President's Message  

Sometimes I have heard the comment that the National Council of Women is a feminist organisation, something with which most of our members strongly disagree. The dictionary defines Feminism as ‘ a doctrine or movement that advocates equal rights for women’. As we work for equal rights for women we could be described as feminists, but as we consider the diversity of our work it becomes obvious that we are so much more. While we care passionately and have worked tirelessly for over 100 years for women’s rights and equality, our mission is to improve the quality of life for all. We see this in the range of our Special Committees; the Arts, Housing, Health, Science and Technology, Education, Social and Employment, Consumer, Transport, Media and Foreign Affairs. In addition to concern for Equality and Human Rights our recent Seminars have included, media issues, land use and food security, migration, the arts and the intergenerational sixth form project.

Recently I attended the South West and Midland Region Severn Barrage Seminar in Gloucestershire. As I was not familiar with the issues I found it most informative and the debate proved to be very controversial; each speaker raising the mega problems we face today with Energy and Climate Change. The country needs energy security and renewable energy; these problems have to be addressed, time is running out.
There are a range of technologies and options available, with varying costs and effects on the environment. We as consumers, particularly in these credit crisis times, need to be aware of the current options.

The National Council of Women, always at the forefront in raising awareness of social problems, had already identified this as a problem and some years ago our policy was agreed to favour Nuclear power. However, in the light of progress, do we still hold that view today? Perhaps we need to have more discussion and debate, have a questionnaire to all members for their current opinion, even a resolution on this important issue for conference! Have you given any thought to this problem? If so let us know your views.