- From
- 1903
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - To
- 1919
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Occupations
- Social action organisation
- Alternative Names
- Women's Federal Political Association (former name, 1903 - 1904)
Summary
The Women's Federal Political Association, the foreunner of the Women's Political Association, was established in 1903, with Vida Goldstein as president, to educate women in political matters. Men were not excluded from membership. In March 1904 it changed its name to the Women's Political Association of Victoria with the aim of organising more efficiently women's votes in the interests of the home and children, of efficient government at all levels, and of improved social and industrial conditions. In an attempt to challenge the party ticket system, the WPA declared itself to be non party political and refused to affiliate with any political party, although its sympathies lay with the Australian Labor Party. Goldstein believed that party politics subsumed the interests of women. The WPA supported Goldstein in her attempts to be elected to the federal parliament and adopted a pacifist stance in World War One. It disbanded in 1919 when Goldstein travelled overseas.
Sources used to compile this entry: Bomford, Janette M., That dangerous and persuasive woman : Vida Goldstein, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Vic., 1993, 264 pp. pp 53-73..
