Woman's Christian Temperance Union to gather in Glenelg against drugs and alcohol SA Woman's Christian Temperance Union president Dawn Giddings with Karen Edwards, Janny Delany and Sandra Williams. Picture: DYLAN COKER Source: adelaidenow TWO hundred women intent on a world without alcohol and drugs will converge on Glenelg. They are the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, a group that has spent 125 years calling for abstinence. Some may call them "wowsers," but that's a tag they're happy to wear. "We put the interpretation on it as: 'we only want social evils removed'," says SA's union state president Dawn Giddings. The women will gather in Adelaide until Wednesday for the 39th Triennial World Convention to hear reports on the development of the temperance movement and discuss the effects of legal and illegal drugs. Mrs Giddings said delegates were coming from more than 20 countries. Despite dwindling numbers in South Australia - in 1899 there were 41 local branches of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and 1100 adult members; today there are fewer than 140 members - Mrs Giddings said followers still wanted to see the protection of the family and home.