs. Rischbieth said. This was because they did not realise the importance of the women's movement. She herself had had it pointed out to her abroad that New Zealand sent no delegates to European conferences, although the Dominion was the first country to gain women's suffrage. This showed an apathetic attitude to a victory which had been so hardly won. Mrs. Rischbeith was most impressed with British women with whom she had come into contact, both in London and Geneva. The English woman who took a serious interest in the women's movement was characterised b.v a clear level-headed-ness, sincerity and a competent grasp of facts. Mrs. Rischbeith thought the English woman's high standard and splendid opportunities for education made her particularly fitted for executive and organisation work. This was made obvious by the fact that there were so many young women playing important parts in the women's movement in England. It was of vital importance that the younger women should be seriously interested and given every opportunity for realising

their position in the world. The young woman of to-day should be educated to public-mindedness much more than she had been hitherto. Upon the younger women and their interest in public, national and world affairs, depended the women's movement.

Speaking of her experiences in Geneva, Mrs. Rischbeith said the women's movement had as its ideal the equality of men and women in all human relationships and the establishment of peace and justice without force. Peace work was the greatest that women could undertake. The sending of delegates to conferences was an important means of strengthening the world movement, bringing together as it did women of high qualifications to exchange ideas and gain experience and knowledge of the people of other countries. There were over 50,000,000 members belonging to, or affiliated with, the women's movement to-day, with eight major international organisations of women meeting in Geneva. The importance of the movement was emphasised by the fact that representatives of 54 Governments met in Geneva to decide a number of important questions that affected the status of women socially, economically and politically. Women's status was, in a rapidly-growing world, a problem in every country and in an endeavour to stimulate the interest of all women the Assembly of the League of Nations had passed a resolution that communications should bo established with every existing Government asking for information on the status of women of their respective countries.