The group was founded by
Lady Rhondda in 1921 to press for changes in the law of the United Kingdom in six areas. The secretary from 1921 to 1926 was the actor-director and ex-suffragette
Winifred Mayo. It was inaugurated by several societies including: the
British Commonwealth Union,
British Federation of University Women, City Women's Club, Federation of Women Civil Servants, National Union of Trained Nurses,
National Union of Women Teachers,
Women's Auxiliary Service, Women's Guild of Empire,
Women Sanitary Inspectors and
Health Visitors Association. During the 1920s, it was active in trying to have the
League of Nations pass an Equal Rights Treaty. The group campaigned on principles of strict equality between men and women. This 'old feminism' or 'equality feminism' was sometimes contrasted to the 'new feminism' or 'welfare feminism' of other women's groups of the period, such as the
National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship, which sought protectionist legislation applying only to women. Members included former militant suffragists - such as
Dorothy Evans,
Florence Macfarlane,
Monica Whately,
Helen Archdale,
Charlotte Marsh,
Theresa Garnett and
Stella Newsome - as well as younger women like
Winifred Holtby,
Vera Brittain and
Caroline Haslett. Though the membership was usually under 300, the Six Point Group wielded considerable political influence in the interwar years and during the
Second World War.
Hazel Hunkins Hallinan took over as chair in 1950s, having joined the organisation in 1922. She also discussed the group in a suffrage interview with Brian Harrison, including efforts to amalgamate the Six Point Group and the Married Women's Association, which were unsuccessful due to differences of opinion between
Teresa Billington-Greig and Phyllis Vallance about constitutional and financial issues. She also reported that the Six Point Group was supported by
Nancy Astor, who gave £5 every year, and by
Frederick Pethwick-Lawrence, who helped to organise parties at the House of Lords. From 1967, the group played an active part in the co-ordination of other women's groups on a number of issues. Its secretary in the 1970s was
Hazel Hunkins Hallinan. From the late 1970s the group declined through its failure to recruit younger women. It went into abeyance in 1980, and was finally dissolved in 1983. ==Archives==