Women's Co-operative Guild
The Co-operative Women's Guild was an organization of the cooperative movement in Great Britain, which was specifically committed to the issues of women and offered its members help and support in both social and other matters.
history
The guild was founded in 1883 by two women, Alice Acland , editor of the Woman's Corner section of the Co-operative News, and Mary Lawrenson , a professional teacher who had an organization in mind in the making devoted to teaching and leisure activities especially for mothers and girls. Acland started the movement with the Women's League for the Spread of Co-operation (translated: "Women's Association in Support of the Co-operative Movement ") and planned its first official meeting at the Co-operative Congress in Edinburgh. There were 50 women who subsequently contributed to the establishment of many other regional groups and thus to a rapid growth in members. The original idea of strengthening the cooperative movement soon expanded and increasingly focused on political campaigns for women, among others. a. in health and voting rights .
In 1884 the name was changed for the first time to the Women's Co-operative Guild and later a second change to the current name Co-operative Women's Guild followed . Margaret Llewelyn Davies , who was elected as the new general secretary in 1899, made a significant contribution to the above-average growth of the organization: by 1910, the guild had 32,000 women. At the political level, too, the guild's strong presence was soon rewarded with important achievements, such as: B. Enshrining the right to maternity benefit in the National Insurance Act 1911 . Gradually, their political commitment extended to mainland Europe, and there too the guild campaigned for the creation and implementation of minimum wages and various social benefits . At the international women's congress of 1914 in The Hague, several representatives of the Co-operative Women's Guild were present and involved in the adoption of the following anti-war resolution:
" The conference is of the opinion that the horrific methods of war should never again be used to resolve conflicts between different nations and we urge governments worldwide to establish a community of states, enforced by the will of the people and with peace as the primary goal. "
After the First World War , the guild intensified its involvement in the peace movement and paid special attention to the social and political signs that favor war and also actively participated in the resistance against the arms trade. In 1933 she led the White Poppy ( Engl. "White poppy") as a symbol of pacifism and presented them to the red memorial poppy (Engl. " Remembrance poppy ") to the UK every year on 11 November on Remembrance Day to commemorating the fallen soldiers of the First World War is worn as an artificial boutonniere. At that time, the guild's popularity and expansion had peaked with 1,500 regional groups and 72,000 members.
In the following years, the organization's visible activities declined and on June 25, 2016, the National Co-operative Women's Guild was dissolved after 133 years.
General Secretaries
- 1883: Alice Acland
- 1885: Mary Lawrenson
- 1899: Margaret Llewelyn Davies
- 1922: Honora Enfield
- 1927: Eleanor Barton
- 1937: Rose Simpson
- 1940: Cecily Cook
- 1953: Mabel Ridealgh
- 1963: Kathleen Kempton
- 1983: Diane Paskin
- Sue Bell
- 2005: Claire Morgan
- 2011: Colette Harber
Individual evidence
- ↑ WHITE POPPIES FOR PEACE. Retrieved March 20, 2018 .
- ^ Poppy Day . In: new territory . November 11, 2013 ( discoverengland.com [accessed March 20, 2018]).