MARY TENISON WOODS - Social and Political Activist: continued

This mark of official disapproval did not deter her and some of her independently-minded Catholic women friends from forming a small group which they named Altair, with the object of monitoring public issues, in the hope of convincing legislators and church officials to include women’s views on political and social issues. They had the blessing of Archbishop Gilroy, especially since they were actively opposing the statements of Jessie Street, herself a social rights activist, but devoted to the Russian cause. Those were the days, at the end of World War II, when communism was seen as a threat to world domination, moving in our direction through China and North Vietnam. The Altair women, Jean Daly, the economist Phyllis Burke, Mary and others, were strongly anti-communist, so when Mrs Street was proposed as a delegate to the first UN conference on a Women’s Charter, they campaigned against it, trying to have Mary sent instead, unsuccessfully, as it turned out.

In 1944 the women of Altair, with Mary as spokeswoman, wrote to Archbishop Gilroy after the Australian bishops had published their first Social Justice statement. They offered a comment that the statement omitted any reference to women’s viewpoint, and that there had been no effort to consult women. They little dreamed the effect that this honest appraisal would have. But, when Altair decided to open their group to a wider membership, their choice was to form a NSW section of the St Joan’s Social and Political Alliance in 1946. Jean Daly, Norma Parker and Mary were already members of the English Alliance, the founding body. The Victorian branch, approved by Archbishop Mannix, gave them every encouragement.

Not so Archbishop Gilroy. When Mary wrote on their behalf to ask for his blessing on the new venture, he replied that, although he approved of their opposition to Jessie Street, he would not countenance the formation of the St Joan’s Alliance, citing the disapproval of the English and Victorian bishops, wrongly it seems. Eighty women had attended their opening meeting, and some notable women like Kate Burrows were already on the new council. This was enthusiastically reported by the Catholic Weekly.

A courteous exchange of letters between Mary and Gilroy followed, but the archbishop was adamant, forbidding members of the Legion of Catholic Women to join, and instructing the Catholic Weekly not to print St Joan news or advertisements. This although women like Jean Daly, Mary Lewis, Aline Fenwick, Norma Parker, were clear about their aims for the Alliance: Catholic women observing and monitoring social and political issues and taking action where appropriate. No wonder in the Sydney church of those times they were accused of disloyalty and incurred the repressive distrust of their clerical rulers.

Despite their efforts to have Mary sent to the UN Women’s Charter conference, and as a delegate to the UN Status of Women Commission, Jessie Street went twice, in 1947 and 1948, before the government became concerned about her sympathies for Russian affairs – it was ‘reds under the beds time’, remember - and withdrew support for her.

The St Joan’s Social and Political Alliance continued to operate as a small body, and its international character ensured that it had consultative status at the United Nations. It was due to Jean Daly’s suggestion, made as a member of the Australian National Committee of the United Nations, that Mary’s name was again put forward, this time not as a delegate, but as a member of the staff of the Status of Women office. This was 1950, the year in which Mary was awarded the OBE. The quandary for her in accepting the appointment was Mac’s welfare. It was her first international posting for more than a few months, and in her mid-fifties, she was faced with an unfamiliar posting in New York, with no friends or relatives nearby who might share the care of her son and help him cope with the hazards of life in a strange city. Friends like the Fenwicks had always helped out, and in the end Mac went to stay with them and she left for New York in 1951. She told Mary Lewis it was the most painful decision she had ever faced. Her appointment was as chief of staff in the legal office of the Status os Women Commission, a staff of women lawyers from member countries. The Commission is a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council, which coordinates bodies like the ILO, FAO, and arranges consultation between them and international NGO’S. In turn the Economic and Social Council hands on to the General Assembly the recommendations of the Status of Women Commission, so that these can be voted on and promoted as a Convention.

From 1951 to 1958, therefore, Mary worked in company with women lawyers from Europe and Asia, preparing documents dealing with women’s issues. In addition she was required to travel to some of the countries involved, such as Thailand in 1957, to provide data and disseminate the views of the Commission. Part of her work was to arrange seminars and conferences and to act as guest speaker at some of these.Her role was also to inform both local women and politicians about the technical assistance which was available from the United Nations, which could help them attain one or more of the rights which had besen outlined by the Commission.

Some important submissions were prepared and issues researched during Mary’s years at the Status of Women Commission. In 1952 the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention on the Political Rights of Women, which was intended to protect the rights of women to vote and to be elected to national office without discrimination. Subjects on their agenda during those years included the authority exercised in some cultures by husbands over the children of a marriage and the choice of the marital home; over a wife’s property or her right to take employment. Information was gathered on the ritual practices within some cultures which affected women’s dignity, such as female circumcision, child marriages, bride prices, the lack of free consent by both parties, and the dissolution of marriages. Resolutions which were formulated under Tenison Woods’ supervision included those in 1954 and 1955 which provided for an equal share for women in ownership and management of matrimonial property and equality of rights between parents in guardianship of children. A woman’s right to take employment was asserted, as well as the right to equal wages. The Nationality of Married Women Convention stated that no distinction should be made on the basis of sex in legislation or practice. The nationality of neither spouse should be affected by marriage or dissolution of marriage.

It was her concern for Mac that influenced her decision not to renew her contract in 1958. He was now thirty years old, and her Sydney friends had shouldered the responsibility for his care for long enough. She brought him to New York, then took him on a world trip before returning to Sydney. She was awarded the CBE in the birthday honours, and settled in the guest accommodation at Mount St Margaret, Ryde, close to the Ryde homes, where she had now placed Mac in Weemala. She thus returned to the sisters of the Little Company of Mary, who had been her refuge at Lewisham many years before. She died there in 1971. Mac was moved with others to a residence in the western suburbs, with Aline Fenwick as his trustee. He attended the Beatification ceremony of Mary MacKillop as an honoured guest

This story is one compounded of success and suffering, her own and that of the women and children whose champion she became. The accomplishments and successes can sometimes mask the real woman – how did others see her? Let me quote a few observations from her own times and from those who knew her best:

· Telegraph 1935

· Kate Commins

· Mary Lewis

· Aline Fenwick

What conclusions have you come to? What of the Tenison Woods family condemnation of her ‘desertion’ of her husband? Should she have taken Mac to New York? Did she impose on friendship in leaving him with others?

NB Those who responded to these questions were some women who also knew her and remembered her with great respect.