From

22 November 1943
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Occupations

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.

Sources used to compile this entry: Caine, Barbara (ed.), Australian Feminism: A Companion, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1998, 607 pp; Lake, Marilyn, Getting Equal: The History of Australian Feminism, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, New South Wales, 1999, 316 pp; Mitchell, Winifred, 50 years of feminist achievement : a history of the United Associations of Women, United Associations of Women, Sydney, [1979?], 106 pp; Radi, Heather (ed.), Jessie Street : documents and essays, Women's Redress Press, Broadway, N.S.W., c1990, 293 pp; Saunders, Kay and Bolton, Geoffrey, 'Girdled for War: Women's Mobilisations in World Wat Two', in Saunders, Kay and Bolton, Geoffrey (eds), Gender relations in Australia : domination and negotiation, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Sydney, c1992, pp. 376-397; Suzanne Fabian, Morag Loh, Left-wing Ladies : The Union of Australian women in Victoria 1950-1998, Hyland House, Flemington, Vic, 2000, 196 pp.