70 WOMEN HOPE TO WIN SEATS IN PARLIAMENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18726, 4 April 1929, Page 8

70 WOMEN HOPE TO WIN SEATS IN PARLIAMENT.

HOW FAR WILL OWN SEX SUPPORT THEM?

“We are continually having impressed upon us the fact that the general election is to be, numerically speaking, a ‘women’s election,' ” writes “L.M.W.” in the “Scotsman.” “And from what is being done to arouse the interest of the women voters (by means both direct and indirect), we may assume that the supposition is largely correct in more senses than one. “It would be idle to dwell upon the contradictory prophecies that herald the coming of the general election, but it may perhaps be safely admitted that it will prove one thing, and that is how far the feminine electorate are willing to entrust the reponsibilities of representation to their own sex. “At the moment there are, roughly, about 70 women candidates in the field. With the exception of Mrs Hilton Philipson, our present women M.P.’s will stand again for Parliament. Titled Candidates. “Their record and history are familiar to us; no need to recall the statesmanlike qualities of the Duchess of Atholl, the shrewd and ready wit of Lady Astor, the oratorical powers and organising ability of Lady Iveagh, nor the mathematical skill of Miss Susan Lawrence, whose speech last November in opposition to the Local Government Bill won such warm and ungrudging tribute in the House from political friend and foe alike. “Most of the women candidates are well known in one sphere or another for their social and public work. Among the Unionist candidates is the Hon. Mary Pickford, daughter of the late Lord Stemdale, Master of the Rolls. She was formerly a lady factory inspector of the Home Office. “Then there is Mrs Helen B. Shaw (Lanark, Bothwell Division), who put up a big fight against the Socialist candidate at the 1924 election. In the first year of the war she inaugurated the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families Association in and around Bothwell, and was also a member of the local War Pensions Committee, and women’s representative on the Food Control Committee.

Inherited Acumen. “Among the Liberal women candidates we see, too, many well-known names, that of Miss Megan Lloyd George, for instance, who, young though she is, has already given proof that political acumen may be inherited. Mrs Corbett Ashby has long been a leading figure in the women’s movement. She was secretary of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies under Dame Millicent Fawcett, and president of the Women's National Liberal Federation, 1927-28. She now holds the important post of president of the International Alliance for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship. “Miss Helen Schilizzi, niece by marriage of M. Venizelos, Premier of Greece, has done extensive propaganda work for the League of Nations. Lady Stewart, who has been adopted by a London constituency, and was Commandant of the Scottish V.A.D. Girl Guides in India, evidently does not subscribe to the theory that family ties and a Parliamentary career are bound “to conflict. She is the mother of seven children. “Daughter of a Scottish minister and bcaln in Glasgow, another Liberal woman candidate. Miss Mary Grant, served in the V.A.D., later as a policewoman and sub-inspectofe l in munition factories, and on street duty in Carlisle and London. In Labour Ranks. “The Labour women candidates include Dr Marion Phillips, chief woman officer of the Labour Party; Lady Cynthia Mosley, Dr Stella Churchill, a member of the London County Council; Miss Dorothy Jewson, who won a seat in the 1923 election; Mrs M’Nab Shaw, one of the first women in Scotland to become a member of a municipal council; Miss Eleanor Stewart, who has been adopted by Edinburgh North; Mrs Mary Hamilton, the novelist, and Miss Jessie Stephen, once a domestic servant. “Miss Jenny Lee, daughter of a miner, and an old student of Edinburgh University, has just won the Lanark seat by a huge majority from the Conservative candidate, Lord Scone. “We have now eight women members in the House of Commons. After the general election ? A fascinating, if futile, ground for discussion ! ”