RSA Women's Sections

There are more than 150 RSA Women's Sections throughout the country, with nearly 16,000 members.

They offer a range of welfare and support services to ex-service personnel and their families, as well as the wider community. Membership is open to near relatives of returned servicemen, specifically wives and partners, widows, mothers, sisters and daughters.

Women who have themselves served overseas or in any other service capacity are also entitled to join Women's Sections, just as they are also eligible for Returned or Service membership of the RSA. While Women’s Sections have their own administrative structure, they are subject to the rules of the local RSA. There is no national executive for the Women's Sections since they operate solely at the local level.

History

1916-39: Ladies' Committees

The association of women with the RSA dates back to the beginnings of the RSA. The Patriotic Associations, largely run by women, assisted with the first RSA functions and later raised substantial funds for the early clubrooms. From 1916 the Ladies' Committees, as they were most commonly known, began to form and become an established part of the RSA. Meanwhile, the NZRSA Dominion Council meeting in 1918 extended free honorary memberships to returned nurses as a mark of appreciation of their war service.

During the 1920s and 1930s the Ladies' Committees catered for RSA reunions, took responsibility for fundraising, particularly Poppy Day, and organised annual Christmas parties for children. However, a call by the Review in 1928 for the formation of a Women's Section of the RSA, similar to that of the Royal British Legion, came to nothing.

Second World War

With the outbreak of the Second World War the activities of the Ladies' Committees expanded dramatically as they went about organising the farewells for men about to depart for service overseas. Members also took a very active role in visiting women whose relatives had been killed or were being held prisoner of war. In conjunction with other women's organisations, the committees also visited hospitals and organised sewing and knitting for those serving overseas. Meanwhile, other women's groups looked to the RSA for leadership to form organisations to assist the war effort. Christchurch RSA, for example, established a Wives and Widows Club in June 1940.

1942: Women's Sections established

The increased responsibilities of the Ladies' Committees led to calls for more formalised bodies during 1941. Dominion Headquarters provided much assistance to the establishment of the newly named Women’s Sections that were officially sanctioned at the NZRSA Dominion Council meeting in 1942.

Nonetheless, there remained a degree of hesitancy, mostly on the part of the women themselves, as they attempted to define the role they would play. The assurances by the Women’s Sections that they would undertake a traditional supportive role and not drastically alter the structure and culture of the RSA was welcomed by male members.

The activities of the newly formed Women's Sections were traditional: catering, fundraising and acting as a support network for women and children of ex-servicemen. In September 1943, the Review provided space for their own column and by the end of the war there were more than fifteen RSA Women's Sections throughout the country.

Post-War Years

	Alexander Turnbull Library
	Poppy Day collector, 1974

The Women's Sections grew steadily during the post-war decades. They continued to provide welfare services for ex-service personnel and their dependants, in addition to the traditional functions of organising Poppy Day and other fundraising ventures.

In recent years the sections have become increasingly active in wider community ventures such as catering and fundraising for hospices or creches, in some cases raising substantial funds, on the principle that 'any deserving cause is a good cause’. In this sense, the Women's Sections have continued a tradition established by the early Ladies' Committees. They are also a fine example of the RSA motto of ‘People Helping People’.

Today

There are over 150 Women's Sections throughout the country. In 2001 — the International Year of the Volunteer — the RNZRSA presented each RSA Women’s Section with a framed certificate in recognition of their contribution to the RSA movement and the community in general.

Source: RNZRSA Historian Dr Stephen Clarke