Women’s group closes after 78 years
Dwindling numbers and aging members have closed Taranaki’s branch of the National Council of Women.
After 78 years, the local arm of the gender equality organisation formally closed last month but celebrated with an event yesterday as members came together for one final hurrah.
Women wanting to remain involved with the national group, founded 122 years ago by Kate Sheppard following the successful campaign for women’s suffrage, were now being encouraged to take up individual memberships online.
Taranaki branch president Adell Morton, who has been involved with the branch for the past 10 years, was saddened by the closure. She said it had been on the cards since the beginning of the year but ‘‘came to the crunch’’ when it was time to renew the executive positions and she found a lack of interest to filling the roles.
‘‘I could see the writing on the wall,’’ she said. ‘‘We’re closing mostly because we’re all getting older and younger people are not coming through.’’
Only about 15 members remained, about a quarter of the number former president Anne Francis remembered there being in earlier years.
Francis, who has been a member for 35 years, said the branch had changed a lot during her time involved. ‘‘When I first came we wore hats and gloves to the meeting and the room was packed with people – it was very formal,’’ she remembered.
‘‘We did a lot of local things... things that the council were considering doing, we took on board and we fought... for pensioner houses, and getting the sewerage plant, things like that.’’
National president Vanisa Dhiru said women could remain involved by taking up an individual membership.
‘‘We want to be able to provide different ways for people to engage and to have their say on issues.’’
She said it was an exciting year for the national organisation and she hoped views from Taranaki women would continue through individual members from the region.
‘‘It is, of course, 125 years since New Zealand women won the right to vote’’ she said. ‘‘And we are celebrating Suffrage 125 by highlighting today’s challenges for women and people of all genders.
‘‘Much of our work is aimed at changing the persistent and pervasive stereotypes, attitudes and norms that drive gender inequality in Aotearoa.’’