Australian women tell about World Congress (Tribune, 14 Oktober 1953)

=== [PDF page 1] === Tribune (Sydney, NSW: 1939 - 1991), Wednesday 14 October 1953, page 6 Copenhagen, June 12. Australian women attended the World Congress of Women. There, 1187 women (647 delegates, the rest observers and visitors) from 70 countries met to discuss and plan how women everywhere can unite in the struggle to ensure to every woman full enjoyment of her rights and well-being, and to every child security [Unreadable] and to build a world in which humanity can live in peace." (Congress Appeal.) Some were sent with full approval of their entire people and governments; some suffered great hardship and sacrifice to reach Denmark. All those from Korea, Vietnam and Malaya were refused visas by the Danish Government and remained in Berlin. The following accounts of various aspects of the Congress are from three Sydney delegates interviewed by a Tribune reporter. Flo Davis, Secretary, Restaurant, Club and Hotel Union. Congress sessions were a series of extremely moving happenings and speeches. [Unreadable] Immediately after liberation from the Japanese [Unreadable] the peasants received land. "Life was beautiful," she said. "For the first time we could grow grain, live our own lives; our children could learn." But only for a little time. The Americans instigated the war. American bombs destroyed [Unreadable] and killed [her] children. [Unreadable] "Then I learnt not to cry," she said. [Unreadable] SOMETHING I'll never forget [were] the Korean speeches [Unreadable] the reading of greetings from delegates absent from home, Korea, Vietnam and Malaya, while their national flags were held [Unreadable]. French and British women [Unreadable]. [Unreadable] "Little Congress" arranged [Unreadable] Berlin. [Unreadable] The Vietnamese [delegates] [Unreadable] had to walk [for four nights]. They [had to walk] by night because in the daytime they would have been under fire. And what's more, they had to walk back to their areas the same way. [Unreadable] One of them was a woman of 74, mother of a famous Resistance hero [Unreadable] murdered [Unreadable]. [Unreadable] a Korean delegate, a peasant woman, told us how her entire family of 16 — husband, relatives, children — were wiped out by the American aggressors. [Unreadable] "To get to the Congress [Unreadable]" [Unreadable] machine-gunned. [Unreadable] The North Korean [Unreadable] Government. [Unreadable] women [Unreadable] could suffer similar horrors of war. [Unreadable] Commissions and attended the Congress [Unreadable] and reported to Australia. [Unreadable] equal rights for peasant women [Unreadable] women's rights in non-self-governing and colonial countries [Unreadable] conditions [Unreadable] imperialists. [Unreadable] === [PDF page 2] === Tribune (Sydney, NSW: 1939 - 1991), Wednesday 14 October 1953, page 6 (2) [Unreadable] pitifully low. Whole families work [on] rubber, sugar, coffee [plantations] just to keep alive, and neither the men nor the women have any [political] rights. In capitalist countries women's rates of pay vary from Japan's 43.8 per cent of the male rate to Sweden's 70 per cent and Australia's 75 per cent. Although in Italy and France the principle of equal pay is stated in the Constitution, it is not honored. [Unreadable] In contrast [to] this is the struggle of the women of the capitalist and colonial countries to live and [fight] for their rights. [Unreadable] felt that [the] splendid thing for the women of the Socialist countries, [Unreadable] is the fact [that], for the first time after centuries of oppression, they have [been given] political rights, economic and social equality and security for their children, their homes and themselves. [Unreadable] their tremendous enthusiasm [in] building their new life [Unreadable] and ensure that no future war will threaten the happy [future] before them and their children. Joyce Egan, Secretary, Union of Australian Women, NSW. Great unity achieved [Unreadable] On the ship, going to Europe, [Unreadable] I was asked several times, "Do you think women can stop war?" I said, "Yes, if women throughout the world can achieve unity." The world Congress of Women confirmed this belief and showed me and all the women who went there that such unity can be won. A Japanese woman artist presented to Madame Cotton, President of the WIDF, a dove of peace. It was sent by the mother-in-law of a young girl who had died from the effects of the atom bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. Women from Britain spoke, who had loved ones in Korea. They had never before attended a Congress like this but they were [Unreadable] to urge the cease-fire [Unreadable]. They said they wanted peace not only for their own sons' sakes but for all the Korean people equally. [Unreadable] An Indonesian woman handed a bouquet of flowers to a Dutch woman whose son is in prison for refusing to fight. [Unreadable] Dutch and Indonesian women exchanged flowers saying "Your liberty is our liberty." Polish women embraced women from both East and West Germany. They vowed their sons would never again fight each other. The speeches and findings of the Congress, and events in its whole [course], demonstrated that the ordinary woman does not want war and is determined [Unreadable]. === [PDF page 3] === Tribune (Sydney, NSW: 1939 - 1991), Wednesday 14 October 1953, page 6 (3) [Unreadable] no matter what their differences in language, religion, race, occupation, custom [Unreadable], women can reach common ground for unity. As mothers, as citizens, as workers, as wives, we found that we could all take back, not only to hundreds, but to millions of other women, the truth that by negotiation we can reach unity and we can [reach agreement on] matters that fundamentally concern us all. Declaration of Rights The discussion [Unreadable] contains in it some rights which women have already won. [Unreadable] For example, the right to vote and [to be] elected. But [Unreadable] no right [Unreadable] our own women to play their [full] part in this sphere. This became clear as delegates from Socialist countries told of how their governments provide such facilities as nurseries, kindergartens, schools and maternity care, economic [Unreadable] so that women can exercise their political rights. More than that, they conduct educational campaigns to ensure [Unreadable] equality, [Unreadable] encouragement [for] both men and women [Unreadable], particularly [so that] women are drawn into all spheres of activity. The Congress findings represent important common aims of women the world over. They were achieved because we worked in a spirit of discussion and negotiation and with an intense desire for peace. This was the keynote, just as it was the keynote of our own recent Australian National Convention for Peace and War. Fuchsia Lewin, delegate from [the] Aust. Seamen's Union, Sydney Branch Women's Cttee. The Danish women did a really colossal job for Congress. Although the population of Denmark [Unreadable] a million, [Unreadable] the blue hangings which made the hall look beautiful [Unreadable] must have taken them hours and hours of hundreds [of yards of] sewing. [Unreadable] === [PDF page 4] === Tribune (Sydney, NSW: 1939 - 1991), Wednesday 14 October 1953, page 6 (4) Before the morning session the women were at the hall servicing [the] post office, [the] guests — [Unreadable] information, message exchange, cloak room, [medical] attention. And after 11 at night you could still get a cup of coffee in the canteen. From the Soviet Union, Mme Lydia Kou[charenko] told how in her country [Unreadable] women's position is radically different from that of women in most of the countries of the world, [Unreadable] build [a] new life and create the conditions for real equality for men and women. Flags of 58 countries were draped splendidly behind the presiding committee. Slogans in eight different languages hanging from the ceiling read: "Women of the world unite for the defence of our rights, for the protection of our children and homes, for winning a peaceful world." What would seem insuperable language difficulties were overcome [by] interpreters, and an earphone system for each delegate. THE case of Mrs. Hudson, of Gilgandra, and her "Quads," and her hard battle to care for her children, has reminded me several times of [the] Hungarian woman who addressed Congress. She was a country woman, Madame Josef Elod, mother of nine boys and three girls. She was very proud of the medal she wore. "It is one of the highest honors, presented to me by our Government," she told us. "Before [Unreadable] my husband was unemployed. The two eldest children had no clothes to go to school. Now [Unreadable] I was granted [a] house for which I pay five percent of my monthly wages, and soon I will own it. When I think of the future [Unreadable] my children's [future] was faced with [Unreadable] unemployment, or insecurity. [Now] they are all studying. With the exception of the four youngest, they will all become trained, educated people." Other delegates from the People's Democracies told of how the women of their countries were helping to [Unreadable] === [PDF page 5] === Tribune (Sydney, NSW: 1939 - 1991), Wednesday 14 October 1953, page 6 (5) [Photo caption:] AUSTRALIAN [Unreadable]. Mrs. Jessie Street was chosen by Congress to read the Declaration of the Rights of Women. Here she is reading the Declaration from the Congress rostrum. AUSTRALIAN DELEGATES [Unreadable] the Congress. Left to right, [Unreadable] === [PDF page 6] === Tribune (Sydney, NSW: 1939 - 1991), Wednesday 14 October 1953, page 6 (6) AUSTRALIAN DELEGATES [Unreadable] Congress. Left to right, [Unreadable] (Melbourne), [Unreadable] (Sydney), Mrs. O'Connor, Mrs. Feighan (Newcastle), Mrs. Egan, Mrs. Lewin (Sydney). Picture was taken [Unreadable]. [Photo caption:] [Unreadable] Rumanian village given entirely over during their stay to the care of Korean orphans. CONGRESS HALL: Over 1100 women, delegates and observers. Galleries, opened to the public, were always full. Danish women put endless labor into preparing and decorating the hall. === [PDF page 7] === Tribune (Sydney, NSW: 1939 - 1991), Wednesday 14 October 1953, page 6 (7)