TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20742, 28 February 1939, Page 5

TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND

Y.W.C.A. WORLD SECRETARY The problems of women the world over interest Miss Ruth Woodsmall, general secretary of the World’s Young Women's Christirn Association, who arrived in New Zealand recently. Miss Woodsmall’s headquarters are in Geneva. She is making a six weeks’ tour of New Zealand before going to Australia. Apart from her world-wide reputation as a Y.W.C.A. worker, Miss Woodsmall is a scholar of note, and as well as having the degree of M.A. to her credit, has been awarded a fellowship under the Rockefeller Foundation and has since written several books. Reward In Work Her life has been devoted to the Young Women’s Christian Association and her deep interest has brought her rich rewards. Before her appointment four years ago to the position of world general secretary, Miss Woodsmall was stationed in Turkey and the Near East. With her address in Istanbul she was naturally in the centre of Turkish activities and was fortunate in that her term of office coincided with the beginnings of the emancipation of the Turkish women. Through her Rockefeller fellowship she was enabled to make an intensive study of the changing status of Moslem women, her travels taking her to Syria, Egypt, Palestine, TransJordan, Iraq, Iran, and India. One of Miss Wood-small’s books, first published two years ago, is called “Moslem Women Enter a New World,” and the other, written about the Far East, is “Eastern Women of To-day and Tomorrow.” The Geneva Staff Questioned about the staff at the Geneva headquarters, Miss Woodsmall answered with some interesting information. The permanent staff numbered only six or seven, but was supplemented by an additional band of workers from overseas. There was a very international atmosphere, for not only did the present staff include Italian, French, American, English and Indian members, but it was also housed in the building formerly occupied by the League of Nations, and now shared by the world headquarters of the Y.M.C.A. and twenty-five other international organisations. It was known as International Centre. An Indian woman was now secretary and it was hoped next year that a representative from the Dutch East Indies would officiate. A Japanese had once held the post. Even the stenographers of the staff in Geneva were from far-distant countries, its numbers including a Swiss, a Canadian, and English girl, a Russian, and a Frenchwoman. English and French were generally spoken.