In Society

★ The Conference of Social Welfare Experts for the Countries of the Middle East was held at the Grand Hotel of Beit Mery between September 18 and 9, at the invitation of the Social Services Division of the United Nations, addressed to a number of workers in this field from Egypt, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan. The conference was also attended by representatives of UNESCO, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, the Refugee Relief agency, and the Near East Foundation.

The conference was directed by Miss Henderson, director of Social Services at the United Nations, and was attended by 28 members, 12 of them ladies. Among the Arab women figures who took part in this conference were Mrs. Asiya Wahbi, president of the Iraqi Women's Union; Mrs. Sara Jamali, wife of the Prime Minister of Iraq; Mrs. Zahia Marzouk for Egypt; Miss Adma Bayoud and Dr. Jamal Karam Harfush for Lebanon; Miss Suad al-Ajlani for Syria; and Miss Hind Husseini for Jordan.

The Conference of Social Welfare Experts for the Middle East took up subjects concerning the methods followed in preparing social specialists and assistants, what the course of study ought to include, and the aims it seeks to achieve.

On this occasion the representative of The Woman's Voice asked the two delegates of Iraq for their impressions of this conference, and Mrs. Asiya Wahbi answered as follows:

"It pleases me to say that the Conference of Social Welfare Experts for the Middle East, in which we took part, has succeeded very well in laying the foundations for the training of social workers, and has drawn up strong plans which I hope will be applied in every country, so that well-being may embrace the whole world and neglected humanity may rise.

"The atmosphere of the conference was friendly in the extreme, which made us feel as though we were among our own family and brethren. Many questions were treated concerning the problems of social workers, and it ended with useful recommendations, soon to be announced, addressed to the governments of the countries of the Middle East."

And Mrs. Sara Jamali, wife of the Prime Minister of Iraq, said:

"I pin great hopes on the Conference of Social Welfare Experts, for it is the way to raise the standard of living in the Arab countries through the training of assistants to the specialists in the various fields of work."

The members of the conference promised to strive, each with his own government, for the application of the conference's resolutions and to work to spread its recommendations as far as may be...

In answer to a question put to her, Mrs. Sara Jamali showed great optimism over the progress of the cause of the Iraqi woman, seeing that her husband, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, is among the greatest champions of this cause and supporters of the Iraqi woman's winning of her political rights... And this was likewise confirmed by Mrs. Asiya Wahbi, her companion, and president of the Iraqi Women's Union.

So perhaps we shall soon be surprised by news from Baghdad to the effect that the Iraqi woman is the third Arab woman to gain and to exercise her full political right...

★ At this season of every year, as summer comes to its full ripeness, women's circles in Lebanon busy themselves with work for the flourishing of the summering season and the quickening of its brilliance. The first thing they undertake is the holding of contests and dancing soirées at the great hotels and cafés of the mountain, and the setting aside of prizes for the queens of beauty and elegance. Here the art of the Lebanese woman shines forth, and her skill in organizing and presentation, so that these parties become an occasion for spreading cheer and gladness among the crowds of summer visitors; formality falls away in this family atmosphere, friendships are founded, and views are exchanged on the subjects and problems that occupy the Arab world today... In these celebrations the Lebanese woman plays the first role, for the social capability and native tact for which she is known. Among the most notable of these parties was the one held at the Shaghour café of Hammana to elect the queen of elegance; a great crowd of summer visitors flocked to it, and it lasted until the break of dawn; at it Miss Nammour was crowned "Miss Hammana"... Another party was held at the Birokiyeh café in Broummana, thronging with lovely young women, at which numerous prizes were distributed to those who performed the most beautiful dances in the various kinds of dancing. But the most notable of all these parties was the dancing soirée held by the Lebanese Red Cross Society in the garden of the Kadri Hotel in Zahle. The First Lady of Lebanon was expected to attend, but at the last moment she sent in her place the wife of General Chehab... After the presentation of a prize for the loveliest tango, Miss Hammana, Miss Nammour, volunteered to collect donations from those present, and such was her good taste that she stepped up to the microphone and sang for the audience herself.

★ Miss Ibtihaj Kaddoura, president of the General Arab Women's Union, declared, in answer to a question put to her about the date of the congress of the Arab women's unions, that the matter is still under study, but that the congress will most likely be held in Lebanon during next November.

★ Last month Lebanon was visited by Miss Rina Melhameh, the beauty queen of the United Nations, in the company of her mother.

Miss Melhameh is Lebanese by origin and American by birth, and she was elected last year from among 47 girls. The Woman's Voice wishes the beautiful young "queen of hearts" a pleasant stay in the lands of the mother country.