In 1936, the Coterie hosted a conference in Port of Spain and invited social workers from throughout the British West Indies and British Guiana. Marking the 15th anniversary of the Coterie, the conference held from 30 April to 10 May, aimed to promote regional cooperation between women involved in social welfare projects to improve educational, social and political spheres for women. The same year that this conference occurred, the government was taking steps to limit women's roles, passing legislation in Trinidad to ban married women as teachers. A few years later, they barred women from working at night, in an attempt to curtail them from being away from their primary duty of caring for their children. At the conference, women such as Jeffers, Beatrice Greig, Jessie Masson, and Gertie Wood spoke about women's intellectual capacity, their subordination and suppression, and the need for women to become educated and press for their right to be included in social and political structures. The conference was notable in that it did not allow men to speak throughout the majority of the sessions and that Jeffers emphasized that the government was failing in its obligation to address the needs of citizens. At the conclusion of the conference the public opinion was mixed, with some sectors understanding the problem of unequal policies for men and women, while others blamed women for their lack of action to improve their situation. The conference, however, marked a turning point. Following the conference, Jeffers ran for a seat on the Port of Spain City Council and won the first seat ever awarded to a woman in the country. The following year in Jamaica, Amy Bailey and Mary Morris Knibb formed the Women's Liberal Club, along the lines of the Coterie, which focused on improving socio-economic and political status for middle class women of colour. In 1938, the Coterie submitted a response to the West India Royal Commission enquiry calling for reform of education systems which did not allow girls to compete for Island Scholarships, did not provide vocational training, had no adult education programs to train women, and did not provide nursery schools, among other issues. They also pointed out the need for measures to prevent employment discrimination on the basis of color and gender, to facilitate forming of trade unions to protect women and girls, the need for women police officers to deal with women offenders and reform of child support laws. In 1940, the Coterie opened its first day nursery, called "Cipriani House", in Laventille and In the 1940s and 1950s, working with the Child Welfare League, the Day Nursery Association, the League of Women Voters and the Union of Women Citizens, the Coterie instigated the establishment of National Health Centers.