<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Women Working Together

London Suffrage deomo with Vida

WOMEN WORKING TOGETHER
suffrage and onward
S
Published by Women's Web - wmnsweb@iprimus.com.au - www.womensweb.com.au

JOSIE LEE LOOKING FORWARD


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TRUST THE WOMEN MOTHER


THIS SITE CONTAINS

Introduction

1 to 5 - Winning the vote

Chapter 1: The Vote or Bust 1788-1908

Chapter 2: Who Were the Suffragists?

Chapter 3: 'United and Representative Agitation'

Chapter 4: Anti-Suffragists 1900-1910

Chapter 5: Onwards to Success 1884-1908

6 to 10 - Social Justice and peace

Chapter 6: Moving into the Public World

Chapter 7: 1914-18 War - Pro Peace, Pro and Anti War

Chapter 8: Women's Work in WW1

Chapter 9: 1919-1935 - Surviving

Chapter 10: 1935-1945 Still Surviving

11 to 15 - Finding our voice as women

Chapter 11: 1945 and after - In Our Own Right

Chapter 12: 1970's Protesting - Working Together Again

Chapter 13: Finding Our Voice - Women's Liberation

Chapter 14: Working Collectively

Chapter 15: The 1970's & 80's Broader Women's Movement

16 to 20 - Our legacy our strength our struggle

Chapter 16: In Our Own Hands - Our Bodies

Chapter 17: Whose Right to Choose?- Our Selves

Chapter 18: Environment Matters

Chapter 19: 1990's When the Women's Movement is Quiet

Chapter 20: What a Legacy We Inherit!

Appendix 1: Papers and Interviews

Appendix 2: Songs from the Women's Movement

sufflondon

WOMEN FROM THE
WOMEN'S MOVEMENT
MENTIONED IN THIS WORK.


Abigail Adams
Ada Brougham
Adela Pankhurst
Adrian Howe
Agnes Murphy
Aileen Goldstein
Ailsa O'Connor
Alayne Park
Alex Butler
Alice B Toklas
Alice Henry
Alice Moon
Alice Suter
Alice Walker
Alice Weekes
Alina Holgate
Alisa Burns
Alison Alexander
Alison Dickie
Alison Richards
Alix McDonald
Alma Morton
Alma Thorpe
Andrea Coote
Annie McKenzie
Alva Geike
Amanda Bede
Amanda Biles
Amanda Graham
Amelia Ceranas
Amelia Lambrick
Amira Ingliss
Amy Castilla
Angelina Austin
Angelina Wonga
Ann Jackson
Anna Brennan
Anna Howie
Anna Morgan
Anna Pha
Anna Shaw
Anna Stewart
Anne Barker
Anne Carson
Anne Conlon
Anne Gowers
Anne Phelan
Anne Riseborough
Anne Stewart
Anne Summers
Annette Bear-Crawford
Annie Lister
Annie Lowe
Annie McKenzie
Anthea Hyslop
Antonie Stolle
Ariel Couchman
Audrey Oldfield
Barb Friday
Barbara Creed
Barbara Hall
Barbara Jones
Barbara Kerr
Barbara Marsh
Barbara Van Meurs
Barbara Wishart
Beatrice Faust
Bella Lavender
Belle McKenzie
Bertha Main
Beryl Carter
Bessie Harrison-Lee
Bessie Rainer Parkes
Bessie Rischbieth
Bette Olle
Betty Richmond
Bev Kingston
Bon Hull
Brettena Smyth
Brienne Callahan
Brigid McCaughey
Bronwyn Pike
Candy Broad
Carmel Shute
Carmen Callil
Carmen Lawrence
Carole Ford
Carole Wilson
Caroline Huidobro
Caroline Landale
Carolyn Allport
Carolyn Jay
Carolyn Worth
Carrie Chapman Catt
Carrie Reed
Caryl Friedman
Cath Mayes
Cath Stone
Catherine Anne Spence
Catherine Blackburn
Catherine McLennan
Cecilia John
Charlotte P Gilman (Stetson)
Cheris Kramarae
Cheryl Griffin
Chris Cathie
Chris Chapman
Chris Sitka
Chris Zsizsman
Christina Frankland
Christina Stead
Christine Haag
Churls Kramarae
Claire Berry
Clara Weekes
Clare Wright
Claudia Wright
Colleen Hartland
Constance Stone
Cynthis Carson
Dale Dowse
Dale Spender
Daphne Gollan
Deb Schnookal
Deborah Jordan
Deborah Wardley
Di Fruin
Di Otto
Di Surgey
Diane Crunden
Diane Kirby
Diane Sonnenberg
Dianne Edwards
Dianne Scott
Dianne Wells
Dimity Reed
Divna Devic
Dominica Whelan
Dora Coates
Doris Blackburn
Doris Challis
Doris McRae
Dorothy Turner
Dr Adrian Howe
Dr Aletta Jacobs
Dr Clara Stone
Dr Clare Isbister
Dr Constance Stone
Dr Helene Stocker
Dr Georgina Sweet
Dr Gwen Fong
Dr Janet Bacon
Dr Jocelynne Scutt
Dr Lyn McKenzie
Dr Marie Stopes
Dr Mary Glowrey
Dr Mary Stone
Dr Tamara McKean
Duggie Silins
Edie Turnevich
Edith Hedger
Edith Morgan
Edith Taylor
Edna Ryan
Eileen Capocchi
Eileen Kampukuta Brown
Eileen Unkari Crombie
Eleanor Dark
Eleanor Harding
Eleanor Hobbs
Eleanor M Moore
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Coady
Elizabeth Hooke
Elizabeth Jackson
Elizabeth Ramsay-Laye
Elizabeth Reid
Elizabeth Rennick
Elizabeth Wallace
Elizabeth Wheelahan
Elizabeth Windshuttle
Ellen Julia Gould
Ellen Kleimaker
Ellen Ward
Elphinstone Dick
E McAllister
Emily Dobson
Emily Greene Balch
Emily Munyungka Austin
Emily Pankhurst
Emmaline Pankhurst
Emmy Evald
Ethel Barringer
Eugenie Davidson
Eva Eden
Eva Cox
Eva Figes
Eve Fesl
Eve Gray
Evelyn Gough
Evelyn Greig
Farley Kelly
Fiona Colin
Fiona Moorhead
Fleur Finney
Flo Kennedy
Flora Eldershaw
Florence Kelly
Frances Fraser
Frances Kissling
Fraulein Von Heymann
Freda Durham
Freda Gamble
Freda Steinberg
Frida Kahlo
Florence Miller
Gay Harris
Gayle Tierney
Gaylene Sneadon
Geraldine Briggs
Geraldine Robertson
Georgina McEnroe
Germaine Greer
Gertrude Bussey
Gertrude Stein
Gill Alecto
Gillian Waite
Gina Lewis
Gisela Kaplan
Glen Tomasetti
Greta Pearce
Gudren Drewsen
Gwendolen Swinburne
Harriet Taylor Mill
Hazel Donelly
Heather Jeffcoat
Heather Osland
Helen Anderson
Helen Caldicott
Helen Dow
Helen Durham
Helen Palmer
Helen Reddy
Helen Robertson
Helen Shardey
Helen Sexton
Hellen Cooke
Henrietta Dugdale
Henry Handel Richardson
Hetty Gilbert
Ilka Elkemann
Ina Higgins
Irina Dunn
Isabel McCorkindale
Isabella Goldstein
Isabella Martinis
Ivy Makinta Stewart
Jaala Pulford
Jacinta Allen
Jackie Fristacky
Jacqui Katona
Jan Armstrong Cohn
Jan Bassett
Jan Harper
Jan Mercer
Jan Testro
Jane Addams
Jane Alley
Jane Greig
Jane Mullett
Janet Bacon
Janet Bell
Janet Elefmiotis
Janet Lindsay Greig
Janet McCalman
Janet Michie
Janet Strong
Janey Stone
Janice Brownfoot
Janice Munt
Janine Bourke
Janne Reed
Jean Bedford
Jean Daley
Jean Henry
Jean McLean
Jean Melzer
Jean Sims
Jean Taylor
Jean Thompson
Jeanette Fenelon
Jeanette Powell
Jeanette Rankin
Jeni Thornley
Jennifer Clark
Jennifer Feeney
Jennifer Lee
Jennie Baines
Jenny Bacon
Jenny Barwell
Jenny Lee
Jenny Mikakos
Jenny Rimmer
Jenny Tatchell
Jesse Marlow
Jessie Ferguson
Jessie Henderson
Jessie Mcleod
Jessie Street
Jenny Pausaker
Jessie Street
Jessie Taylor
Jill Jolliffe
Jill Parkes
Jill Reichstein
Jill Roe
Jo Ellis
Jo MacLaine-Cross
Jo Phillips
Jo Wainer
Joan Coxsedge
Joan Curlewis
Joan E Basquil
Joan Goodwin
Joan Elkington
Joan King
Joan Kirner
Joan Rosanove
Joan Rowlands
Joanna Rea
Joanne Duncan
Jocelyne Clarke
Joe Dolce
Josephine Butler
Josie Lee
Joy Damousi
Joyce Barry
Joyce Johnson
Joyce Nicholson
Joyce Stevens
Jude Perera
Judi Willis
Judith Smart
Judy Cassar
Judy Morton
Judy Power
Judy Maddigan
Judy Small
Julia Church
Julia So So
Julianne Fogarty
Julie McCrossin
Julie Shiels
Juliette Mitchell
Kamla Bhasin
Karen Bird
Karen Gillespie
Karen Milgram
Karen Overington
Karen Silkwood
Karina Veal
Kate Darian-Smith
Kate Gilmore
Kate Jennings
Kate Miller
Kath Williams
Katherine Mansfield
Katherine Suzannah Prichard
Kathie Gleeson
Kathie Sarachild
Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Kathleen Maltzahn
Kathryn Sutherland
Kathy Gill
Kathy Wilson
Katrina Veal
Kay Daniels
Kaye Darveniza
Kay Hamilton
Kay Hargreaves
Kay Setches
Kaz Cooke
Keitha Carter
Kerry Blundell
Kerryn & Jenny
Kris Wilkinson
Lady Helen Munro-Ferguson
Lariane Fonseca
Laura Daniele
Laura Van Nooten
Laurie Bebbington
Lena McEwan
Lesbia Harford
Lesley Hewitt
Lesley Podesta
Lesley Stern
Lesley Vick
Leslie Cannold
Leslie Henderson
Lexie Methereall
Libby Brook
Libby Minifie
Lilian Alexander
Lilian Wald
Lily D'Ambrosia
Linda Aarchen
Linda Rubenstein
Linn Van Hek
Lisa Neville
Lisa Shuckroon
Liz Beattie
Liz Byrski
Liz Dowling
Liz Taylor
Lois Bryson
Lois Young
Lorri Manning
Louisa Lawson
Louisa Remedios
Louise Asher
Louise Walford
Lorna Scarles
Lucy Kowing Wilton
Lucy Paling
Lydia Becker
Lyla Barnard
Lyn Chambers
Lyn Hovey
Lyn McKenzie
Lynne Kosky
Mabel Drummond
Mandy Paul
Maree Gladwin
Margaret Bevege
Margaret Baskerville
Margaret Geddes
Margaret James
Margaret Mead
Margaret McKenzie
Margaret McLean
Margaret Roadknight
Margaret Thorp
Margaret Tims
Margaret Tucker
Margot Oliver
Maree Gould
Maria Mies
Marian Sawer
Marian Simms
Marian Vickers
Marie Kirk
Marie McInnes
Marie Rowan
Marion Harper
Marilyn Beaumont
Marilyn Hillgrave
Marilyn Lake
Marsha Thomson
Marylin Waring
Marilyn Wise
Marj Oke
Marjorie Barnard
Marjorie Barrett
Marjorie Waters
Mary Astell
Mary Bartlett
Mary Brodney
Mary Crooks
Mary Fullerton
Mary Gilbert
Mary Grant
Mary Killury
Mary Leigh
Mary Merkenich
Mary Murnane
Mary Owen
Mary Page Stone
Mary Rogers
Mary Salce
Mary Wolstonecraft
Mary Wooldridge
Matron Brown
Maxine Morand
May Brodney
May Langbridge
May Scheidt
May Smith
Megan McMurchy
Melanie Hall
Melinda Freyer
Melvina Ingram
Meredith Tax
Mesdames: Wallace; Baines;
Lavender; Webb; Singleton;
Morris; Gardiner; Reynolds,
Reid.
Mesdames Savage and Bella Lavender
Miles Franklin
Millicent Garrett Fawcett
Miss A Hume
Miss Anderson
Miss C H Thomson
Miss Cuthbertson
Miss D McRae
Miss E Goldstein
Miss E Hedger
Miss Effie Smart
Miss E Nesbit
Miss Geraldine Rede
Miss H Bridger
Miss H McGowan
Miss Harriet Newcomb
Miss Hilda Moody
Miss Jane Adams
Miss Janet Michie
Miss Jeanette Rankin
Miss Judd
Miss L Savage
Miss Lawler
Miss Lillian Locke
Miss Lillian Wald
Miss Mary Fullerton
Miss Miriam Geach
Miss Olive Gray
Miss R Smethurst
Miss Rapier
Miss Selina Cooper
Miss Simmons
Miss Wollen
Miss Stoddart
Miss V Bonner
Misses: Lewis; McMahon; Helsby;
Moody; Wise; Pascoe; Stewart;
Goodwin; Grant etc.
Misses: Mulcahy; Delaney; Townsend;
McGrath; Clements; Collins; Triffle; Cohen; McLean
Moira Rayner
Mollie Baine
Mollie Dyer
Molly Hadfield
Monika Wells
Morag Loh
Madame E Lorton Campbel
Mrs Anna B Howie
Mrs Bella Lavender Halloran
Mrs Beresford Jones
Mrs Bochinon
Mrs Brown
Mrs Catherine P Wallace
Mrs Chesterfield
Mrs Crawford
Mrs Crutchfield
Mrs D Irwin
Mrs D Monsbourgh
Mrs D Nankivell
Mrs Dwyer
Mrs E Hampton
Mrs E M Nimmo
Mrs E Pethridge
Mrs E Rothfield
Mrs Elliot
Mrs E W Nicholls
Mrs Emily Jackson
Mrs Evelyn Gough
Mrs F J Nicholls
Mrs F Williams
Mrs Florence Kelly
Mrs Fryer
Mrs Fisher
Mrs G Cameron
Mrs Goldstein (senior)
Mrs H A Dugdale
Mrs Harrard
Mrs Harrison Lee
Mrs Jamieson
Mrs Janet Strong
Mrs Jessie Vasey
Mrs Joan Rosanove
Mrs Josephine Butler
Mrs Kelly
Mrs Langdale
Mrs Laura Howie
Mrs Lister Watson
Mrs Lowe
Mrs Lucy Paling
Mrs M Hartley
Mrs M B Wollaston
Mrs M Mayall
Mrs Mabel Drummond
Mrs Malcolm
Mrs Martin
Mrs Mary Baird
Mrs Maudsley
Mrs M McGowan
Mrs Moody
Mrs Moore
Mrs Nance Wills
Mrs Naylor
Mrs O'Dowd
Mrs P Eden
Mrs Press
Mrs Pymm
Mrs Renwick
Mrs Robertson
Mrs Rosanov
'Mum' Shirl
Mrs Singleton
Mrs Smythe
Mrs Steele
Mrs Strong
Mrs Warren Kerr
Mrs Z Lees
Muriel Heagney
Myra Roper
Nan Chelsworth
Nancy Kessing
Nancye Smith
Narelle Dwyer
Nawal El Saadawi
Nettie Palmer
Nicole Steinke
Nina Bondarenke
Norma Grieve
Olive Gray
Olive Schreiner
Onnie Wilson
Pam Brewster
Pam Roberts
Pamela Branas
Pamela Curr
Pat Freeman
Pat Gowland
Pat Martin
Patricia Filar
Patsy Adam-Smith
Paula Trechler
Pauline Kennedy
Pauline Pickford
Peggy Cullinan
Penny Cooke
Penny Farrer
Penny Ryan
Peta Tait
Petra Munro
Philippa Hawker
Ponch Hawkes
Prof. Jo Wainer
Prof. Margaret Thornton
Rachel Avery
Rachel Hesley
Rae Walker
Raelene Frances
Ramona Koval
Rebecca West
Renate Howe
Renate Klein
Renee Miller
Renee Romeril
Rhoda Bell
Rigmor Berg
Rivka Pile
Roberta Meilleur
Robin Morgan
Robin Royce
Robyn Archer
Robyn Martin
Robyn Rowland
Romawati Senaga
Ros Bowden
Rose Scott
Rosemarie Gillespie
Rosemary Brown
Rosie Ferber
Ruby Rich
Ruby Tuesday
Ruth Bermann
Ruth Crow
Ruth Ford
Ruth Schnookal
Sabine Fernheicher
Sadie Kirsner
Sally Mendes
Sally Wilkins
Sandra Bloodworth
Sandra Onus
Senator Olive Zakharov
Sharon Jones
Sheila Bayard
Sheila Ricci
Sheila Wynn
Shirley Andrews
Shirley Swain
Sister Gladys Sumner
Sister Blake
Sister Brown
Sister Hannah
Sophie Slater
Stephanie Moore
Sue Jackson
Sue Mountford
Sue Pennicuik
Sue Reid
Sue Russell
Susan Anthony
Susan Hawthorne
Susie Grezik
Susy Potter
Suzane Fabian
Sylvia Azzopardi
Sylvia Plath
Sylvie Leber
Sylvie Shaw
Tammy Lobato
Tanya McIntyre
Teresa Magna
Terri Jackson
Terry Carney
Tess Lee-Ack
Tess Maloney
Thelma Fry
Thelma Lees
Thelma Prior
Thelma Solomon
Therese Radic
Theresa Lynch
Tjunmutja Myra Watson
Tjuta Ivy Makinti Stewart
Tracey Gurd
Tricia Caswell
Tricia Szirom
Trish Crick
Trudy Wise
Una Stannard
Val Ogden
Val Osborne
Vandana Shiva
Verity Bergmann
Vweronica Shwarz
Vida Goldstein
Virginia Geddes
Virginia Woolf
Vivien Brophy
Vivienne Binns
Wendy Lovell
Wendy Lowenstein
Wendy Poussard
Win Graham
Winsome McCaughey
Yolana Sutherland
Yosano Akiko
Yvonne Margarula
Yvonne Smith
Zara Wildenaur
Zelda D'Aprano
Zoe Phillips

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CHAPTER 6 - Moving Into the Public World
after winning the vote

Women have never argued that women' suffrage would reform the world. They claim that the ballot is a powerful weapon with which to combat social and industrial wrongs.
Vida Goldstein about the Women's Political Association

TRUST THE WOMEN MOTHER
TRUST THE WOMEN MOTHER AS I HAVE DONE

"TRUST THE WOMEN, MOTHER AS I HAVE DONE " ... was "painted in 1908 by Dora Meeson Coates, an Australian artist living in London, and it was carried that year by Australian women in the first of the great London suffrage demonstrations. It featured again in the suffrage march in 1911, when many Australian and New Zealand women were in England for the Coronation". Australian Bureau of Statistics website

In this chapter we look at the women's movement after they won the vote
1...BACKGROUND
2...START OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
3...MELBOURNE TAILORESSES STRIKE (1874)
4...SWEATED LABOUR
5...WORKING INTERNATIONALLY 
6...1909 - NOW WE HAD THE VOTE IN VICTORIA

7...'SANCTITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL, WITH A RECOGNITION OF HUMAN INTERDEPENDENCE'
8...WORKING CONDITIONS

9.. .WAGES BOARDS
10..SOCIAL JUSTICE, SOCIAL JUSTICE, SOCIAL JUSTICE AGAIN but they were seen as 'invaders' of the male paid workplace
11..THE HARVESTER DECISION

Again there was a reaction to their activism
12..WOMEN TEACHERS 'HER UNCONSCIOUSLY DESTRUCTIVE INFLUENCE'? but it didn't stop them
13..'THE MATCH GIRLS
14..YOURSELF, YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR COUNTRY - the AWNL
15..WPA CHALLENGE TO DEBATE
16..'WHENEVER WOMEN'S INTERESTS ARE AT STAKE'
and they had some success
17..THEY HAD SUCCESSES  

We end this chapter with
18..1913 WAR PREPARATIONS

1...BACKGROUND

Women won the vote in Australia in a situation where living conditions were appalling for many and many feminists blamed women's inability to obtain economic security. In one report in the Argus a woman was arrested for vagrancy, and because she was starving the police gave her a meal which she 'ate ravenously', but couldn't digest the food and died shortly after:

The Age 24 June 1897: 'A Hard Case - To the editor of the Age, Sir, During the last week a friend of mine, whose husband for the last six months has been able to obtain little or no work, was forced through sheer necessity to seek medical attendance as an outpatient in one of our hospitals ... she was refused admittance to the doctor for the reason that she was not able to pay 1s per week. This poor woman and three little mites of children had to leave this charitable institution and go home broken-hearted, sick and hungry ... I have known this family to be living on dry bread and tea for weeks, the bread not even being paid for, and they also have had to quit their place of abode through arrears. A person steady, sober, industrious but refused admission to a charitable institution because she cannot raise a payment. Is this, Sir, why we support such institutions? - Yours, etc, Disgusted, South Melbourne 12th June' p 105 Children in Australia An Outline History Sue Fabian Morag Loh

Clara Weekes: 'This letter appeared in The Woman's Sphere 10 June 1903 in answer to a request for contributions about 'The Population Question', stating "As a teacher for more than 30 years ... I know of one woman who had twenty-two children, and less than one-third grew up. How is it possible for a mother to give her children proper attention when she has three or four babies to care for at the same time? ... I think the greatest sufferers are the struggling farmers' wives. These women not only have their homes and families to attend to, but outside farm work as well, and one poor woman I have in mind died of sheer exhaustion at the age of thirty, leaving eight young children behind her.' p 132 Uphill all the way A Documentary History of Women in Australia Kay Daniels and Mary MurnaneUQ Press 1980

Shirley Swain: 'Poverty was widespread in Victorian society in the later nineteenth century, but the colony remained proud that it had not had to resort to a Poor Law in order to meet the needs of the less fortunate of its citizens. Instead, the relief of the destitute was the responsibility of a large number of voluntary charitable agencies, most financially dependent on the government to a greater or lesser extent, but totally under the control of those private citizens who chose and were able to make regular donations .. With the (1890's) depression the money available to charitable organizations declined at a time when the need was markedly increasing, and the system of which the colony had been so proud manifestly failed to cope. Swain, Shurlee L. (1976) PhD thesis, History, University of Melbourne.

Among the Workless women and children
Among the Workless, David Syme, State Library of Victoria mp007350
Women, children and old man standing in line to fill a billy with soup in Melbourne

They responded by continuing the feminist tradition of social and political activism that had become international with International Women's Day.

2...START OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

'On 8 March 1857 women working in clothing and textile factories (called 'garment workers') in New York City, in the United States, staged a protest. They were fighting against inhumane working conditions and low wages. The police attacked the protestors and dispersed them. Two years later, again in March, these women formed their first labour union to try and protect themselves and gain some basic rights in the workplace. 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter work hours, better pay, voting rights and an end to child labour. They adopted the slogan "Bread and Roses", with bread symbolizing economic security and roses a better quality of life.' http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/days/women/how.asp

Our Women: "On a blustery March day early in the century (1908), citizens of New York gathered on the side-walks to watch and be stirred by an unusual sight in their city. Women members of the International Garment Workers' Union were demonstrating against their intolerable working conditions." Our Women Union of Australian Women 10th Anniversary edition

They also demanded the vote an end to sweatshops and child labour. http://www.cwluherstory.org/CWLUArchive/interwomen.html

Kay Hargreaves: 'These feminists broadened out, learning about, using, and including other aspects of the women's movement here and internationally - the International Garment Workers' Union demonstration in the the US and the unions women formed here such as the Domestic Workers Union and the Tailoresses' Union which met in the Female Operatives' Hall at Trades Hall.' p 14 Women at Work  Penguin 1982

FEMALE OPERATIVES HALL THC
Female Operatives Hall, Trades Hall, State Library of Victoria (land granted in 1882 after Melbourne Tailoresses' Union strike against sweating made women accepted at Trades Hall,there till approx. 1920's)

See Appendix 1 Papers

BACK TO TOP

3...MELBOURNE TAILORESSES STRIKE (1874)

Edna Ryan: 'It was made clear from the beginning of unionism in Australia that neither women nor Chinese were wanted and they were not eligible, in fact, to become members in the early craft unions. Because of this rejection, women had to form their own unions, separate unions, which they did. The best known one, of course, is the Tailoresses union and their great strike in the 1880s. But the fact that the Tailoresses' formed so early was because the journeymen wouldn't have them. A woman had to be a tradesman or a journeyman to join the union, and of course, she never was.' Interview with Edna Ryan from For Love or Money p.46 Megan McMurchy Margot Oliver Jeni Thornley ed Irina Dunn designed by Pam Brewster

Raelene Frances: 'As the editor of the Age explained when Melbourne's tailoresses went on strike in 1882: "Men under similar circumstances can hold indignation meetings, and publicly make their grievances known; women cannot. They can only depend on friends to champion their cause." p 124 Making a Life ed Verity Burgmann & Jenny Lee McPhee Gribble 1988

The Age: 'We are convinced that Messrs Beath, Schiess and Co are in the wrong and that public opinion will be against them ... An Intelligent girl: "Six weeks ago we were getting 4s8d a coat including an extra pocket. The firm tried to reduce the amount to 4s2d but we refused to accept it. They then took off three pence. We submitted to this, but last Tuesday they said that they would take off another three pence, and then we struck. Another coat hand says 'I used to make from 18s to 20s per week; under the new prices I could not make more than 14s or 15s. I have to pay 11s a week for my board, as I have no father or mother, and how can I live respectably on that?" 13 September 1882


Helen Robertson: ''When I started employers had all their own way; sweating was rampant and I was one of the sweated. Working girls were treated like animals, and every ounce of their vitality was sapped up in long hours at the employer's profit ... It's a long and painful story. We had no union at first, and three or four of us got together and tried to start one. But opposition came from all quarters. Even some of our own workers scabbed on us, and I was boycotted by employers for being an agitator and communicating with the Trades Hall.

At length, by dint of much persistency, we got together a good meeting. But it was all hard work. We couldn't go around and organise like you can today. So we got some dodgers printed, and in the darkness of night two of us - the late Mrs Moody and myself - plastered the factories with them. The meeting that resulted was very successful, and was really the starting point of our improvement.' Interview with Mrs Robertson, of the Clothing Trades Gazette May 15 1922 from p.47 For Love or Money a pictorial history of women and work in Australia Megan McMurchy, Margot Oliver, Jeni Thornley Penguin 1983

Sweated labour and one of its consequences, forced prostitution - the "White Slave Traffic" - was now on the political agenda.

4...SWEATED LABOUR

The Age 6 May 1893: "The whole of the work was taken home on perambulators and tubs by poor women and girls. The rate paid by him for knicker trousers ... was 4 shillings per dozen, finished. The schedule prices adopted by the Tailoresses' Union and which was for some time observed by city firms was ... 10 shillings and 6 pence per dozen." By 1895 Anti-Sweating leagues had been formed to stop this exploitation of women and children.' Sue Fabian, Morag Loh Children in Australia an outline history Oxford University Press Melbourne 1980

Woman Voter April 8 1913: 'Employers of Sweated Labour and its Supporters Responsible for White Slave Traffic:- In the first number of the Awakener, George Bernard Shaw hurls a characteristic indictment against the employers of sweated labour, and all who profit by it, directly or indirectly. Mr Shaw maintains that the White Slave Traffic will never be eliminated until women are protected from vice by the ability to earn a decent livelihood in a decent way.' State Library of Victoria

Since winning the vote federally, they became sought after internationally. Alice Henry was a journalist who found opportunity in the USA she didn't have here.

5...WORKING INTERNATIONALLY

Alice Henry went to the USA in 1906, promoting social justice and women's suffrage -
Alice Henry: 'The Australian woman, enfranchised, has risen into a freer, less timid world ... she has provided more tenderly than ever did male legislators for the unmarried mother ...' and 'she had brought about reforms designed to preserve the security of the home'.

She gave further expression to this idea in a letter written to a newspaper almost a year after she had arrived in the United States: "I am ... happy to assure you readers that Australian reverence for the sanctities of the home as shown in our legislation and in our customs is carried out with a thorough going sincerity." She then described certain specific legislation in relation to mothers - widowed, unmarried or destitute - and summed up the position of the state in Australia as striving to enable mothers better to fulfil their duties, and to bring home to the father that he, too, had duties and responsibilities. And in another article published at the same time she traced such legislation - prenatal acts, acts raising the age of consent, family maintenance acts, and several others relating to children - to the existence of woman suffrage.' 1906 p 84 Diane Kirby Alice Henry: The Power of Pen and Voice CUB 1991

Marilyn Lake: ' ... the 1906 conference of the International Women's Suffrage Alliance in Copenhagen was informed about the activities of enfranchised women in Australia - "What is it they vote for? ... the questions they take up, the measures they get passed? Well, they take first Local Option or some measure for minimising the drink devil, then children's courts, the care of neglected and feeble minded children, a more scientific method of treating habitual criminals, the closing of drink bars on election days and, as regards legislation for women specially, equal divorce laws, the raising of the age of consent and the Testator's Maintenance Act (preventing a husband from willing away his property from his wife and family)." p 67 getting equal The History of Australian Feminism Allen & Unwin 1999

Vida Goldstein left for England to support the suffragettes in 1911 - Vida Goldstein: 'Manifesto by the President -Fellow Members:- On the eve of my departure for England, to assist in the suffrage campaign which is being conducted with a collective statesmanship, heroism, and self sacrifice unparalleled in any previous struggle for political liberty, I wish to emphasise some points in connection with our work for the coming year. As always, the WPA will take every opportunity of pressing the claims of the home, of women and children, on the attention of public bodies, but we intent to concentrate our energies in working for: A Federal Equal Marriage and Divorce Law; Raising the Age of Consent to 21; Equal Pay for Equal Work; Moral Education of the Young."

The winning of these reforms would mean that wives and mothers would have equal rights with husbands and fathers with respect to Marriage and Divorce, the Custody and Guardianship of Children; that a girl's person would have the same protection as the law now gives her property; that man and women would work on equal terms as breadwinners, efficiency, not sex, being the basis of remuneration, and that our children would be surrounded by proper moral safeguards. The social and industrial misery caused by the existing laws on these subjects is so widespread that we urge our members to give at least one half-day in helping to educate the electors on the necessity for the reforms mentioned. Members will be supplied with literature for this purpose on application at the office, Women's Political Association Club, the Block, Elizabeth St Melbourne.' State Library of Victoria

The Women's Political Association sent this petition to the British Parliament, interceding 'on behalf of our unenfranchised sisters in the UK with the plea that Honourable Members shall direct the Government to introduce and pass into law, a measure to enfranchise the women of your country on equal terms with men'. See Appendix 1 Papers

PORT MELBOOURNE PIER
Port Melbourne Pier 1908 State Library of Victoria a05481

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6...1909 - NOW WE HAD THE VOTE IN VICTORIA

By the time women had the vote in Victoria, the Labor Party was formed and the the Commonwealth Old Age and Invalid pensions were brought into being. The word 'feminist' was beginning to be used to describe most of the suffragists. They now also saw themselves as feminist, though what this meant seemed to vary between women (and still does).

Yvonne Smith: 'They did not relax. They were keen to make the most of their new status. The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) kindergarten opened on 2 August 1909. It also incorporated a school for mothers which was the forerunner of Baby Health Centres.' Taking Time ed. Yvonne Smith, Union of Australian Women

Isabel McCorkindale: 'That the time is come for the Union to take active steps to found a scholarship, and also to open a Kindergarten in one of the poor districts as yet unprovided with one. ... It had always been the hope of those interested in the opening of the WCTU Free Kindergarten at Richmond, that a School for Mothers (Infant Welfare Centre) should be part of the organization. At the same time, the WCTU 'agitated' and lobbied for female police matrons, homes for inebriate women, welfare for girls sent to India as part of theatrical companies ...

In 1912, in a resume of 25 years, Mrs Kirk wrote "When the WCTU was organised in this State, it was considered quite a novelty for women to speak in public; we now have women taking part in all public questions, and it is generally admitted that they are able to express themselves clearly, and represent their own cause. We have women Inspectors of Factories, and of boarded out children; women as probation officers; women on Boards of Advice; and women doctors." p 58, 60, 62 Pioneer Pathways - 60 Years of Citizenship 1887-1947, WCTU, Morris & Walker 1947

These are examples of women's activism taken from the Woman Voter, newsletter of the Women's Political Association (WPA), from 1909 to 1911-
Woman Voter
No 1 August 1909: 'As the Women's Political Association is non-party, we get no assistance from the party organs "The Age" and "The Argus." They are always courteous to us, but naturally we cannot expect them to blow our trumpet as they blow the trumpets of the party organisations they respectively support. In order, therefore, that the general public may be able to form a fairly accurate idea of the scope of the Association's work, we propose to issue the Woman Voter as a monthly leaflet, which will give some details of our activities.

At the outset we desire to remove a false impression as to our non-party status. By adopting such a policy it is not to be supposed we are a body of gelatinous creatures, who have no definite political views. We have all got very decided views as to the merits of the various political parties - some of us are protectionists, some are free traders, some are single taxers, some are labourites, some are socialists, some are anti-socialists, but we differ from those organised on party lines in one important particular. We believe that questions affecting individual honour, private and public integrity and principle, the stability of the home, the welfare of children, the present salvation of the criminal and depraved, the moral, social and economic injustice imposed on women - we believe that all these questions are greater than party, and that in 9 cases out of 10 they are sacrificed to party interests.' Melbourne University

Women's Political Association colours -
Woman Voter December 1909:
'The WPA has decided to take as its colours Lavender, Green and Purple; lavender signifying the fragrance of all that is good in the past; green, growth, the unfolding and development of all that makes life rich in purposes and achievement; purple, the royalty of justice, the equal sovereignty of men and women ... The shades selected are soft, and truly expressive of the dignity of enfranchised women.' University of Melbourne

The Cadets -
Woman Voter
December 1909: 'The WPA is opposing the proposed extension in the Defence Bill of the Cadet Movement, believing that the scouts movement has better physical, disciplinary and moral results.' Melbourne University

Some Other Issues -
Woman Voter: 'Women's Political Association deputation to the Prime Minister October 7 1913 - 'A deputation from the WPA on behalf of waited on the Prime Minister name on the 2nd instant ... to discuss:

- Maternity Allowance Inspector - "The WPA takes exception to the appointment of a man".
- White Slave Traffic (forced prostitution) - "We understand that you have been requested by the International Woman's Suffrage Alliance to appoint a Commission to enquire into the question as to whether the White Slave Traffic exists in Australia and, if so, to what extent. We support that request and ask that women be appointed to the Commission."
- Electoral Act - "We ask that the clause disenfranchising an Australian woman who marries an alien be struck out and that postal voting should not be restores."
- Naturalisation Act - " ... we desire that Australian women living in England shall not lose their political (enfranchised) status."
- Marriage and Divorce - "We ask for an immediate introduction of a marriage and divorce law, equal for men and women."
- Women in Papua - "We ask that the rights of women citizens be safeguarded."
- Women and Children in New Hebrides - "We desire to know what the Government proposes to do about the treatment of women and children indentured for labour under the New Hebrides Condominium."
Commonwealth Offices, London - "We desire that Australian woman artists be given equal opportunities with men to submit their work for the new Commonwealth Offices." State Library of Victoria

The Maternity Grant -
Woman Voter
:
'The depiction of the Council of Churches to the Prime Minister to protest in the name of morality against the mothers of illegitimate children receiving the proposed Maternity Grant of five pounds gives one furiously to think. It was argued the payment "would lead to an undesirable increase in illegitimacy", "would be wasted and would simply finance a jollification", that because of the proposal "a thrill of horror was running through the hearts of the best people in Australia".

We cordially thank Ernest Culliford, The Manse, Wallan, for his immediate protest in the Age against similar sentiments previously expressed by brother divines. Mr Culliford says, with us, that he does "not know of a lower, meaner, fouler conception of womanhood than that a woman's honour should be priced at five pounds." They also reveal the fact that whatever personal experience they may had amongst the women and girls who "go wrong", they have not studied the causes that lead to their downfall, or they could never sanction the idea of the State allying itself with the Priest and the Levite, and passing on the other side from the "illegitimate" mother, leaving her to the care of the Samaritan or the river. Mr Fisher replied that, even if the Government were sure the maternity grant were not popular, they would proceed with it.' State Library of Victoria

Child Safety -
Woman Voter March 1911: 'Child Safety:- The need for women on juries has once more been exemplified locally. In a case where an aged man, who was found guilty of a serious offence against a young girl under the age of 10 years, was recommended a lenient sentence on the ground that the child had tempted him to commit the offence! Fortunately the judge had the good sense to disregard the absurd recommendation. That a jury of men could prove itself so full of sex bias (probably quite unconscious) once more shows the need of women with men on juries dealing with such cases.' State Library of Victoria

WOMEN IN WOMEN'S OFFICE
1910 At Work State Library of Victoria pc003182

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7...'SANCTITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL, WITH A RECOGNITION OF HUMAN INTERDEPENDENCE'

In Getting Equal, The History of Australian Feminism, Marilyn Lake proposes that after winning the Federal vote, feminists in Australia were not simply concerned with the advancement of women; they aimed to use their new political status to shape a Commonwealth of which they were proud to be a constituent part. They believed: '... that women shared distinctive values and priorities that, once translated into government policy, would create a different kind of state - a welfare state' ... In creating their version of a maternalistic welfare state, Australian feminists sought to combine a liberal emphasis on the sanctity of the individual with a recognition of human interdependence and a call for collective provision and state regulation.' p 51 Marilyn Lake Getting Equal The History of Australian Feminism Allen & Unwin 1999

Two examples of societal problems women saw needing change were the lack of economic independence of most women and the trafficking in women and babies made possible largely by women's inability to achieve economic independence:

1. Women Voter August 19 1913: The Economic Independence of Women - The economic independence of women, which is of the most galling description, is one of the main causes of the modern woman movement ... Married women work hard for their living; in thousands of cases a woman's work lasts from early morning till late at night ... If she performed her services for someone else, she would receive a salary ... But, (it is said), imagine robbing marriage of all its poetical, sanctifying elements, and reducing it to a mere business concern - removing woman from her throne, where she reigns supreme as queen of the household, and making her a partner in a business. Under the somewhat trying circumstances that prevail at present, woman will not object to her dethronement; she will prefer being a working partner with a share in the profits, however small it may be, to being a queen of the household on nothing a year.

2. Woman Voter November 4 1913: 'In the "Age" of Wednesday is an account of a man being fined fifteen pounds for trafficking in infants. How long, Oh Lord, how long before we get laws that will do away with the necessity of these poor, distracted, penniless mothers leaving their babies to the tender mercies of chance adoption? Neglected Children Department! Forsooth, for an innocent little child brought into the world by its unknown father, entirely freed from responsibility by the law, and its mother very often unable to earn a living and keep her child.' Melbourne University

8...WORKING CONDITIONS

The women's movement has always been active supporting improvement in working conditions -
Woman Voter, May 1911: 'The Domestic Problem:- The Argus has been discussing the domestic problem again, and one writer, signing her letter 'Reform', relates her own experience. "I had a place in the country as a nursery housemaid, my hours were from 6.30 am to 9 pm, without a rest." State Library of Victoria

Here in Melbourne, from about 1910 onwards women began to organise female unions, by addressing women at factory gates and talking to male dominated unions. They used a variety of tactics:

1. Encouraging women to become representatives of female workers within male dominated unions, e.g. The Bricklayers Union, Fellmongers Union, The Agricultural and the Implement Makers Union, all had female representatives.

2. Encouraging the formation of female unions. Some examples of female unions:Shirt and Collarmakers Union; Press Workers Union; White Workers Union; Confectioners Union; Women Cigarette Workers Union; Garment Workers Union; Laundresses Union; Office Cleaners Union; Mason Workers Union.' Victorian Trades Hall Council website cited in Our Foremothers

Women Bookbinders' Union - 'Mass Meeting of Women Engaged in the Bookbinding Trade was held in the Trades Hall, Carlton on Monday 17th October 1910 at 8pm for the purpose of taking steps to form a union of women in connection with this class of employment. The object is "Preservation of a uniform scale of wages, weekly work, and to promote the interests of the trade in its moral, social and industrial aspects. Miss Mulcahy, Delaney, Townsend, Collins, McGrath, Triffle, Cohen, McLean.' State Library of Victoria MS 11550

In 1912, the Female Felt Hatting Employees Union struck for a guaranteed wage for pieceworkers. They were a long way from equal pay -
Woman Voter March 1911: 'The wages log prepared by the Clothing Trades' Congress has been published. The weekly minimum wage for women employed in the same branch as men is to be two-thirds of the women's wage.' Baillieu Library

In the 1882 Tailoresses strike, when ' ... one thousand women (had) met at Trades Hall and the Union's "catalogue of claims" (the origin of the term log of claims) was successful, the strike prevented clothing manufacturers reducing the wages of already poorly paid workers. The Union's activities also exposed the shocking working conditions in Victoria's clothing factories and led to a Parliamentary Inquiry into sweated labour. Following the Inquiry, the Victorian Government established Wages Boards to ensure regulation of wages, hours and conditions for all workers.' Victorian Trades Hall website


Melbourne Textile Factory, Museum Victoria PA004794

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9...WAGES BOARDS: Help or Hindrance?

In Gentle Invaders Australian Women at Work 1788-1974 Edna Ryan and Anne Conlon explain: The Victorian Lady Teachers' Association and several other bodies had asked for equal pay, claiming that they were as well qualified as men and already did the same work as men. Their arguments were one by one demolished in the report.

'Women', Commissioner Morrison found, 'were not as highly trained as men; the majority lacked university degrees. Nor was it true that male and female teachers performed equal work, why, no female was in charge of a school above the fifth class'.

'Equality of women with men', rumbled the commissioner '... either from a physical or an intellectual viewpoint, cannot be accepted as an unimpeachable doctrine. The great things of the world have, with rare exceptions, been achieved by men, and while it is freely admitted that woman has done a great deal in her own sphere of womanhood, she is, by reason of her natural frailty of body, unfitted to bear ... the physical strain inseparable from the vocation of teacher ... in a crisis men endure strain better than women'.

'Men', thought the commissioner, 'had an added responsibility of wife and family'; and, 'More is expected of a man, as a citizen, than of a woman'. Moreover, equal pay might only result in reducing the pay of the men and was no safeguard, he thought, against sweating. The cost of living, said he, 'is not the same for women as for men. Women generally obtain board and lodging at a cheaper rate than men do'.

'Women', the Victorian lady teachers pointed out, 'were expected to take military drill in the schools'.

'Women', said the commissioner, 'are unfit to direct boys in the games of a school, such as football and cricket'. Sparta lived in the State of Victoria: 'It is in the interest of the nation that we should have strong, vigorous, virile boys, who are to be the men of the State. After they have passed a certain age, boys should be removed from the sole influence of the woman teacher.' p.77 the report on the question of equal pay for equal work in the Victorian Department of Public Instruction written by the public service commissioner, G C Morrison and tabled in the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1914. p.77

FEMALE PUPILS AND TEACHERS
Female pupils and teachers Richmond Secondary circa1885-1891 State library of Victoria pi001034

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10..SOCIAL JUSTICE, SOCIAL JUSTICE, SOCIAL JUSTICE AGAIN

Social justice for all and the suffrage movement couldn't be seen in isolation, they were so intertwined. They did not simply want to keep the status quo, they wanted it to bring on social change. They wanted social justice for everyone and because they were feminist they were particularly concerned with issues affecting women and children.

Woman Voter May 13, 1913: 'Warning to the Girls of Australia from the Women's Christian Temperance Association (WCTU) - "The present day girl, having more freedom than was the custom in her mother's day, has to face more risks than her mother did. We would like to warn you of those risks, and tell you of the possible dangers that might assail you. It will be a surprise to you to hear that there are people who are engaged in what is known as "The White Slave Traffic", whose object is to decoy young, bright, attractive girls to their ruin and degradation. Many sad cases are known of innocent girls who have been decoyed away by the false pretences of the wicked agents of this "White Slave Traffic" and they have never been heard of since ... Mrs M E Kirk, General Secretary, WCTU "Carlisle House" 96 Exhibition Street, Melbourne (4 doors north of Collins St)" State Library of Victoria

POLICEWOMEN -
Marilyn Lake: 'They argued for "the necessity for police women": 'In all States feminists argued "the necessity for police women": "a woman's voice, a woman's hand subdues; a man's voice, a man's hand infuriates". "Policewomen", said The Woman Voter, journal of the Women's Political Association, "were required so they might patrol the streets and make arrests when necessary, "but more particularly to act as guardians of women and young people, who frequently get into trouble because there is no motherly person at hand to warn and advise them in moments of danger". The campaign for the appointment for women police was joined by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Australia and the National Council of Women. Success came in 1915 when the first female officers were appointed ...' Page 61 getting equal The History of Australian Feminism Allen & Unwin 1999

WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT - They argued for and promoted women in Parliament - Vida addressed this by standing for Parliament again and again as an independent - 1903, 1910, 1913. 1914 and 1917. She believed the women's cause should stay outside party politics. She also saw it as deeply "socialistic" and political in a broader sense, and she saw every issue as a legitimate issue for women to be involved in.

'SOCIALISM OF TODAY An Australian View' -
Vida Goldstein: 'No-one can possibly defend our present system. I know too much from personal observation of how the poor and the working classes live to be satisfied with a system which makes their lives one unceasing round of toil, deprivation and anxiety. After studying other systems I concluded that socialism, with all its faults and dangers, came nearest to my ideal of human brotherhood. Socialism is essentially a system of economics. It was not devised by working men but by scholars ... In England, Europe and USA there is flat upon flat of poverty, hunger, vice and crime. Here we only have one flat of it, but in proportion conditions are as bad. The only way to get at the facts is to go and see for oneself. The average person thinks 30/- a week is a very fair wage for a working man.' State Library of Victoria

Leslie Henderson: 'She (Vida Goldstein) then set out a list of weekly expenses for a married man with five children -
"Rent 10/-; bread 5/-; milk 4/-; butter 1/3d; meat 7/- etc. She listed 24 items altogether totalling two pounds eighteen and sixpence and added: "A man on this standard can't belong to a union, or take a daily paper, or have any amusement. He can't afford to get ill because, though he would have free hospital treatment, his family would starve. He can't save for old age, and must be prepared to take charity when he can no longer work. This is all due to the competitive system and the drive for profits."

'Vida's article appeared while Mr Justice Higgins was hearing the Harvester Case in the Arbitration Court, and it was the reading of this list which led him to have working men and women brought before him to give evidence as to the living expenses of the working community ... Such was the beginning of the famous Arbitration Court awards based on the normal needs of a working man and his family.' LIFE AND WORK, Leslie Henderson State Library of Victoria

Edna Ryan, Interview 1981:
'The notion of the male breadwinner, the head of the household, no doubt boosted the male ego. This notion suited the employers very well, because it kept the sexes apart, kept women on the fringes of the labour force, beckoned them to work when the demand for labour was keen and booted them out with the consent and the connivance of the male unionists, when business was slow. Women as breadwinners were never considered.' p 60 For Love or Money a pictorial history of women and work in Australia Penguin 1981

11..THE HARVESTER DECISION

Kaye Hargreaves: 'In the Harvester judgement of 1907, a basic wage was introduced, supposedly providing for the needs of a man and his family. The high proportion of female breadwinners was ignored. In 1912 Mr Justice Higgins explicitly stated that the rate of pay for any given job should take into account whether it was primarily a 'men's job' or a 'women's job', so that men could be protected against unfair competition from lower paid women.' p 16 Women at Work Kay Hargreaves 1982

Vida Goldstein: 'In November 1907 Justice H.B. Higgins handed down a judgement that wages at the Sunshine Harvester works were not ‘fair and reasonable’. He had been required to do this under the Excise Tariff Act of 1906. This act offered Australian employers substantial tariff protection if they paid their employees "fair and reasonable" wages. Federal Parliament did not define what it meant by fair and reasonable, and Higgins was left to decide this. The decision was widely supported in that it acknowledged that workers had a right to a living wage, but it was a disappointment in its treatment of women."

Mr Justice Higgins: 'The principle of a living wage has been applied to women, but with a difference, as women are not usually legally responsible for the maintenance of a family. A woman's minimum wage is based on the cost of her own living to one who supports herself by her own exertions.'

Vida wrote this in -
Woman Voter
11 July 1912: ' ... the Judge (Justice Higgins) saw clearly that, where a man and a woman did exactly the same work, the pay should be equal, but he failed to see the full significance of our demand when he inferred that a blacksmith and a nurse girl were not entitled to the same minimum wage, that women who had others dependent on them were the exception, and that there was a difference in the expenses of men and women for dress.' The high proportion of female breadwinners was ignored. In 1912 Mr Justice Higgins explicitly stated that the rate of pay for any given job should take into account whether it was primarily a 'man's job' or a 'woman's job', so that men should be protected against unfair competition.' p 16 Women at Work - Kaye Hargreaves Penguin 1982

Henry Higgins: 'A differentiation between men's wages and women's wages in most tailoring work has been conceded ... Is it right that this court should aid the gentle invaders?' Clothing Trades Dispute 1919 Henry Bournes Higgins, MA, Llb President of the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, 1907-1921 from The Gentle Invaders, Australian Women at Work 1788-1974 Edna Ryan and Anne Conlon

Ruth Ford: 'In June 1912, twenty year old Miss Olive Gray took the witness stand in the Mildura Courthouse and gave evidence at the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Court hearing for the Rural Workers Union. She had packed dried fruit for the Mildura Co-op Fruit Company for five years. She came from a rural worker's family and her father who was a labourer had died. Olive supported not only herself but her mother and three younger siblings.

Facing cross-examination by the growers' solicitor and questions from Justice Higgins, president of the Commonwealth Arbitration Court, when asked if she was 'perfectly satisfied' with the wages of 4/6 a day, Olive hesitated. After ascertaining that the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the factory where she worked was present, Higgins said: "Tell me frankly whether you are satisfied with the 4/6 or not ... I shall see there is no injury to you from the answer". Olive replied: "No, I am not satisfied ... Because it does not seem enough. It would be if I only had myself, but I have others to support". Higgins dismissed her challenge to his concept of the "woman worker" as a secondary earner, which was central to his notion of male workers receiving a family wage: "I cannot fix different wages for those who have other dependent on them and those who have not". Ford R 'I am not satisfied', History Australia, 2, DOI: 10:2104/HA040007

Woman Voter March 6 1911: 'The Law of the Land: - The two Factories and Shops Acts of 1910 repeat the blunder of 1897, by permitting Wages Boards, in determining the wages of apprentices and improvers, to take into consideration the sex of the person concerned.'

12..WOMEN TEACHERS - 'HER UNCONSCIOUSLY DESTRUCTIVE INFLUENCE'?

The question of equal pay for equal work was brought up in Parliament again in 1912. A report by the Public Service Commissioner is so astoundingly prejudiced and unjust I have included it here: 'The Question of Equal Pay for Equal Work in the Department of Instruction - G. C. Morrison (the Commissioner) was strongly against boys being placed under the tutelage of women, being concerned about 'her unconsciously destructive influence on the masculine character of the boy'. He said he was also concerned about a possible preponderance of women teachers if women achieved anything like equal pay, leading to a situation similar to America where women teachers were paid 75% of the male wage: "The boy in America is not being brought up to punch another boy's head or to stand having his own punched in a healthy and proper manner".

He said that the Mosley Education Commission (USA) had found that the preponderance of women teachers produced "a tendency towards a common sexless tone of thought" (whatever that is!). He was of the opinion that the services of female teachers 'are not equal in value to those of male teachers..." Report by the Public Service Commissioner (No. 8) 1914 V2 1st Session 353 Index to Vic. Parl. papers 1901-49

The Women's Political Association supported the teachers:
Woman Voter October 9 1912: 'We intend to give immediate support to the women State School Teachers in their reform, and we ask our members to study carefully the following circular sent out by the Lay Teachers' Association to the members of the Legislative Assembly, and to make its contents known in every society with which they are connected and amongst their acquaintances.

Woman Voter 14 September 1912: 'Our Association wishes to bring under the notices of Hon. Members the very unfair treatment the women teachers are receiving under the scheme of salaries proposed by the Government for men only ... After 42 years' service, an unblemished record, and 17 years in the ll class, she only receives 250 pounds per annum, a salary which it is proposed to give a man after 8 years service. It must be remembered that when teachers were receiving these salaries, they had pension rights; now, with much smaller salaries, they have no pension rights. Though we claim equal pay for equal work, we contend that we do more work, for, in most instances, half the pay ... Women should be eligible for all positions in the Service and the number of positions in each class should bear the same proportion to the number of women in the Service that the men's positions do. There are only 25 women who are head teachers of schools above the Vl class and 3 receive assistant's pay only. Clara Weekes, President; A M Fleming, Hon Sec, SS 111 Bell Street, Fitzroy.' Melbourne University

Woman Voter March 18 1913: 'The Lady Teachers' Association passed the following resolution on the 14th instant. "That this association demands from a democratic government equal pay for equal work, that women of twenty years experience should no longer be humiliated by receiving a salary of 110 pounds or less, with no hope of receiving more, however long they may remain in the service, while young men of no experience receive 120 pounds and can reach automatically 200 pounds in nine years." Melbourne University

13..'THE MATCH GIRLS' Strikers at Bryant and May Melbourne factory.

Jennifer Feeney: 'By November 1911 'shoulderers' - young women who put the cardboard inside box into the matchbox - struck for pay increases to 2s a crate (4,000 boxes) from 1s 8d. They said their wages were not adequate to self support. The management said they were well paid - they could earn 20s a week, and that shoulderers could be easily replaced if they were unable to reach that amount. It was argued that "they had homes and fathers, brothers and mothers to keep them, and plenty of their own sort could instantly be found to take their places"

The matchworkers union had been formed in 1910 and the average wage of women factory workers in Victoria in 1911 was half or less that of male workers ...The matchgirls' strike was of short duration, but by their industrial action the matchworkers demonstrated that solidarity of women workers could achieve success.' p.261, 266 Double Time - Women in Victoria - 150 Years Marilyn Lake and Farley Kelly Penguin 1985

WOMEN IN FACTORY
Factory 1896 State Library of Victoria b53827

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Another of the feminists' enemies, the Australian Women's National League, started talking about women and State politics in their publication THE WOMAN, though they said it was to influence women in order to combat socialism, not for the sake for women as women.

14..YOURSELF, YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR COUNTRY - the AWNL

JANUARY 28 1909
Australian Women's National League - PRO DEO ET PATRIA - President Janet Lady Clarke

'Dear Madam, ... Loyalty to the throne comes first with Australians. All reflecting persons, when they think of Australia's enormous coastline, its handful of people, and its proximity to the quarrelling powers of Asia, cannot but hope that the tie which binds us to the Empire will continue to grow stronger, not weaker. Freedom for both employer and employee is essential to the progress and welfare of a nation. Their mutual interests should not be interfered with by restrictive legislation. We are against all Government proposals of that nature.

We are opposed to State Socialism, or, in other words, to Government trading, on the ground that it deadens the private enterprise of the community, and in the end must destroy the energy and self-reliance of the people. A leading writer gives the following good reasons why State Socialism is bad in its effects.

1. Because Government is always prodigal, as it spends other people's money.

2. Because it is the great fiction by which everybody tries to live at the expense of everybody else.

3. Because, as it represents the people, it is assumed to be justified in all its actions, right or wrong.

The League will watch State as well as Commonwealth politics, with the desire of protecting the country from rash legislation and profligate expenditure, which would be a burden on prosperity. We recognise no class, believing in the independence of the individual, and in none being for Party and all being for the State. Under these circumstances we ask you to become a member of this League, and to also enrol as many of your friends as you can. But we ask those who have money to donate as you can, those who have not, we ask you to work for us. We trust, dear Madam, you will see your way forward to assist us in the interests of yourself, your family and your country.

Signed on behalf of the Executive Committee ... Sara Derham, Hon Sec.
Are You a Member? If not, why not? For further information apply to Mr Grant Bruce, Acting Sec, National Club, Mercantile Chambers, 349 Collins Street, Melbourne.' State Library of Victoria

Miss M Grant Bruce 'VICTORIA - Least of them all, and proudest; set in thy corner small, / Fair are thy straight limbed daughters, / Thy sons are straight and tall. The great White Queen's own namesake - / May it not some day be / The world shall know Australia's chief corner-stone in thee?' The Woman June 28 1909 SLV

'The first plank of our platform - to support loyalty to the throne "Loyalty is the first word in the programme of the AWNL. The glory of Britain is testified as much by her victories of peace as by those of war - the grandsons of the men who faced Harding and Napier are as loyal as the descendants of those who fought with Montcalm. There has been no more loyal figure in British history than the last who wore that crown, Queen Victoria.

It is said that the Empire is in danger; that its supremacy on the sea is to be contested, and its possessions are to be wrenched from its grasp. If that be so, we can only hope that absolute loyalty to each other and to the throne that symbolizes our national union will nerve every man in the Empire to defend it, and every woman to comfort and help its defenders. ... One life, one flag, one fleet, one throne, Britons hold your own!' The Woman June 28 1909 SLV

The AWNL still opposed women standing for Parliament.

15..WPA CHALLENGE TO DEBATE

Woman Voter October 9 1912: 'The WPA has issued a challenge to the (Australian) Women's National League to debate the proposition "That the Cost of Living can only be met by the application of Socialist Principles".

Woman Voter March 25 1913: 'A Challenge to Debate with Miss Goldstein - For some months the WPA has been attempting to get an anti-suffragette speaker to debate with Miss Goldstein on the methods of the suffragettes (in England). The association thought it would be an easy matter to obtain a man or woman speaker amongst the many who profess themselves strongly opposed to the militants, but in Kooyong no-one was found ready to stand by anti-militant principles. Unofficially the WPA learns that the Women's National League will not accept its challenge, and Mr Ernest Scott, who was also invited to debate the delegation, has replied as follows:-

16/3/13 'Dear Madam, I am very sorry. Your letter of 27th February got hidden under a pile of papers ... But, in any case, I couldn't debate with Miss Goldstein. She would be sure to get the better of it, and her case being so infernally bad, I shouldn't like that to occur. Secondly, it seems to me to be useless to debate the pranks of the Pancakes, and their maggot-brained following. They have taken the subject out of the region of argument. The example they set is to throw things. If I debated with Miss Goldstein I should come equipped with a basket of rotten apples, and as I can throw straighter than she can, I should be bound to triumph by using suffragette methods and I shouldn't like that, either. Please accept my apologies. Ernest Scott.' State Library of Victoria

Woman Voter: 'THE WOMEN'S NATIONAL LEAGUE - Mrs (Eva?) Hughes, at a meeting of the (Australian) Women's National League, as reported in the Age Thursday, says "Women's place is not in Parliament". One might well ask, does this lady know anything of the awful conditions that exist, and that can only be remedied by women, and by women in Parliament? If she does know, then it is pitiful to see the president of so large a body of women with so limited a vision of what possibilities lie in the using of our political freedom. Parliament, according to Mrs Hughes, "is a rough and tumble" very often: but that "rough and tumble" would be quietened and made a fit place for a woman by the women members, and money being wasted by "rough and tumble", legislation to benefit women and children would take its place ... ' State Library of Victoria Vida Goldstein would not refer to the AWNL as national, which she said it was not.

16..'WHENEVER WOMEN'S INTERESTS ARE AT STAKE ...'

The Story of the Clerk's Wages Board Determination -
Woman Voter
March 18 1913: ' ... After many months of the most detailed examination of the conditions under which clerks and typists work, the Clerks' Wages Board declared equal pay. The representatives of the employers did not wish the rates to be so "high" ..., but sex discrimination was deliberately set aside.

When outside employers saw how things were going they set to work to create a panic amongst the women employers, telling them they would all be thrown out of employment, and that men would be taken on instead. They did not themselves appeal against the determination, but they hid behind the petticoats of timid women ignorant of economics, and induced them to ask the Minister (Mr Murray) that the case should be taken to the Industrial Court of Appeal. Harrowing tales were told of qualified women losing their employment. Young girls scarcely out of Business Colleges were organised into a Lady Typists' Association, and waited on the Minister, urging that 45'- should not be paid until after six years experience - Six years before one could demand the miserable wage of 45/- for highly skilled nerve-racking work! The Minister yielded. The case for equal pay was entrusted to Mr Arthur, and we regret to say it was most lamentably presented.

Every fresh experience we have of women's interests being left to the second-hand knowledge of men, well meaning as they usually are, shows us the futility of the practice. Wherever women's interests are at stake qualified women must be there to protect them. Men who believe thoroughly in the justice of equal pay do not know how to meet the specious arguments of those who oppose it ... The judge was also influenced by Mr Justice Higgins' unsound judgements about women's work in the Mildura fruit award, but he outrivalled Mr Higgins in his peculiar reasoning on the subject ...

At the meeting of the APA? held on 10th instant, the following resolution was adopted:- "That this association enters its emphatic protest against the decision of Mr Justice Cussen in regard to the Clerks' Wages Board as being ethically and economically unsound, and a grave injustice to women, and demands an amendment of the Factories Act, striking out the word "sex" in the clause, which has always been a source of trouble to women workers". State Library of Victoria

Woman Voter July 15 1913: Monster Meeting - Equal Pay for Equal Work
Thursday July 31st at 8pm in the Auditorium, Collins St. Admission Free. Collection
.

17..THEY HAD SUCCESSES

Woman Voter March 6 1911: 'Widows of Miners and other workers in Victoria will find their positions improved by two Acts passed last year. The Wrongs Act 1910 enables the widow of a man killed through the negligence of another person to sue the negligent person for the pecuniary loss sustained by her husband's death. Till last year, the action could be brought only by the executor or administrator of the dead man. The Residence Area Act 1910 ... the holder's widow can apply to the Warden of the Court of Mines for an order permitting her to hold the residence area (of the miner's right).

Woman Voter May 1 1911: 'Dr Georgina Sweet, the first woman to win a science degree in our university, has proved that her knowledge is not all book learning. This year, against all comers, she carried off the David Syme Research Prize for brilliant research work ... State Library of Victoria

Woman Voter September 10, 1912: 'The WPA has decided to invite delegates from all women's Associations, professions, and trades, to co-operate with it carrying on a special equal pay for equal work campaign.' State Library of Victoria

18..WAR PREPARATIONS By 1913 feminists were concerned about war preparations.

Woman Voter November 11 1913: 'Need for International Peace - War Preparedness Begets War - Australian Women! Wake Up! - Make War against War ... Let us make this a fighting plank of our platform, instead of a matter for academic discussion. What are Australian Women doing in the interests of international peace? Some of us have it on our platform, but that is no good unless we are prepared to do something for it ...'

This appeared in the Woman Voter on December 3, 1913 -
Cecilia John:
"Several of our subscribers have discontinued taking the Woman Voter on account of paragraphs appearing that opposed compulsory military training ..." State Library of Victoria

In the next chapter we look at war and the feminist peace movements, women's attitudes to the war and also the women's organisations who supported our involvement in the First World War.

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