An initiative of The National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW) in conjunction with The University of Melbourne
Skip to contentVida Goldstein ran for the Australian Senate in 1903. Though she was not elected, she was the first woman to be nominated for the Australian Parliament.
One of five children, Vida Goldstein was educated at Presbyterian Ladies College in Melbourne. As a young woman, she worked with her mother in the anti-sweating movement and developed an anti-capitalist perspective. Later, she became involved in the suffrage movement. She was a paid organiser for the United Council for Women's Suffrage, and she founded the Women's Political Association. From 1900 to 1905 she produced and edited a monthly feminist journal, Woman's Sphere. When the International Women's Suffrage Alliance was formed, Goldstein was elected as corresponding secretary. She helped to found the National Council of Women, and was the Delegate from Australia and New Zealand to the International Woman Suffrage Conference in Washington D.C. in 1902.
Vida Goldstein was nominated by the Women's Federal Political Association as a cadidate for the Senate in 1903. She became the subject of heated controversy, stating her policies in feminist terms. Goldstein polled 51,497 votes but was not elected. A further four attempts before 1917 were also unsuccessful. After the award of state suffrage in 1908, Goldstein launched a new journal, Woman Voter. In 1915, she founded the Women's Peace Army alongside Cecilia John, Adela Pankhurst and Jennie Baines.
Sources used to compile this entry: http://www.nla.gov.au/guides/federation/people/goldstein.html; Heather Radi (ed.), 200 Australian Women (1988).
Clare Land and Jane Carey
Created: 9 December 2001, Last modified: 4 May 2009
http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0218b.htm