Gender politics at centre of internal CWA battle

RENOWNED for almost 100 years for promoting family values and traditional recipes, the Country Women’s Association is now under siege from city-based insurgents trying to force a swing to the left — starting with gender politics.

NSW CEO Danica Leys said the CWA was not the “conservative” organisation it was often mistaken for.

RENOWNED for almost 100 years for promoting family values and traditional recipes, the Country Women’s Association is now under siege from city-based insurgents trying to force a swing to the left — starting with gender politics.

Progressives who have joined the CWA have put forward several radical motions at the organisation’s annual state conference, including a push to make gender-neutral uniforms “mandatory” in public school across NSW.

The Country Women’s Association is now under siege.

It’s causing a major rift in the country’s biggest women’s organisation, which has been better known since the 1920s for baking teas and scones at the local show.

“We don’t think it’s a good idea,” Wellington branch secretary Phillipa Smith told The Daily Telegraph. “It’s political correctness gone mad.”

The uniform motion will be voted on today and is the brainchild of Sydney City Branch president Elizabeth Nash.

Barnaby Joyce tweets a selfie from the CWA conference at Armidale. Picture: Twitter

It states: “The policy of CWA of NSW shall be to advocate for the NSW government to amend its School Uniform Policy so that gender-neutral uniforms are mandatory for all public schools.”

Members of the Sydney City branch noted education guidelines clearly state a school uniform should “provide girls and boys with equal access to the full range of school activities”.

“The NSW government leaves the school community to decide on its uniforms. This has resulted in an inconsistent approach in uniform policy across NSW,” members wrote.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro, who attended yesterday along with former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, said he was “very open-minded” to the proposal.

“This is where we’re going and we’re having to now identify as governments how we work with the changes in community,” he said. “I’d love to see what the detail is and if the motion gets up to see how we could actually deliver it.”

But NSW Secondary Principals’ Council President Chris Presland rejected the motion, saying mandating gender-neutral uniforms was “not appropriate”.

The CWA is renowned for promoting family values and traditional recipes.

Mr Presland said it was only right that a school’s uniform policy was determined through a consultative process by the school and its community.

“Regardless of whether it’s gender-specific or gender-neutral, either way I just don’t think it’s appropriate that we mandate that to any community,” he said.

Trinity Catholic College last year said it would consider a gender-neutral uniform for the entire student body after permitting two NSW high school students who were born female but identified as male to wear boys’ uniforms.

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Another CWA motion advocates decriminalising sections of the NSW Crimes Act concerning administering or supplying drugs to have an abortion.

A separate motion echoes current concerns around the safety of paramedics, advocating for “protection against violence and assaults for all health employees”.

NSW CEO Danica Leys said the CWA was not the “conservative” organisation it was often mistaken for.

“One of the interesting things about CWA is it’s often thought about as being perhaps quite an old-fashioned, conservative organisation but the reality is far from that,” she said.