Emancipation

Of Women

Without Tears

Far removed in space and time from Mrs. Emily Pankhurst and the British Suffragette movement, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony is in the middle of a similar drive aimed at giving women a bigger part in the affairs of the day.

A LEADING “suffragette” of the Gilberts is Mrs. Catherine Tekanene, the first woman member of the Colony’s Advisory Council, who, in a recent speech in the Council, said that, traditionally, the women of the Colony had not been allowed to participate in community activities because of the prevailing social customs and traditions, and because of lack of education and inherent shyness and modesty.

This seeming injustice was now being redressed as women started to take a more active role in their village affairs, and, with improve ments in the education system, there was a gradual move from the traditional concept that a woman’s place was in the home.

New women’s organisations could help with the formation of co operative societies and markets in the respective villages and help stimulate interest in government policy for community development.

It Started Something

Mrs. Tekanene added that she believed that the men of the Colony would not wish their women to fall behind the women of other countries.

Mrs. Tekanene’s speech prompted an official member of the Council to say that if the customs of the country did not allow women to participate in public affairs, then the customs would have to be changed if the country is to progress.

All this is an outcome of the visit to the GEIC in 1963 by Miss Marjorie Stewart, of the South Pacific Commission’s centre in Suva, who suggested that there should be a drive to encourage women’s com munity work in the Colony.

Miss Stewart arranged for girls from the Colony to attend the SPC home economics course in Suva to qualify as community educators.

Another step towards the emanci pation of the Colony’s women was the recruitment of Mrs. Roddy Cordon as woman education officer for the Education Department.

Mrs, Cordon’s duties include

liaison between the women’s com mittees in the islands and the Education Department, the chairman ship of the Adult and Social Educa tion Advisory Committee, liaison with the Medical Department in the further development of community education in the villages, with special emphasis on maternal and child health, and family planning.

Since Mrs. Tekanene spoke in the Advisory Council Mrs. Cordon has started a monthly newsletter to the women of the Colony and has toured the islands to meet women’s clubs where they exist and to encourage their formation elsewhere.

On Nikunau the formation of a

women’s club has brought together women of rival religious denomina tions, and the men have been going with their wives to the club’s dis cussions.

A seminar for women’s club leaders 2 , Tarawa in Janua and February was another milestone in th ' emancipation of women in the Colony, Although the development of women’s organisations in the Colony is likely to be slow because of poor inter-island communications the keen interest in the clubs suggests that the Colony women will be com pletely emancipated with a lot less fuss than their counterparts in England earlier this century.