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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
Subjects
Politics and Government
Politics
Political movements
Feminism

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Feminism

Subject

Anderson, Maybanke

Byles, Marie

Edith Glanville

Lawson, Louisa

The Dawn

The Woman's Voice

Feminist Club

Sydney Women's Liberation

The Dawn Club

Union of Australian Women

United Associations of Women

Murphy, Dora Beatrice Coghlan

Anderson, Elizabeth Garrett

Anderson, Maybanke

Archdale, Helen Elizabeth (Betty)

Ashton, Eliza

Byles, Ida Margaret

Byles, Marie

Dakers, Jennifer

Dwyer, Catherine Winifred (Kate)

Franklin, Miles

Glanville, Edith May

Golding, Annie

Goldstein, Vida Jane

Greer, Germaine

Hewett, Dorothy

Lawson, Louisa

Littlejohn, Linda

Macdonald, Louisa

Montefiore, Dora

Pankhurst, Adela

Parkes, Hilma Olivia Edla Johanna

Roberts, Mary Ellen

Scott Griffiths, Jennie

Scott, Rose

Street, Jessie

Summers, Anne

Watson, ELC

Weekes, Cora Ann

Windeyer, Margaret

Augusta and Rose Scott (seated), 1864

Bessie Guthrie: Fighter for Underprivileged Girls, The Tribune 2 October 1973

Jessie Street 1930s

Letter to the editor from Dagmar Berne, 24 July 1900

Louisa Lawson, aged 50 c1898

Marie Beuzeville Byles c1915

Maybanke Wolstenholme (later Anderson) c1890

Mrs Maybanke Anderson 1914

Rose Scott 1913

Well-known feminists who are attending the Women Voters' Conference at Challis House today (L-R) Mrs Lucy Proud, Mrs Edith Glanville and Mrs HF Bennett, 11 September 1933

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Feminism

Anderson, Maybanke

A founder of Sydney's women's suffrage movement, Maybanke Anderson was also a writer and teacher, and a lifelong campaigner for the rights of women and children.

Byles, Marie

Marie Byles overcame formal and informal obstacles in order to become Sydney's first practicing woman lawyer. She mentored other women in law, and became an advocate for women's rights in other fields, as well as an environmental activist and a writer about Buddhism.

Edith Glanville

Edith Glanville was a leading Sydney philanthropist and pioneering female Justice of the Peace. She supported Armenians, was involved in the beginnings of the League of Nations, and founded the Quota Club and the Soroptimists Club of Sydney.

Lawson, Louisa

Writer, publisher, inventor and activist, Louisa Lawson influenced Sydney life at the turn of the twentieth century in many ways. At her death, she was called 'the mother of womanhood suffrage in New South Wales'.

The Dawn

Feminist newspaper, staffed entirely by women, founded by Louisa Lawson in 1888.

full record »

The Woman's Voice

Newspaper founded by Maybanke Wolstenholme (later Anderson) to further her ideas of reform.

full record »

Feminist Club

Women's club formed to 'work for equality of status, opportunity and payment between men and women', which concerned itself with many issues, including Aboriginal rights, child welfare and divorce law.

full record »

Sydney Women's Liberation

Feminist group who campaigned against domestic violence, discrimination in the workforce and restrictive birth control information and procedures.

full record »

The Dawn Club

Women's club formed to discuss 'questions of importance to the sex'.

full record »

Union of Australian Women

Organisation established in 1950 to work for the status and wellbeing of women around the world.

full record »

United Associations of Women

Feminist organisation formed in 1929 as an alternative to the existing conservative women's associations.

full record »

Murphy, Dora Beatrice Coghlan

Pioneering feminist and professional business woman. A proficient shorthand writer and typist, she worked as a Clerk in the New South Wales public service in the Electoral Office, the Botanic Gardens and Child Services.

full record »

Anderson, Elizabeth Garrett

English physician and feminist who was a pioneer in holding positions normally held only by men including being the first dean of a British medical school.

full record »

Anderson, Maybanke

full record »

Teacher, suffrage campaigner and writer who was described as 'one of Australia's noble and notable women'.

Archdale, Helen Elizabeth (Betty)

full record »

English feminist, academic and cricketer who migrated to Australia in 1946 as the principal of Sydney University's Women's College and from 1958-1970 of Abbotsleigh girls school. As the captain of the England women's cricket team she led the first – and victorious – tour of Australia in 1934.

Ashton, Eliza

Journalist and founding member of the Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales.

full record »

Byles, Ida Margaret

Suffragette, vegetarian, teetotal mother of Marie Byles.

full record »

Byles, Marie

Pioneering woman lawyer, bushwalker and Buddhist who gave endless opportunities to women in law as she had herself overcome many obstacles to her chosen career.

full record »

Dakers, Jennifer

Women's liberationist who sought to provide practical help to women and children who were victims of domestic violence.

full record »

Dwyer, Catherine Winifred (Kate)

Women's suffragist and anti-conscriptionist who devoted much of her live to the labour movement.

full record »

Franklin, Miles

full record »

Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin was an Australian writer and feminist. She established the Miles Franklin Literary Award for literature through a bequest on her death. It is awarded each year to a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases. Her papers and diaries are held by the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.

Glanville, Edith May

full record »

A strong and opinionated woman, Edith was a highly talented activist, feminist and lecturer who travelled extensively in the Middle East, was involved in the formation of the League of Nations and fought throughout her life for the poor and oppressed.

Golding, Annie

Feminist and school principal who lobbied for women's equality before the law. She often organized deputations for equal pay, the removal of the sex barrier in employment and the appointment of women as justices of the peace and police officers.

full record »

Goldstein, Vida Jane

Feminist and suffragist who was the first woman in the British Empire to be nominated and to stand for election to a national parliament.

full record »

Greer, Germaine

Author and academic whose assertion that women's liberation means embracing gender differences in a positive fashion, has created controversy and bought international acclaim over a long career.

full record »

Hewett, Dorothy

Feminist poet, novelist and playwright.

full record »

Lawson, Louisa

full record »

Writer, newspaper proprietor and advocate for women's rights and womanhood suffrage.

Littlejohn, Linda

Feminist, journalist and radio commentator who was committed to the international women's movement and at home campaigned for women in parliament, divorce reform and the introduction of adequate training to enable women to be economically independent of their fathers and husbands.

full record »

Macdonald, Louisa

Educationist whose fight for a university education in England equipped her well for the battle to establish the academic and corporate traditions of Women's College when a university education for women seemed to many 'not only unnecessary but unsuitable'.

full record »

Montefiore, Dora

Suffrage and women's rights advocate in Sydney and later in England, who became an outspoken socialist, and represented the Communist Party of Australia in Moscow in 1924.

full record »

Pankhurst, Adela

Suffrage campaigner and activist who emigrated to Australia in 1914, moving to Sydney in 1918, where she had a long and erratic career as a political campaigner for a range of causes.

full record »

Parkes, Hilma Olivia Edla Johanna

Swedish born political organiser, feminist and suffragist. After emigrating to Sydney, she became a ward-sister at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. She joined the Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales in 1897, becoming one of its eight vice-presidents and then in 1902, formed the Women's Liberal League of New South Wales.

full record »

Roberts, Mary Ellen

full record »

Teacher and administrator who advocated vocational training for women and was active in the Red Cross and the Feminist Club.

Scott Griffiths, Jennie

Texas-born journalist and political activist who opposed conscription during World War I and promoted feminism and socialism. Her views cost her her job as editor of the Australian Women's Weekly.

full record »

Scott, Rose

full record »

Feminist campaigner who was a founder of the Australian women's suffrage movement, and a lifelong advocate for the rights of women and children.

Street, Jessie

Feminist activist who campaigned for every major social justice issue of the twentieth century, including women's and children's rights, Aboriginal rights, peace, civil liberties, economic equality and more.

full record »

Summers, Anne

Feminist, editor and publisher who helped found the Women's Liberation Movement in Australia and began many practical initiatives to assist victims of domestic violence.

full record »

Watson, ELC

Elsie, or ELC, Watson as she appeared to prefer, was born in Elgin, Scotland in about 1870. She studied at St Andrew's University and received an L La, before coming to Australia where members of her extended family lived. She worked in Sydney at the Presbyterian Ladies College from 1890-1892, and Women's College as a mathematics tutor, from 1894-1897. She also taught at Ipswich GIrls Grammar in Queensland, and by correspondence, with an emphasis on giving women the necessary skills to attend university. In the late 1890s she left for London where she worked as a journalist, most sensationally for the Express, when, in association with reports of a missing woman in 1903, she 'hid' herself, with readers offered a prize to identify her. In 1912 Watson crossed South Africa solo on a motorcycle, the first person to do so. Watson was a socialist and a feminist, actively involved in the suffrage movement and agricultural reform. She made numerous trips to Australia to visit her sister Annie, who had also been a teacher. She was the New Zealand Press Association representative in London from about 1920 until shortly before her death in January 1945.

full record »

Weekes, Cora Ann

Publisher and writer whose dubious business practices in America were to cause the rapid demise of her journal 'The Spectator' here. Her feminist credentials were seen in her journalism and lecture on female heroism at the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts.

full record »

Windeyer, Margaret

Feminist and librarian who was one of the first women to work for the Public Library of New South Wales.

full record »

Augusta and Rose Scott (seated), 1864

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a128682 / PXA 1037, 1]

(Mitchell Library)

Bessie Guthrie: Fighter for Underprivileged Girls, The Tribune 2 October 1973

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[The Tribune, 2 October 1973, p5 via Trove]

Jessie Street 1930s

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-an23371692]

Letter to the editor from Dagmar Berne, 24 July 1900

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[Sydney Morning Herald, 26 July 1900, p 11 via Trove]

Louisa Lawson, aged 50 c1898

full record »

By

John Hubert Newman

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a421024 / DL PX 158, 24]

(Dixson Library)

Marie Beuzeville Byles c1915

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[c046270001 / MLMSS 7071]

(Mitchell Library)

Maybanke Wolstenholme (later Anderson) c1890

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[SPF P1/A]

(Mitchell Library)

Mrs Maybanke Anderson 1914

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(The Lone Hand, 2 February 1914, p 205)

Rose Scott 1913

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a4362046 / P1/1546]

(Mitchell Library)

Well-known feminists who are attending the Women Voters' Conference at Challis House today (L-R) Mrs Lucy Proud, Mrs Edith Glanville ...

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[The Sun, 11 September 1933, p 14 (via Trove)]

Political movements