Māori Women's Welfare League

The Māori Women's Welfare League ( MWWL ) ( German: Māori Women's Welfare Association ) is a New Zealand women's organization that promotes social and political issues for the needs of Māori women and their families. President at the national level since 2008 Meagan Joe.

Founded in 1951, represents the Māori Women's Welfare League (Maori: Rōpū Wahine Maori Toko i te Ora ) today represents a tribal cross organization with over 3000 members it is now networked with over 130 local subdivisions throughout New Zealand and has connections that until after Australia, the United Kingdom and Hawaii rich. It thus represents Represents the most comprehensive social network among Māori

History

Background

The ensuing from the 1930s urbanization of the Maori population was accompanied by the emergence of significant social problems and grievances. Lived according to the census only 1936er only 10% of Māori in cities, in 1945 already 25% and the end of the 1950s more than half. The closer together between Māori and Pākehā led to tensions, prejudice and discrimination on the Maori population. Poor housing conditions, unemployment, alcoholism, violence and crime on the part of Māori were, among others more characteristic of its development. Was the proportion of Māori among the detainees in prisons in the 1920s to 4%, it grew to 1940 already at 15 %, followed by an annual average growth rate of 8.8% between 1950 and mid-1970.

1946 with the Māori Social and Economic Advancement Act so-called tribal committees were formed in the Iwi and called on the government side Welfare Officer (civil servants). These were the Department of Native Affairs under the direct authority and had the task to act as mediator between the committee and the government. But the committees in the Māorikommunen were male dominated and oriented not to the needs of women and children and were generally not interested in family matters. In order to improve the social situation of Māori women and their children, it was set up too close to a women's organization.

Prior to the founding of the League

1936 founded the district nurse Robina Cameron of Rotorua, due to concerns for the health of women, the Women's Health League. In order to build on the experience of the organization and be able to organize the social welfare for Māori, the Department of Native Affairs in the late 1940 entered into a collaboration with the Women's Health League with its established Welfare Committee. In 1950, already 165 local offices took care of health needs of Maori women. But a purely local direction of the organization, did not want to deviate from the Robina Cameron, prevented further strategic cooperation.

Establishment of the League

In September 1951 called Ernest Corbett, former Minister of Māori Affairs, to a conference of the Māori Women Committee to Wellington one, with the aim of creating a national organization under the control of the government, the more intensively address the needs of women and children care in the families of Māori.

The 300 delegates present eventually formed the Māori Women's Welfare League as a three-tier organization with Local Branches, District Councils and a Dominion Council ( German: local branches, district councils and a national governing body ). The interest of the government to strengthen the Māori - Pākehā women from view in the traditional roles of women, found in the 5 major points of the 15 goals formulated expression.

The five main objectives:

Whina Cooper first President

As the first president of the Māori Women's Welfare League Whina Cooper was surprisingly elected. Goods but, as she herself once put it, " ... so many present, the intelligent, educated, nurses, teachers, social workers and the like were ..." she was the only one who was nominated for the office.

Your first task they saw it, the organization with local offices - distributed over the entire country - to give a broad basis and let be given to all affected women in the country same help. The second task, which shall promptly bravely tackled was to eliminate the disastrous living conditions in the slum Freeman 's Bay, Auckland. With couragiertem appearance against the Minister Ernest Corbett she reached the resolution of the slums and the construction of houses for the families of the Māori.

Whina Cooper's tenure lasted six years. At the congress of the League in 1957, they no longer went to after votes had criticized their dominance and the League was only associated with her. In the six years of her presidency, she was active in their focus on health, education, crime and discrimination, and sat thus somewhat different emphasis than those who were at the forefront in the creation of the League. In her closing speech, she also called for the Māori Women's Welfare League independent from the state and independent to organize and cooperate more closely with other women's organizations.

Their success was that the organization was represented in 1956 with 300 offices, 88 District Councils and with more than 4000 members throughout the country. The Māori Women's Welfare League became the first organization of Māori, who spoke with a nationwide voice and to the social needs, especially for the urbanized Māori began.

Māori Women's Development Fund

In 1986, the Māori Women's Welfare League Māori Women's Development Fund. The purpose of this fund was to allow the money pot unemployed Māori women a path to independence. Today, the Māori Women's Development Fund of the Māori Women's Development Incorporation ( MWDI ) is managed, who is independent of the Māori Women's Welfare League surgery, but all members of the Board were former Presidents of the Māori Women's Welfare League. Although the Fund is also independent of the government, but were supported since 1986 with state money for his work and has to regularly undergo monitoring. In the two financial years 2009/2010 and 2010/2011, the budget for the Fund stood at NZ $ 1,867 million, respectively.