Women in the club: women's clubs in the Wellington region, 1895-1945

Abstract

Women's clubs were the first formally constituted social organisations for women in New Zealand. They were modelled on men's clubs. The earliest were founded in the 1890s mainly to give country women a place to rest and meet for lunch when they came to town. Many were residential. Before the First World War, city clubs were established which also had cultural and educational aims. The 1920s was the heyday of the women's club when the social elite, and many of the first graduates and professional women, met at the club. In 1925 they formed the Federation of Women's Clubs in New Zealand. By studying the records of women's clubs in the Wellington region the author has investigated the reasons why this distinctive form of leisure was so popular in the interwar period. The thesis begins by looking at the origins of women's clubs in America, England and Australia and comparing their founding in New Zealand. It then centres on the history of Wellington clubs and explores the activities and services they offered and who the exclusive membership were. It focuses especially on the 1920s, on women's reasons for belonging to social clubs and what alternative forms of leisure were available. The thesis questions the idea that leisure for this group of women was family based and argues that although home and family were the clubwomen's top priority they welcomed outside interests. It considers the movement to form women's organisations in the 1920s and the relationship of women's clubs to other groups. It explores the opportunities club membership gave women with leadership ambitions. The thesis concludes that women belonged to clubs because they were purely social, a place where they could relax from charitable work and social obligations, meet friends and extend their cultural and recreational interests. Women's clubs provided a transitional stage between a private and public social life.