WOMEN'S PROGRESS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22949, 29 January 1938, Page 22

WOMEN'S PROGRESS

WORK IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS INTERNATIONAL DISTINCTION FOREIGN NATIONS DEVELOPING The monthly bulletin published by the International Council of Women always provides interesting evidenco of the close touch that is kept b\ r the council with" the women of tho nations it represents.

Recent issues contain news of women of some of those nations, who are doing important work in public affairs. One of tho.most-tragic results of the expulsion of members of tho Jewish raco, from the point of view of members of the National Councils of Women, has been the fact that Dr. Alico Salomon, former president of the German National Council, and a vicepresident of the International Council, has been obliged to leave her native country, where she had given her life to the welfare, not only of women and children, but of the community as a •whole. Until recently this fact had been kept as private as possible, but it is announced now that she will live in future in tho United States of America, where opportunity will .be provided for her to make use of her splendid gifts. :> Training Social Workers It was' as long ago as 1899 that Dr. Salomon organised the first annual course for tho .professional training of social workers in Germany. This courso developed into tho first school for social work in Germany, of which Dr. Salomon was the head until 1925. Her work "in the international field, as well as in the social and philanthropic activities of her own. country, was marked with a dstinction which brought her into the front ranks of women of international renown. She played an important part in the councils of the International Council of Women until in 1933, because of difficulties in Germany, she felt impelled to abstain from taking an active part in its work, but at the last council meeting,' held in Dubrovnik last year, Bh6 was made an honorary vicepresident of tho 1.C.W., in gratitude for her services. Indian Women Considering the short period in which the women of India have been able to take any part in public life, they have made tremendous strides. In the last election, in which women took a conspicuous part, 34 women members gained seats in the various Houses of Assembly.

Mrs. Rahman, Mrs. Kale and Scrimati Lakshmi Patthi have been appointed Deputy-Speakers of -the Assemblies of Assam, the Central Provinces, and Madras respectively. The Begum Shaw Nawaz will act as Parlianieritary Secretary to the Punjab Assembly, and Mrs. Hansa Mehta as Parliamentary Secretary to tho Ministry of Health in the Bombay Upper Htrtrse. The first Indian woman to hold a portfolio is Mrs. L. V. Pandid, who

will take part in the government of the United Provinces as Minister of Health. r , .. , : \ The first Polish woman-waft called to the Bar in 1925. To-day the-number of women following, this in Poland is more than 150. In 1929 women were admitted to thb Bench as Judges, and in the same year the first woman Judge was appointed, and there are now seven Women 'Judges'. Progress in this branch of -the legal • profession has been slow, a fact probably duo to the lack of vacant posts. . , Medical Careers The chair of surgery.in the University of Leeds is occupied" by a womaft—yDr. Muriel Hilary Long, who'was. awarded tho "Gold Key" of the University', of Vienna when she went there in 1931 to specialise in abdominal research. The first woman medical practitioner in Bangkok, Dr. Pierra Hoon. who did a brilliant courso at the Sorbonne, in Paris, was appointed professor of gynaecology by the Siamese Government when she returned to her native country last year. An ardent feminist, she proposes to organise the women of her country po that they may tako a hand in the amelioration of their position.

Though Siamese women have been granted the right to voto under the new Constitution, much work, Di>. Hoon says, remains to be done to detach them from old .customs and traditions and to educate them to a higher moral standard. Iran now also has its first woman doctor in Khanoun-Agha Zadoh, who recently gained the degree of M.D. at the Sorbonne, in Pans. She proposes to do special research in cancer, and it is possible that a laboratory for tho purpose may be established for her a,t Teheran. Unlike Dr. Hoon, Khanoun-Agha Zadeh does not propose to take any active part in . polities. : Her chief desire as a feminist is that the children of her country may be educated along lines entirely different 'from their mothers. Her dream is frhat women who feel that they have a vocation as writers, doctors, artists, or afi mothefs may be allowed to work out their own .destiny unhampered by questions of sex or inequality.. - 1 .