• Entry type: Cultural Artefact
  • Entry ID: AWE0017

Australian Women’s Charter

(1943 – ) Australian Woman's Charter 1943
  • Occupation Feminist Manifesto

Summary

The Australian Women’s Charter was a program of reforms put forward by women for incorporation into government planning of postwar reconstruction. Described as ‘the feminist agenda for postwar reconstruction’ and ‘a landmark feminist manifesto’, the charter documented a wide range of issues and objectives that were discussed at the Australian Women’s Conference For Victory in War and Victory in Peace, held in Sydney in November 1943. It ranged over a series of issues – women’s right to paid work, the necessity for adequate child care, the particular needs of rural and Aboriginal women amongst them – and reflected the conference participants’ agenda for women in the post war world, an agenda that was influenced heavily by women’s wartime experiences. A series of publications, programs and follow-up Charter conferences were organized to plan and campaign for the implementation of its aims.

Published resources

  • Book
    • Getting Equal: the History of Australian Feminism, Lake, Marilyn, 1999
    • Left-wing Ladies : The Union of Australian women in Victoria 1950-1998, Fabian, Suzane and Loh, Morag, 2000
    • 50 years of feminist achievement : a history of the United Associations of Women, Mitchell, Winifred, 1979
  • Edited Book
    • Australian Feminism: A Companion, Caine, Barbara, Gatens, Moira et al., 1998
    • Jessie Street : documents and essays, Radi, Heather, c1990
  • Book Section
    • Girdled for War: Women's Mobilisations in World Wat Two, Saunders, Kay and Bolton, Geoffrey, c1992

Archival resources

  • Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection
    • [Correspondence] [manuscript] / [Australian Women's Charter]
    • United Association of Women - Records, ca.1930-1970
  • National Library of Australia, Manuscript Collection
    • Records, 1944-1967 [manuscript]
    • Papers of Nancy Lutton, 1918-2007 (bulk 1960-2007) [manuscript]
    • Papers of Jessie Street, circa 1914-1968 [manuscript]
  • Royal Historical Society of Victoria Inc
    • Alice Henry papers
  • Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Australian National University
    • Papers of Della and EV Elliott
  • State Library of Western Australia
    • Records, 1960-1991 [manuscript]
  • The University of Melbourne Archives
    • Pethybridge, Eva
  • Fryer Library and Department of Special Collections
    • Daisy Marchisotti Papers

Digital resources

Related entries


  • Related Women
    • Street, Jessie Mary Grey (1889 - 1970)
    • Greenwood, Irene Adelaide (1898 - 1992)
    • McCorkindale, Isabella (Isabel) (1885 - 1971)
    • Cohen, Nerida Josephine (1912 - 2002)
  • Related Events
    • The Australian Women's Conference for Victory in War and Victory in Peace (1943 - 1943)
  • Related Organisations
    • The United Associations of Women (1929 - )
  • Honorary Secretary
    • Pethybridge, Eva
  • Membership
    • Barron, Evelyn (1898 - 1985)
  • Committee Member
    • McRae, Doris Mary (1893 - 1988)