Introduction to Pan Pacific and Southeast Asia Women's Association "Southeast Asia and the United Nations" Discussion Group
- Introduction to Pan Pacific and Southeast Asia Women's Association "Southeast Asia and the United Nations" Discussion Group
The Pan Pacific and Southeast Asia Women's Association (PPSEAWA) was established in 1928, when it held its first conference. PPSEAWA's mission is to foster friendship and collaboration among women from the Pacific and Southeast Asia and women in the United States (PPSEAWA, n.d.). The founders of this organization sought to improve the social, economic, and cultural conditions of their respective nations through collaboration with the United States and the United Nations. The "Southeast Asia and the United Nations" primary document recounts a 1955–56 discussion group meeting held in New York among five women from Burma (now Myanmar),1 India, Indonesia, Pakistan,2 and the Philippines (Republic of the Philippines), and five women from the United States. The issues discussed ranged from maternal and child welfare to education and the improvement of the status of women in society. UN experts on these issues were present for the discussion group.
The five women from Southeast Asia and the Pacific had all received formal education and contributed valuable information on their countries' social welfare programs. These five women were Mrs. Paw Htin representing Burma; Mrs. Sheila Jaipal representing India; Mrs. A. Islam representing Pakistan; Mrs. Paz P. Mendez representing the Philippines; and Mrs. Siti Roescali Prawoto representing Indonesia. Some of the members provided information on the important role women's organizations played [End Page 282] in social welfare. Mrs. Paz P. Mendez was the former dean of the college at Centro Escolar University in Manila and held office at several women's organizations in the Philippines. Mendez noted the significant role the Filipina feminist movement and women's organizations played in advocating for child welfare since 1905. Although she does not mention the organization by name, it is likely that she was referring to the the Asociación Feminista Filipina (AFF), the first women's organization advocating social welfare, which was founded in 1905 (Edwards and Roces 2010). The AFF established Gota de Leche in 1906, and they created the model for flourishing puericulture centers that institutionalized maternal and children's nutrition (Estrada-Claudio and Santos 2005; Gota de Leche, n.d.). Gota de leche, in Spanish, translates to a drop of milk. Mendez notes the slogan of women's organizations in the Philippines in 1907 was "A drop of milk for the protection of the infant." Gota de Leche continues to exist today with the same purpose to support malnourished children and maternal health. Mrs. Sheila Jaipal, a member of the Indian Delegation of the United Nations, noted that the All India Women's Conference (AIWC) did commendable work advocating for maternal and child welfare. The AIWC still exists as an organization today and continues to advocate for women's fundamental rights and empowerment (AIWC, n.d.). All primary documents are from the Pan Pacific and Southeast Asia Women's Association Records, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College.
Mandira Venkat is an undergraduate student studying sociology, South Asian studies, economics, and Italian at Smith College, class of 2019. She is from Austin, Texas and aspires to bring women of color narratives and content into the mainstream, and to foster interracial and cross-cultural dialogue.
Notes
1. This country was known as Burma at the time of the PPSEAWA's founding but has been known as Myanmar since 1989 when the military government changed the country's name to what it had long been in the country's vernacular discourse (Selth and Gallagher 2018). However, I refer to it as Burma here in keeping with the country's officially recognized nomenclature during the period in which this document was produced.
2. Given that Mrs. A. Islam representing Pakistan was fluent in Bengali and attended Calcutta University, it is possible that she is representing the region of East Pakistan. However, the text does not indicate this as her region of origin and/or the region of her life and work in general.
