Aust. delegation leader sums up the Women's Congress (Tribune, 31 Juli 1963)

Tribune (1963-07-31) - Aust. delegation leader... Sums up the Women's Congress Source: Trove, National Library of Australia - https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236850318 Date retrieved: 2026-10-17 OCR text (uncorrected) follows. 31 Jul 1963 - Aust. delegation leader... Tribune (Sydney, NSW: 1939 - 1991), Wednesday 31 July 1963, page 6 Aust. delegation leader... Sums up the Women's Congress Official statement by Mrs. Freda Brown, National Secretary of the Union of Australian Women and leader of the Australian delegation to the World Congress of Women in Moscow. She makes this statement on behalf of the UAW.The World Congress of Women convened by WIDF and held in Moscow from June 24; to 29 was the biggest congress of women ever; held. It brought together 2000 women from; every continent and from 114 countries, with representatives from 181 women's organisa- Ii tions.nHESE women of different; races, color, religion, were; united in their determination to fight for peace and disarmament,; friendship of all nations. and for; equality of women and happiness; of children.! At the six-day-long discussion,! from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., in both I the plenary sessions and the com-! missions, all points of view were; presented and listened to. The; whole Congress was marked by; the widest democracy and fullest; discussion.! The Congress demonstrated be-! fore the world the unity of the! women of the world and their! determination to act in unison to I prevent a new world war.; Of the 181 women's organisa-; tions that participated in the Con-; gress, only 53 are members of | WIDF. This is very significant. I It shows the great importance of ' the questions discussed and the! growth, prestige and popularity of the Women's International Demo-| cratic Federation. Defend peace J Congress delegates stressed that I the present epoch is character ised by the increased role of I women in society. Equality of! women has been recognised in | the constitutions of many coun-; tries, but in a number of these \ countries this equality has not yet become a reality and women are still discriminated against. t Congress declared that the pre-! vention of nuclear war and the! defence of peace is the most! urgent and vital problem of our; time. In spite of the difficulties; and dangers, conditions exist to-' day for the preventing of war if! the people are united and act to! preserve world peace.! The Congress gave representa-| tives of many countries an oppor-| tunity to speak of the pressing ( problems agitating their people. Delegates from African coun-; tries spoke of the problems aris-ing from, their struggles for na-! tional liberation. Women from! Latin America spoke of their | struggle for economic independ-! ence. Solidarity I Delegates were able to raise be-! fore the world public the need! for international solidarity to sup-! port people oppressed and tor-I tured by fascist brutality&mdash; women | from Spain, Greece, Portugal, | Iraq, South Vietnam, South; Africa. Many, fresh from prison; with the sears of torture on them,; aroused the Congress to wrath j and indignation as they spoke of I the struggles of their people.. 1 In the words Of the appeal:! "The cause of disarmament and; peace is inseparable from the; cause of the people's struggles for; their national independence.; "It is inadmissible and shame-I ful for humanity that millions of I men, women and children are still I suffering under colonial enslave-! ment, that many countries of I Africa, Asia and Latin Americaare still economically dependent j' on imperialist states, that there '' are still fascist dictatorships 18 ' years after the defeat of Hitler. ' i "All peoples should be able to I lives freely and independently,; choose their own way of living! ' and their own social system. | "We support the women and peoples who struggle against j! all kinds of imperialist op-!' pression and all forms of!; colonialism, against the ves-' tiges of feudalism, for liberty;! and national independence."; Messages from N. S. Khrushchov, Premier of the Soviet Union,;; Madame Bandaraneike, Prime Minister of Ceylon, and President;! Soekarno of Indonesia, were greeted with enthusiasm. l! Democratic A total of 114. delegates spoke;! at the plenary sessions and 520;! speeches were made at commis- ' sions. All documents were voted!' on. and opposition and absten-! tions correctly recorded., The attitude of the Chinese;; delegation at the Congress did |; not assist its work, and their subsequent statement that the '> Congress was undemocratic is;! unfounded.; ' The Chinese spoke three times j! in the plenary session, which was i' more than any other delegation.!; The Chinese representatives at | times refused to abide by the;; adopted procedure at the Con-;; gress. If this had been permitted;; to go on, and other delegations;> had taken the same attitude, it., could. have ' caused chaos and pre-!; vented the Congress from finalis-! ing its business.!; However, the Australian delega-; tion and many others expressed the hope that the Chinese women i, would abide by the democratic i! decisions of the overwhelming i! majority of the women. < New Guinea The Australian delegation of 13! were especially pleased that their propositions on the struggle of the Aborigine people and the right of the people of Papua and New;; Guinea to independence, were in-;; eluded in the Congress findings, j; The Congress will do much to; > stimulate work for peace in Aus- n tralia. || We were strengthened by hear- <, ing of the struggle of peoples in other. parts of the world for nuclear-free zones; we were in: spired to hear of the activity ox the - women of America, Canada j; and England for peace.!i We were shocked to hear of the | terrible brutality being suffered; by women from Iraq, Greece, i, Spain, Portugal, South Vietnam i, and South Africa, and we deter-, mined to make their struggles, more widely known and arous: people of Australia to support them. The Australian delegation wer most impressed by the warrn an generous hospitality extended y the Soviet Women's Committee,; Continued, Page 8'Women's CongressContinued from Page 6 our hostesses, and by the whole Soviet people. They fulfilled every request we made, they arranged for us to visit private homes, factories, schools and hospitals. The Australian delegation is now. reporting back to the women of Australia. We are willing and eager to speak to any organisation or group of women and answer all questions arising from the Congress decisions. The Congress appeal is a profound and simple document that will further unite women of the world. In the final words of the appeal: "WOMEN WHO GIVE LIFE SHOULD DEFEND IT. "On us lies the great responsibility of defending our rights, the happiness of our children, of defending peace and the rights of all the nations to independence, but we have great faith in our strength. "We represent the greater part of mankind. Our strength is our unity, which has so far enabled us to avoid the horrors of a third world war. "The things which unite us constitute a tremendous force; love of our children, friendship and solidarity among women and peoples of the world, our striving for peace, justice, progress and happiness of mankind. "We agree to unite and work with all our strength against the danger of war,, to ensure a lasting peace on earth. "IF WE. WILL IT, LIFE WILL TRIUMPH."