female suffrage

Question 1

what did the current SA Premier Charles Kingston think of the inclusion of female enfranchisement?

Answer 1

At the time, South Australian Premier Charles Kingston described it as “the greatest constitutional reform ever effected in the colony” and in doing so, SA set Australia’s Federation on a path towards women’s suffrage as it became unlikely that the colony would join any federated nation that would not uphold its achievement of universal suffrage. South Australia led the way in progressive politics in the 19th century

Question 2

what was the fears surrounding female suffrage in AUS?

Answer 2

some also feared that adopting this proposal would push the mater too hard and risk losing male votes for the draft Constitution (and consequently the whole federation project) in other colonies

Question 3

how did Premier Charles Kingston advocate for female suffrage around the time of Federation?

Answer 3

Kingston threatened that the SA people would not vote to join a federation that took away the right of its women to vote hence in what historian John Hirst described as a ‘cunning ploy’, it was determined that no person, including women, who has a right to vote in state elections would be deprived of that right in federal elections and this proposal was accepted + appeared in the Constitutional Bill

Question 4

when did the enfranchisement of women occur in AUS?

Answer 4

Enfranchised women in SA + WA (who had been enfranchised in 1899 with the exclusion of Aboriginal women) voted in the 1st federal election in 1901 + the extension of franchise to all white women around AUS occurred when the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 was passed

Question 5

how did women in the 19th century experience legal discrimination?

Answer 5

during the gold rush many women were abandoned by their husband (law regarded women as personal property + divorce was difficult), women didn’t have custody of their own children, property remained only in the names of males, women couldn’t get their own,bank loan without male approval, but control was illegal, married women couldn’t refuse sexual relations, age of consent was in many colonies 12/13 years old for girls, gender pay gap, limited education for women, women didn’t have the vote

Question 6

what issues arose with women not possessing the vote?

Answer 6

Women in AUS couldn’t directly address the inequalities they experienced without the power of the vote so they needed the vote to reform society into a fairer, more inclusive + friendlier nation therefore to create change (permanently) they needed to influence male politicians to be sympathetic towards their cause

Question 7

John Stuart Mill quote on division of gender?

Answer 7

John Stuart Mill argued that the “principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes – the legal subordination of one sex to the other – is wrong in itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement; and that it ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality, admitting no power or privilege on the one side, nor disability on the other”

Question 8

AUS as a social laboratory influence on women’s rights?

Answer 8

hard work of Australian suffragists combined with a proudly democratic and egalitarian tradition in colonies like SA + VIC. 1 of the areas that Australian could distinguish themselves from Great Britain was by advancing the rights of women. The ideals of self-improvement, spiritualism + free thinking contributed to a deeply aspirational + optimistic movement

Question 9

Historian Stuart Macintyre quote on importance of the advancement of women’s rights?

Answer 9

Historian Stuart Macintrye stated that even the naming of the new country reflects these ideals as the “Commonwealth of Australian ‘common weal’ [meant] aiming for the common good or common wellbeing of the people and the [role] of the government was to pursue the general welfare of all citizens.”

Question 10

Historian Patricia Grimshaw on the influence of Australia’s nature as a social laboratory

Answer 10

it became an accepted notion that the “hallmark by which to judge the place of a given society on their imaginary scale of civilisation was a male treatment of women within it”

Question 11

what unions supported the women’s suffrage movement?

Answer 11

the women’s suffrage campaign gathered momentum in the 1880s and women formed organisations such as the Temperance Unions or Suffrage Leagues which produced feminist journals

Question 12

what was the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WTCU)

Answer 12

The Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) originated in the US in the 1880s, Jessie Ackerman later formed the intercolonial WCTU across AUS in 1891 which aimed to reform society by agitating for legislation to minimise male excesses like temperance (abstinence from alcohol) and laws against gambling, prostitution, domestic violence and a law to raise the age of consent.

Question 13

what was the importance of the WCTU’s Christian values?

Answer 13

The Union’s Christian values which involved the pursuit of healthier, happier homes, and encouragement of sobriety, attracted the hostility of the alcohol trade but earned the sympathy of many male politicians. These aims led to the demand for female suffrage gaining more support as some male politics shared these beliefs and consequently viewed the franchise for women as a way of furthering these policies

Question 14

what was the Ladies’ Social Purity Society formed in 1883?

Answer 14

the society was based in SA and successfully campaigned in 1885 to increase the age of consent from 12 to 16 years old + also agitated to end young child labour of girls

Question 15

who were some prominent campaigners of female suffrage?

Answer 15

Mary Lee and Mary Colton, who led those campaigns, were key to the campaign for female suffrage in that colony, since migrating from Ireland to support her sick son Mary Lee fought tenaciously to end child labour + young women’s employment and she later became the secretary of the Working Women’s Trade Union

Question 16

what was this feminist movement like in conservative Victoria?

Answer 16

VIC founded the 1st female suffrage society in 1884 (the Victorian Women’s Suffrage Society) with leading feminist Henrietta Dugdale. VIC didn’t grant female suffrage in state elections until 1908 and eventually activists in SA + VIC achieved the same voting rights for women as were held by men, and ultimately equal justice regarding marriage, property, children and divorce

Question 17

why were petitions used in this feminist movement?

Answer 17

it proved to the many men who didn’t believe that women actually wanted this responsibility of voting. These petitions were an effective way to show how popular the idea of female suffrage was in the absence of the vote itself

Question 18

how was signatures collected for the Victorian ‘Monster Petition’

Answer 18

the Victorian WCTU and the Victorian Suffrage Society, 30,000 signatures were collected and this achievement can be accredited to feminists like Henrietta Dugdale, Annette Bear-Crawford + Vida Goldstein who became leading campaigners for female suffrage, along with other women, who travelled door to door by foot and by train throughout Melbourne and regional Victoria

Question 19

what was feminist journal ‘DAWN’

Answer 19

In NSW in 1888, Louisa Lawson launched the feminist journal ‘Dawn’ which combined political ideas with practical tips for women and was widely read. historian Olive Lawson, argued that Dawn “played a significant role in promoting those legislative changes which most affected the lives of Australian women at the turn of the century” and it contributed to the awareness/demand for laws about female suffrage, work conditions, divorce + property ownership

Question 20

how big was the ‘Monster Petition’

Answer 20

the ‘Monster Petition’ that stretched over 260 metres and it remains the largest petition ever presented to the Victorian Parliament but the demand for female suffrage was still rejected by the conservative Legislative Council

Question 21

what were the arguments against female suffrage?

Answer 21

Queen Victoria was not a supporter of female suffrage, Some believed that women would follow their husband’s instructions therefore doubling the voting power for each married man, were not seen as emotionally/intellectually capable of managing voting, their inexperience with voting was thought allow them to be easily manipulated, women would be distracted from their domestic duties and conservative political feared that this would strengthen labour parties

Question 22

primary evidence that men believed women would be swayed by their husbands

Answer 22

in 1905 journalist E.C Buley wrote that “for the present the Australian woman is content to be guided in the main by the political opinions of her husband or brother.”

Question 23

Evidence of ongoing resistance to extending the franchise can be seen in the Victorian Parliament in 1908 with David Gaunson (member of the Legislative Assembly)

Answer 23

he addressed the issue by telling women to ‘get out, cook a chop and learn to dress your baby.”

Question 24

how many measures/ demands were made for female suffrage before it was implemented in VIC?

Answer 24

Victoria had seen Australia’s 1st woman’s suffrage league in 1883 but it was not until 24 years later after the introduction of 19 bills into Parliament that the legislation was finally passed to enfranchise Victorian women in 1908. Even in 1908 the law was likely passed due to the rise to prominence of a conservative women’s group called the Australian Women’s National League which convinced conservative politicians that women would not likely to support the Labor Party in large numbers

Question 25

what were some achievements of this campaign for women’s rights?

Answer 25

1. In 1858 a change was made to divorce laws permitting a divorce. 2. egislation in 1867 protected the property of divorce wives
2. Ladies Social Purity Society was instrumental in raising the age of consent from 12 to 16 4. Female ratepayers (landowners who paid tax) were allowed to vote in municipal elections from 1861 in SA. 5. Education for women in SA was encouraged (this was later an argument supporting female suffrage) 6. In VIC the right to own property was given to married women in 1884. 7. Following Federation, the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 was passed, allowing white women to vote in national elections

Question 26

how did SA women accidentally get the vote due to a political miscalculation?

Answer 26

full political equality was won in SA in 1894 in part due to a political miscalculation as Ebenezer Ward, an opponent of female suffrage, added an amendment to the female suffrage bill that allowed women to stand for election, thinking that this would make the bill so unpopular that it would not pass both houses of Parliament however the bid did pass and was brought into law

Question 27

what improvements were made after the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902?

Answer 27

improvements in standards of living, additionally infant + maternal mortality rate decreased and laws and regulations were introduced regarding working conditions for women

Question 28

what was an important legislation which support female rights?

Answer 28

the Maternity Allowance Act 1912 was passed by the Federal Government which progressively gave £5 to women for the birth of a child without a test and was offered regardless to marital status which was perceived as a radical legislation. Despite this, women of colour were excluded from this legislation insinuating that only white women were being encouraged to procreate. The Maternity Allowance Act 1912 aimed to end the decline in both rates

Question 29

racial exclusions in this progressive movement that came with Federation?

Answer 29

The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 was an exclusive/discriminatory piece of legislation that reflected the commonly held ideal of a White AUS
Indigenous Australians + POC had been rendered as virtually non-persons by the Constitution and this Act confirmed the Federal Government’s neglect and discrimination towards them. This contradicted the nature of such a radical yet exclusive legislation as historian Christine Twomey has argued that “a capacity for progressive measures within a racially restrictive framework was a hallmark of the early Australian federal state” White women in all states were enfranchised in 1908 but although Victoria changed its law the fight for First Nations voting rights, both male + female, continued until the 1960s

Question 30

what was the political participation of women?

Answer 30

Catherine Helen Spence became the 1st woman to stand for political representation in AUS and she was unsuccessfully nominated as 1 of SA’s delegates to the 1897 Constitutional Convention and Edith Cowan was the first woman elected to an Australian parliament in Western Australia in 1921

Question 31

statistic about South Australia women’s eagerness to vote??

Answer 31

the 1896 South Australian election which show that there were 59,166 women enrolments and 66.4% of women voted in comparison to the 66.3% of men who voted

Question 32

what continuities occurred during the female suffrage movement?

Answer 32

1. took many years of struggle and patience for women in all states of Australia to be enfranchised.
2. No woman was elected to an Australian parliament until 1921. 3. Women of colour continued to experience inequality and discrimination, and were denied the right to vote.
3. Many men and some women resisted and opposed the campaign for female suffrage.

Question 33

what changes occurred during the female suffrage movement?

Answer 33

1. By 1908 white women around Australia had been enfranchised and were able to stand for election nationally. 2. Important legislation such as the Maternity Allowance Act 1912 was passed to support the living standards of white women. 3. Australian women inspired and contributed to the global movement for female suffrage.