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A News Bulletin with the meaningful title
"Widening Horizons"
was started almost at once as the official
publication of the International. The first
issues make breathless reading.
"Each
incoming foreign post was a thrilling experience"
to those handling it in Room 1779 of the
Woolworth Building, New York City. The Austrian
Federation, under the presidency of Dr.
Lowenstein-Brill and 364 members, was hoping
to sponsor a method of insurance for women
against old age and distress. The Italian
Federation's President, Dr. Maria Castellani,
had the satisfaction of seeing it, with
its 20 clubs recognised by the Italian Government
and affiliated with State Syndicates for
Professional People, and was busy with the
organisation in Rome of the first international
exhibition of women's literary works, and
the establishment in Milan of an International
Chamber of Commerce and Information for
Women.
The
club in Paris, France, had 100 members and
had become such a force that tentative organisation
was underway in four other cities. Madame
Mary Laudner, its President, was encouraging
a programme which included courses in foreign
languages, the arts, housekeeping, and business
training.
Belgium,
with plans for five local clubs, had the
nucleus of a Federation under the leadership
of Dr. de Munter-Latinis and was intending
to sponsor employment bureaux, mothers'
aid, and legal and medical assistance for
business and professional women.
With
clubs in Holland, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland,
Finland, Sweden, and Czechoslovakia, the
membership showed signs of covering Europe.
While all this activity
was going on at a national level, six Standing
Committees named by the International were
swinging into action.
The
Committee for Hospitality and Courtesies,
headed by Miss Helen Fraser of London, was
charged with the creation of opportunities
for contact and exchange of speakers between
the federated countries.
An
exchange of information about professional
opportunities for artists and exhibitions
was the aim of the Committee of Fine Arts
led by Signora Travesari of Rome.
It
was the intention of the Committee on Commercial
Exchange of which Madame M. G. Vernier,
a leading Paris publisher, was the first
Chairman, to compile and distribute classified
lists of members' shops recommended by their
Federations and arrange the exchange of
sample goods.
There
was obviously some nervousness lest such
action should bear the stamp of the amateur.
It was recommended in Paris in 1932 that
while each national group should organise
exhibitions and invite other members of
the International to join in, close touch
should be kept with Chambers of Commerce
(though they did not admit women) and "that
a real business woman be appointed as the
head of each national branch of this Committee."
No definition is recorded as to what "real"
meant. This Committee continued to function
until 1950 when it was dropped from the
Constitution.
Membership
was, of course, of paramount importance.
This Committee, headed by Miss Dorothy Heneker
of Canada, was to encourage recruitment
of countries not yet affiliated. She had
a wide field to work upon from the Geneva
office. This Committee was also given the
task of determining what constitutes a Federation
from which there should be national representation.
It submitted at Paris that: "A National
Federation must be a recognised union of
at least three organised groups of business
and professional women," and breaking
this down further, that "a Group or
Club must be an organisation composed of
at least 75 percent of Business and Professional
Women actively engaged in earning their
living and with a definite Constitution
and bylaws and properly appointed officers."
By
1933 Germany had formed a Federation, Norway
had started at Trondheim with 150 members,
and Argentina was taking an active interest
through a committee of another organisation
which is not listed after 1948. (In 1960,
the first B.P.W. Club was formed in Buenos
Aires and the Argentina B.P.W Federation
in 1963). The original sixteen countries
had increased to twenty by the addition
of Korea and Spain to those already mentioned.
A Board
Meeting was held in the United States at
Chautauqua (N.Y.) in September of 1933.
Dr. Marianne Beth, Ph.D., of Vienna, described
as one of the most "brilliant lawyers"
in Austria, became chairman of the International
Bureau of Information, one of its objects
being to assist members who wished to study
comparative methods of technique in business
and professions.
It
will be seen from the foregoing that initially
the International had an immediate practical
purpose for the already established woman
in business or in a profession. However,
the feminist aspect was not overlooked.
The first Special Research Project adopted
was a survey of professional, technical,
and commercial organisations which did not
admit women to membership.
Unfortunately,
no official records survive of the 1st Congress
held in Vienna in July 1931. We know from
"Widening Horizons" that in July
1932 the Board of Directors met at the Hotel
Mirabeau in Paris, and that though "there
were divergences of opinion on many subjects,
good humour was universal and there was
eventually a decision in which everyone
could concur." The Federation's official
observer at the Disarmament Conference in
Geneva on February 6, 1932, was Miss Dorothy
Heneker. She witnessed the "long procession
of dramatically silent women who filed past
the president of the Disarmament Conference,
laying before him petitions signed by eight
million men and women from all parts of
the world."
As
petrol and oil are to a car, so are funds
to an organisation. Without them it will
go nowhere. The enthusiasm of idealists
has often to suffer under the realism of
practical considerations, and the new organisation,
with its wide-flung aspirations could not
expect to escape this fundamental fact.
Economic depression in the 1930s was a serious
matter. It is understandable that Miss Mary
Kennedy, Finance Chairman, following her
Report to the Board Meeting in Paris in
1932 should refer to the fact that she "had
sometimes been made to feel that unless
the United States would bear the burden
of financing the International, they should
never have made the step they did towards
forming the Federation. She herself did
not consider it that way, but considered
it a privilege for her country to do what
it had done, and what it could do; literally
hundreds of the rank and file of the membership
in the United States had been interested
in raising this money."
One
of the New York Clubs, called "Saturday's
Children," devised the happy scheme
of contributing to the unemployment fund
in the U.S.A. by paying the salary of a
part-time Secretary and lending her to the
Federation. No rent was paid for the office
in the Vanderbilt Hotel. This made it possible
to maintain the much needed European office
in Geneva and to do some field work.
Even
had the world economic situation improved
generally, it is safe to assume that in
1933, women's earnings in most countries
did not leave much for subscriptions to
something concerned mainly with women's
"rights." An Hungarian plan to
send goods to the United States for sale
had been running for a year with some success,
but Miss Mary Kennedy was convinced that
a better feeling would prevail only if European
Federations would take a greater share of
the burden than hitherto. She made her point
at the Chautauqua meeting in September.
A motion was carried that each member organisation
should accept a quota based on membership,
and that the fees should become payable
on affiliation and thereafter annually.
They were to be based on the value of the
American dollar as of August 1930, and when
possible, should approximate 10 cents per
capita. In Geneva in 1934, this was repealed,
and in countries where professional groups
rather than clubs formed the national organisation,
a graduated scale was agreed on, varying
from $5.00 for organisations with up to
500 members to $90.00 for those from 5,000
to 10,000 members.
Also,
in 1933, the Federation's first International
Exhibition of Fine Arts, held in Amsterdam,
proved a great success. It resulted in the
sale of many members' work and was followed
by an invitation from Polish authorities
to organise a second one the next year.
This second one, held in Warsaw, also proved
a noteworthy event. Artists from 14 countries,
which included Federation members from Czechoslovakia,
France, Great Britain, Holland, Hungary,
Poland, and Romania displayed paintings
and sculptures. Great Britain was reported
in "Widening Horizons" as having
"perhaps the most varied exhibits.
These included water colours, aqua tints,
posters, wood engravings, decorative panels,
colour prints, and oil paintings - the work
of 31 British artists."
More
such exhibitions were to follow, sometimes
in cooperation with the Women's International
Art Club, whose 34th Annual Exhibition was
held at the Suffolk Galleries in London.
The Norwegian Section was arranged by Miss
Gerda Graff, Chairman of the Norwegian Fine
Arts Committee of the Federation. Because
of this, Queen Maud of Norway consented
to be one of its patrons.
International
Night
Meeting
in Geneva in June 1934, the Board considered
a suggestion that a simultaneous observance
of International Night should be made in
all federated countries. In 1935 many of
the Federations did so for the first time.
February was the month chosen for this,
and it was decided that a subject of international
importance should be recommended. February
has remained the month, and messages have
been exchanged annually up to the publication
of this book. In 1941 a ceremonial was devised,
later to be known as "The Candle Ceremony,"
which movingly illustrated the enforced
inactivity of those Federations which became
victims of the global war.
While
cultural activities were progressing to
the benefit of members, wider interests
were gathering momentum. Miss Heneker, Federation
Observer at the League of Nations, reported
that the Washington Convention on the Employment
of Women at Night had been partially revised
at the 18th Session of the International
Labour Conference so that it "did not
apply to persons holding responsible positions
of management who are not ordinarily engaged
in manual work." This did not go as
far as the Federation had hoped, but at
least it recognised for the first time in
international legislation the presence of
technical and administrative women in industry.
Appreciation of the courtesies extended
by the Secretariat of the League of Nations,
which had greatly assisted the Federation's
work, was expressed at this meeting.
At
the same time, alarm was growing at the
tendency to discriminate against married
women in both State and private employment.
It was felt to constitute a threat to the
institution of marriage, and a strong protest
was made. Practical measures were worked
out for national organisations to adopt.
Married women were not the only ones feeling
disturbed. At the Paris Board Meeting in
1932, Italy had reported that a Bill had
been introduced into Parliament questioning
women's right to work during periods of
unemployment. Dr. Castellani had succeeded
in getting the Bill held up by its sponsors,
the Chamber of Deputies, while an enquiry
was made by the Ministry of Corporations.
Senator Plaminkova of Czechoslovakia reported
a similar enquiry.
This
year (1932) also saw a matter considered
to be of utmost importance to business and
professional women under discussion at the
International Labour Conference in Geneva.
It was a call for the abolition of commercial
fee-charging employment agencies. Stemming
from this, the whole field of employment
agencies was to be considered. For many
years abuses were known to have existed
in the recruiting of women and girls in
employment. On the other hand, several of
the large international organisations which
maintained private employment agencies for
their membership, not carried on for profit,
felt that even though fee-charging agencies
might be abolished or, at best, allowed
to operate only under Government licences,
their own nonprofit type should be continued.
Miss Dorothy Heneker was instructed to watch
closely any developments.
A desire
for some mark of identification by which
members could at once recognise each other
had apparently been expressed, and approximately
150 designs from 14 countries were submitted.
Announcing the results in Geneva in 1934,
Madame Pogliani stated that a first prize
of $100 in American money had been awarded
to Anthi Salmenlinna of Finland. The second
prize of 500 Italian lira went to Jysky
Eklund, also of Finland, and a third prize
of $20 in American money to Alfred Wieser
of Hungary. Though, obviously, the designs
must have had some merit to satisfy the
judges, who included two prominent women
artists of Switzerland, none was considered
suitable as a permanent emblem for the International
Federation.
Further
tries were made in the years from 1946,
until the one currently in use was adopted
in 1956. It was the work of Miss Judith
Spiehs of Germany, and was chosen from 34
designs submitted by 15 countries.
By
the time the Board met in Brussels in 1935,
the European office of the Federation had
moved from Geneva to London. Miss Dorothy
Heneker was still in charge. She had recently
made a tour of the Scandinavian Clubs, and
upon her return was guest at a luncheon
given by Lady Astor for Her Royal Highness,
the Duchess of York, and now Queen Elizabeth,
the Queen Mother of England. The London
Daily Telegraph describes it as "initiating
the Duchess into some of the secrets of
the International Federation whose work
was practically unknown to her."
However
that might be, many more parts of the world
were getting to know of its existence, and
with the affiliation of a Club in Melbourne,
Australia, the International Federation
became represented on every continent except
Africa. This spreading of interest in its
aims shows how zealously all concerned were
working at national level. As "Independent
Woman" (the magazine of the National
Federation in U.S.A.) reported at its Biennial
Meeting that year - "just as the food
we eat and the very language we speak have
their own international entanglements, so
does every 'step' towards effective democracy
- offer the International Relations Committee
the task of showing the Club the subject's
vital relationship with international affairs."
Indeed,
the first five years had seen unflagging
efforts to establish the International well
rewarded. Though the Board Meeting held
in Brussels in 1935 was overshadowed by
grief of the Belgian people at the death
of their young Queen Astrid, there must
also have been a feeling of achievement.
In the previous year alone, two further
countries, New Zealand and Australia, had
affiliated; existing groups in Sweden had
formed a national federation and, like Holland
with its new clubs, was about to become
affiliated. Ten new clubs had been formed
in Norway, those in Canada had increased,
and membership in the U.S.A. had reached
the 60,000 mark. Not all the countries which
had been at the inaugural meeting had managed
to complete an organisation, but contact
had been maintained energetically by correspondence
and would, everyone was confident, bear
fruit in due course.
Many
national programmes were encouraging the
study of matters of national concern which
would give members a better understanding
of the way things were run and their interrelationship.
Canada had an impressive list of study groups
working on such subjects as government,
economic planning, combines and the consumers;
and in Norway, municipal work, nutrition,
and women's right to work had been occupying
the attention of a Special Study and Research
Committee. Programmes of this kind enable
a greater emphasis to be laid on the need
to have more qualified women in Governmental
and other public positions. Canada's slogan
is "a woman Senator from every Province."
France
and Italy had introduced very practical
services for members. In Paris this took
the form of a free consultative service
by experts in law and medicine. In Italy
a National Tourist Bureau and a National
Broadcasting Centre helped to coordinate
the work of clubs and distribute information.
With
proper pride, discussion on finance at the
Brussels meeting indicated that the slow
business of building up its national branches
upon a sound financial basis must be the
first duty of women themselves, as the International
was not a charitable organisation which
might appeal for assistance. A "Business
Women's Guarantee Fund" was initiated,
whereby £5 per annum would be guaranteed
for a period of three years by business
and professional women, such guarantors
to be given special privileges.
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