page_title: Feminism in Australia
section_title: 1800 to 1920
hierarchical_section_title: Feminism in Australia / 1800 to 1920
caption_attribution_description: English: Women at the first state election comparing notes, Brisbane, 1907&#160;: [suffragette movement in Queensland] Celebrating the centenary of the suffrage movement in Queensland. On 5 January 1905, two years after the formation of the Queensland Women's Electoral League, the Electoral Franchise Bill was introduced into the Legislative Assembly to give the women of Queensland the right to vote. The Elections Acts Amendment Bill providing the necessary machinery, was introduced at the same time. Despite some misgivings about abolishing the plural vote, and difficulty with postal voting, these issues were overcome and the legislation giving the women of Queensland the right to vote was finally passed. It was assented to by the Lieutenant-Governor on 26 January 1905.
context_page_description: Australia has a long-standing association with the protection and creation of women's rights. Australia was the second country in the world to give women the right to vote and the first to give women the right to be elected to a national parliament. The Australian state of South Australia, then a British colony, was the first parliament in the world to grant women full suffrage rights. Australia has since had multiple notable women serving in public office as well as other fields. Women in Australia with the notable exception of Indigenous women, were granted the right to vote and to be elected at federal elections in 1902.
  Australia has also been home to several prominent feminist activists and writers, including Germaine Greer, author of The Female Eunuch; Julia Gillard, former prime minister; Vida Goldstein, suffragist; and Edith Cowan, the first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament. Feminist action seeking equal opportunity in employment has resulted in partially successful legislation. Laws against sex discrimination exist and women's units in government departments have been established.
context_section_description: The first examples of Australian feminism occurred during the mid 1800s to 1900. The early movement mostly concerned the applications of basic human rights to women, including the right to vote, the right to stand for parliamentary election, and protection from sexual exploitation. Mary Lee, an Australian-Irish woman, was influential in garnering support for many women's rights movements in Australia. From 1883 onwards, Lee was involved in the raising of the Age of Consent for girls in Australia from 13 to 16, the founding of The Working Women's Trades Union, and co-founded the South Australian Women's Suffragette League, which led to the granting of suffrage rights to women in South Australia. In the early 1900s the Australian Labor Party displayed reluctance toward women and their entrance to the parliament.  During World War I, women were introduced into the workforce at higher rates than previous years, although often in fields already populated by women.
caption: The women of Queensland were granted the right to vote in 1905.
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