Women's Rights Action Committee

There are 37,000 students in the New Zealand University Students' Association. Of these less than 40% are women. NZUSA recognises that this is a result of the particular difficulties, both financial and psychological, which women students face in attending university. In 1977 the Women's Rights Action Committee (WRAC) of NZUSA was set up to promote and protect the intersts of women students.

WRAC now provides a separate forum for discussion and action on women's rights with its own regulations etc, but is still an integral part of NZUSA. This means that university women are able to organise within their national students' association rather than acting as an external lobbying force. In the present economic climate, when both students and women are under attack from the New Zealand Government, there is much truth in the saying that there is 'Strength in Unity'.

WRAC is concerned both with the difficulties faced by women at university and also with the increasing Government attacks on women's rights. At university women make up only a third of the total student population and tend to be concentrated in the less career orientated faculties. Even in tutorials where there are only one or two guys, it is quite common for the few males to dominate the entire class. This is not because women are born submissive, quiet or shy or because they are inherently less intelligent than men — it is because this is the sort of behaviour women are conditioned into from early childhood.

Women students are also under considerable financial disadvantage when compared to male students. In order to supplement her paltry bursary allowance of $30 a week or $19 a week, she must have considerable savings. However, it has been found that on average women students save $350 less than their male counterparts. Women students in particular find it difficult to get jobs and the employment is often paid at a considerably lower rate. At many universities the creche facilities are toally inadequate. At the beginning of this year one Canterbury student was paying $42 a week in creche fees for her two children.

Women students are also subject to the inequalities present in wider society and the Government's attempts to place the burden of the present economic crisis on the backs of women. Along with restrictive abortion legislation, 1978 saw growing unemployment amongst women with the closing of small clothing factories and other businesses, a stepping up of the "Back to Home" campaign with increasing popularisation of the idea that women should leave the work force to look after their children, and continued attacks on benefits for solo mothers.

The WRAC was set up to fight these attacks on women's rights. It is made up of one Women's Rights officer from each campus (7 in all), the Coordinator who has a travel budget to enable her to co-ordinate activity on a national basis, and a representative from the National Office of NZUSA.

Our major activity in the past has been on the abortion campaign. WRAC has organised a number of campaigns, firstly against the Report of the Royal Commission and then against the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act. This year started off well with action on all campuses for March 31, the International Day for Abortion Rights. Forums and seminars on abortion were held on all the campuses except Lincoln. All were successful and well attended, the forum at Massey being particularly fruitful as it resulted in the establishment of a support group for women having abortions. Vigils are also being arranged on most campuses for September 19, Women's Sufferage Day.

As well as continuing work on the pro-choice campaign, we have also been getting more into educational work on the position of women at university and in society at large. At the beginning of the year we constructed a large exhibition on Women in New Zealand. The Exhibition is made up mainly of photographs and statistical information, as we felt this would be the most effective and simple way of getting across information on both the position and potential of New Zealand women. The other major way in which we are able to publicise women's rights is by providing articles for student papers, which we have done on a number of occasions. This supplement is part of this educational work.

We are also preparing reports on the University Creches and on Women's Studies Course, to provide some resource material on women at universities. This is an area in which very little work has been done previously, although this is beginning to change with the establishment and growth of the Women's Studies Association. However most of our work is concentrated around campaigns, the reasons for this being two-fold. The first is the great educational value of such campaigns; the second is that we are trying wherever possible to encourage the growth of Women's groups and to actively involve women on campus. If you would like to learn more or become more involved then contact your local University Women's Rights Officer at the Students' Association.