Feminism in Australia

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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 (after New Zealand in 1893) and the first to give women the right to be elected to a national parliament.^[1] The Australian state of South Australia, then a British colony, was the first parliament in the world to grant some women full suffrage rights.^[2] Australia has since had multiple notable women serving in public office as well as other fields. In Australia, European women (with the notable exception of Indigenous women and most women not of European descent) were granted the right to vote and to be elected at federal elections in 1902.^[3][4]

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.^[3] Feminist action seeking equal opportunity in employment has resulted in partially successful legislation, but more changes are required.^[5] Laws against sex discrimination exist and women's units in government departments have been established. Australian feminists have fought for and won the right to federally funded child care and women's refuges. The success gained by feminists entering the Australian public service and changing policy led to the descriptive term 'femocrats'.^[6]