NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN.

White Ribbon, Volume 25, Issue 292, 19 October 1919, Page 1

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN.

I’ndcrneath i> part of the opening address at the Conference of the National Council of Women of New Zeawnd. We propose to give further intr.uts later on. I.ilitor “W.K * PKKSIDKNT S ADDKf.SS. To tlie Members of the National Council of Women of New Zea land in Confeience assembled. It is with a spirit of great hopefulness that our Conference should meet this year. The terrible tragedy ot a world war has been ended a peace between the most powerful of the rombatants has been signed, and a l eague of Nations to preserve pea< e i> being established In the four years ol conflict, sys terns of government, distinctions, national and international laws, have been cast into a fiery crucible and tested, until those which were fault\ have crumbled into ashes, and those which were basically right are emerging, purified of much dross. Truer and clearer perceptions of truth and justice, of rights and of duties have been gained, and already attempts arc being made for a fairer and more equitable adjustment of power and responsibility. Amid the e r a>h of high explosives and the din of battle a more vivid sense of the v alue of the common people of the rights of the individual- has been evolved. It has l>een realised that ’b<' peer and the peasant, the male •*nd the female, are fashioned out of °ne common clay ; that the accident of birth or the incidence of sex can Qot be allowed to bar the right of e *ch human being to self develop ment. And, further, it has been borne in upon us that oui greatest and truest

liberty can only be attained by our voluntary submission to divine law the law ot service—the law of “each for all.” Mthough the laug e «•! s'lbjeits which might he profitably discussed is most invitingly large, 1 propose to confine myself to those which beat more directly upon the position and work of women. It is gratifying that the opposition to the admission of women to full citizenship is break

ing down. The desire among women for a change in their political status may be said to be world-wide. I he organised women’s societies in the twenty-six countries where National Councils of'Women have been esi..b lishcd are all working in this direc lion. Alt aic working for the removal of tin' civil and political disa bilitics which hinder women from d«‘ \ eloping the ir capacities for service’, whether in the home or in the- State For it must not be forgotten mat the* Home* and the State are one*. A very little consideration will show that, in its ultimate issue, all the work of the 1 State is for the welfare and protection of ihc Home. It therefore follows ihat any eomniunny which dclibei ately exclude** women from its govern ment i> lacking in a true perception of * he functions of government. I have said ;hat the- opposition to the* right of women to full citizenship is breaking down. How could it be: otherwise? Continuous appeals to reason and justice* for more than half a century had convinced the moo* thoughtful and unprejudiced that to class women politically with criminals and lunatics was worthy only of tyrants or of fools. Hut the majority of the people II am paraphrasing Carlyle) arc foolish, and neither thoughtful nor unprejudiced. And, curiously enough, it did not huit the self-love of most men to have their mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters classed with criminals and lunatics. Therefore, progress was slow, and came* first in the* smaller ecnties of population. Then ca.nu* the tremen dous upheaval of the war, and fos silised prejudices crashed in all directions. Women were welcomed in professional and industrial capacities that had hitherto been deemed sac red

to men. And most splendidly did the women rise to meet the need for their help. Societies for relief were rapidly organised, hospitals were established, and, as doctors and nurses, as orderlies and clerks, as motor drivers and teamsters, in towns and on the land, in munition factories, and even on the held of battle, they wrought side by side with their obdurate brother man. And he--well, I suppose he scratched his head and began to think ! It was difficult to continue to dogmatise about “women’s sphere” while a woman bound up bis wounds, and washed him and fed him, and her sisters were doing the work that he and his brothers used to do. And so the idea that as women were capable of all this, they might lx* also trusted to mark a name on a ballot paper! An indication of the growth of this idea is found in the facts that six millions of British women over thirty \ears of age have been enfranchised and made eligible for Parliament, and that the House of Commons passed a Hill giv ing the franchise to all women over twenty-one years of age. That the House of Lords refused to pass this Hill is hut an indication that the most privileged class is most opposed to progress. One of the happiest auguries for the woman’s outlook in Britain is found in a manifesto issued by Mr Lloyd George and Mr Honar Law on November Jjrnl. which out lines the programme of the coalition. In this they say: “It will be the duty of the Government to remove all existing inequalities in the law as between men and women.” When Radical and Conservative send forth a whole-soulec statement ot duty su< h as this, it is, indeed, a happy augury. “Hut,” >ou may say, “how has the war helped the liberation of women in other countries?” Let me give a brief outline of the position in other countries. Hut I wish first to call attention to the fact that the Peace Conference at Paris, in defining the Articles of the League of Nations, agreed to Clause 3, Article VIL, which reads thus: “All positions under, or in e* nnection with, the League, including the secretariat, shall be open equally to men and women.” The passage of this Clause gives the tm.il evidence not only of the coming world wide change in the status of women, but also of the strong desire among the represent;! lives of the world's most powerful

nations to deal even-handed justice. \\ he the r the League succeed* or fails, it will always remain a glorious attempt. In the l nited States of America the defeat of the Federal Suffrage Amendment Hill was disappointing to women workers. There are, however, good prospects of a renewal of that vote in the near future. In any case, more than half of the State* in the lnion possess womanhood suffrage, and the women in those States will be voting at the next Presidential Flection, while one woman, Jeannette Rankin, from the State of Montana, has been elected to Congress. As you are aware, women in Denmark, Norway, and Finland have enjoyed the vote and eligibility far Parliament for years past, and recently Canada, Austria, Germany, and Poland have granted these rights to women. In Holland, strangely enough, women were eligible for Parliament, but did not possess the franchise. This curious anomaly has now been rectified, and women may now vote and sit in Parliament. lhe French Senate, like our Fnglish House of Lords, does not reflect public opinion a* closely ;is

the Lower House, for it rejected a motion to give women the vote and eligibility by eight votes to five. On the contrary, the Chamber of Depu ties voted in favour of women’s frail chise with eligibility for all elected bodies by 344 to *>7. Australia granted Womanhood Suffrage in .ill her States years ago, and eligibility for the Commonwealth Parliament, and at least four of her States now possess Parliamentary eligibility. Swedish women have gained suffrage and eligibility, Switzerland and Italy are working hard for voting (lowers, and we are informed by cable that the l nion Parliament of South Africa has passed a motion for womanhood suffrage by 44 votes to 4’. (To be Continued.)