Union of Australian Women
Encyclopedia
The Union of Australian Women (UAW) is a left-wing
women's organisation that operated in Australia in the latter half of the 20th century concerned with local and international issues regarding women's rights, international peace, and equality.
on 31 July 1950 as the successor to the New Housewives' Association (NHA), with the first branch formed in New South Wales
, soon followed by Victoria
, Queensland
, South Australia
, Western Australia
and Tasmania
. The Northern Territory
had a branch revived from the defunct Darwin Housewives' Association, but purportedly attracted few members due to concerns of Communist affiliation.
In 1956, the national UAW organisation was formed, comprising an executive committee based in Sydney and representatives from each state organisation. While executive decisions on national/international issues and state issues were planned at the national and state levels respectively, the bulk of activities were carried out by suburban (and regional) sub-groups in each state (e.g. Sunshine
and Mildura respectively in Victoria). Through this grassroots approach, the UAW was on one hand able to connect housewives and mothers in local communities to national or international issues beyond the home, and on the other, provide the organisational backing to campaign for improvements in their members' immediate surroundings—such as child-minding centres in Rockhampton
.
Nevertheless, the domestic focus persevered, especially through the 1950s, shaping what has come to be called UAW's "maternalist"
approach. The working-class mothers and housewives who comprised the bulk of earlier UAW membership did challenge traditional maternalism by recognising the necessity for women to work, and in Victoria overcame traditional maternalist policies by advocating local and subsidised childcare
for all working women. Nevertheless, they subscribed to the underlying notion that children were a woman's responsibility, which informed their stance on issues from living costs to environmental damage, and especially war. The UAW's significant peace activism stemmed from the perceived universal concern of mothers over the mental and physical well-being of children.
Maternalism provided the ideological backdrop for domestic activities, such as apron-making and millinery
demonstrations, to comfortably coexist alongside equally important discussions on serious political issues in local group meetings. Similarly, the UAW's self-published magazine, Our Women, juxtaposed mainstream content such as recipes, light-hearted chat and fashion tips against the latest workers' union news, tracts on women's equality and articles on Aboriginal rights.
The UAW's discourse on the universality of motherhood followed a long tradition of uniting women across race, class, and even national divisions, providing an impetus for local women to agitate for change "from within, rather than from the fringes of, mainstream society".
movement from its inception. Many of its founding members were Communist women who kept in close contact with Communist Party of Australia, which, along with the NHA and other UAW-affiliated organisations, narrowly avoided dissolution by the defeated Communist Party Dissolution Act 1950 (Cth)
. When, in 1954, the UAW collected individual signatures supporting a ban on hydrogen and atomic bombs and sent them to then-Federal Minister for Labour and National Service Harold Holt
, Holt sent back each slip to its signatory, denouncing the UAW as "completely under the control of the Communist Party of Australia", characterising their methods as "insidious" and "deceptive".
Former CPA members later claimed the CPA had little direct involvement in the UAW's actions and that the UAW was "not a danger to the status quo". However, the circumstances surrounding the UAW's formation and individual members' actions in the politically hostile Cold War
environment earned it the continued scrutiny of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
through the 1950s
and 1960s
. Member Barbara Curthoys claimed that every state branch had "at least one ASIO agent" in a book launch of the UAW's official history. Accordingly, the UAW did not keep a full record of members during that period.
Despite initial condemnation by the New South Wales Australian Labor Party
, the UAW also attracted ALP members such as Nola Barber
after the party split in 1955
and relaxed its ban on members from joining Communist-linked organisations.
At the local level, the UAW focused on the everyday lives of its members and sought to relate them to broader political issues, rather than dictate party policy.
membership of housewives and young mothers in the relatively anti-feminist early Cold War era. They campaigned for women's rights to work and receive equal treatment, hand-in-hand with affordable and universal childcare. With the rise of the Women's Liberation movement in the 1970s
, reproductive rights
and contraception
became an additional focus, although the UAW's persistent maternalist and domestic approach struggled to keep up with the eventual trajectory of feminism.
, and the necessity for working-class households to meet rising costs of living (another target of the UAW's efforts; see below). Initial protest
s and letter-writing campaigns for equal pay therefore received little support from the public and even from worker's unions
, whose ideas of equal family wages rested mostly on men earning the bulk of income. Nevertheless, the UAW realised working with unions would be the most effective, petitioning and vocally advocating for the issue without letting it be ignored, even as many UAW members did not personally insist on being independent earners.
By the late 1960s
, the tide was inevitably turning as women continued to take up work; most UAW members were now employed, although regular participants necessarily accorded their own jobs a secondary role in order to participate in UAW activities. At this point the UAW voluntarily cooperated with the nascent Women's Liberation Movement organisation in Australia, actively distributing leaflets
at rallies. The UAW's most noted contributions were submissions to the National Wage Cases: firstly in 1969, where 6-year UAW member and future Parliament member Joan Child
acted as spokesman for the ACTU
's test case
; then in 1972 alongside the WEL
with partial success,
followed by 1974 and 1983.
As the UAW saw their efforts come to fruition with the introduction of progressive legislation and encouraging results in the workforce, they remained persistent in supporting equal treatment at the workplace. In 1981, for example, NSW state secretary Lee Gorman
pledged the UAW's support in pursuing the case of four women appealing to the Anti-Discrimination Board for being stood down by the Urban Transit Authority
for being pregnant.
was one of the UAW's earliest and most significant concerns. Their advocacy for working women was inextricably linked to their push for government-supported childcare accessible by all women. This was consistent with their position that mothers, not both parents, were responsible for children's welfare, and thus childcare was purely a women's issue. While this position fell out of favour with the feminism of women's groups from the 1970s
onwards, it was once ahead of its time, challenging the traditional maternalist thinking dominant in the 1950s
and 1960s
, which dictated that women had to look after their children at home.
The UAW's efforts were particularly vigorous in Victoria
, where childcare (commonly referred to as child-minding) through the 1950s and 60s was considered a last resort—a recourse only for single mothers
, the destitute and otherwise "unfortunate". Married women who required childcare to work were urged to put their family first instead. Local authorities were slow in regulating the mushrooming private childcare institutions, and insistent that childcare/pre-school services not enable mothers to "park children". In response, the UAW, despite their relatively limited political influence, worked at local levels
by making mothers aware of existing efforts, and collecting data to present to local authorities as evidence establishing the pressing need for quality, accessible childcare and preschool
services. Crucially, this involved lobbying for local government
funding as well as higher child endowments.
Although the UAW met with limited success in the 50s and early 60s, it was ironically near the end of the 1960s, when they started losing members to the Women's Liberation movement, that their efforts to lay the necessary groundwork paid off. Childcare became a mainstream concern, and prominent UAW members such as Alma Morton built on their experience to become leaders in the successful Victorian community childcare movement.
and reproductive rights
, members in the 50s and 60s generally tended to be ambivalent, particularly over the issue of abortion
, with many preferring to place their faith in the medical profession
for making individual decisions. Although the UAW was more assertive than the public on women's health, they were less progressive than most women's groups in the 60s.
By the 70s, however, this hesitant position was untenable as birth control became a central topic of mainstream public discussion. The UAW's conservative approach quickly became more supportive, with members successfully lobbying with the Women's Liberation movement for the removal of tax on contraceptives in 1973. Victorian members worked against anti-abortionists taking over the directory boards of the Royal Women's and Queen Victoria hospitals between 1970 and 1975, and publicly countered their attempts to exclude abortion from the Medicare
rebate scheme. 1973 also saw the UAW officially incorporate a pro-choice
policy.
, Indigenous rights
and the environment
.
was a matter of great concern to the UAW's mostly working-class membership, who used the opportunity in the UAW to protest against price increases in the face of static wages. One of their first actions was a city rally, organised in 1950 in conjunction with the Trades Union Defence Committee. The Korean War
saw the price of living in Australia rise by 21% in 1951, which spurred the UAW to heat up their campaign for an affordable decent standard of living. They would conduct surveys and draw up petitions on the cost of living, which would then be passed on to unions as evidence in wage cases. The UAW argued their own cases as well—for example, in a 1953 inquiry on milk prices in Sydney, where the UAW president spoke from the viewpoint of a mother responsible for her children's nutrition.
In 1964, the UAW had a successful submission to the Milk Board on behalf of pensioner
s. This would be one of their limited victories in the area of campaigning for affordability..
Despite these efforts, in 1970 The Herald reported that the "price of living had increased faster than the minimum wage" . In response, the UAW joined about a dozen militant groups in a discussion of the cost of living and price control..
As the women of the union aged, they continued to monitor and comment on wages and living costs, but their focus shifted to the needs and living standards of senior citizens and pensioners, whose static pensions were particularly affected by inflation.
, striving to promote racial equality
consistent with their left-wing opposition to oppression. They were affiliated with Aboriginal groups such as the Aboriginal Advancement League (AAL) and the Council for Aboriginal Rights (CAR) with some members serving on their committees. UAW member Shirley Andrew was the first secretary for the CAR in Victoria in 1952 , and prominent Aboriginal activist Pearl Gibbs
served on the management committee of the UAW's NSW branch, acting as an important link between the Aboriginal and women's movements.
As well as sending representatives to attend AAL and CAR meetings, the UAW encouraged Aboriginal members to join, such as Melva Walsh, who was the vice president of the Moe, Victoria
UAW group in the 1960s and led an eventually successful campaign on land rights for Indigenous people forced off the Lake Tyers reserve in the 1960s. The UAW also invited Kath Walker/Oodgeroo Noonuccal
and Gladys O'Shane (mother of Pat O'Shane
) to speak regularly at meetings, where they were widely welcomed. Notably, the UAW also strived to depict Indigenous people in a positive light in their magazine Our Women, in stark contrast to mainstream media at the time.
The UAW's constant lobbying against racist laws in the 50s and 60s were finally vindicated by the 1967 Australian refendum, where over 90% of Australians voted to give Australian Aborigines
citizenship as well as equal rights under federal jurisdiction.
From this point, Indigenous organisations began to gain greater agency
and were able to rely on their own voice. Nevertheless, the UAW continued to aid and support Indigenous people where possible. In 1970, the UAW were active in aiding the Roper River
People's land rights
claim and then in September 1971 they similarly aided the Gurindji people
. Between 1971 and 1974, the UAW held fourteen meetings focusing on Indigenous issues and racism, as well as inviting Aboriginal women to speak at the 1972 and 1974 International Women’s Day celebrations, and having members who shared their experience in northern and inland Australian Indigenous communities..
Over the late 70s and early 80s, the Indigenous rights movement had come into its own, and eventually drifted away from the UAW. While the organisational relationships faded, the UAW nevertheless remained fully supportive of Indigenous causes and continued to contribute when possible, such as donating a third of a received bequest to the Oenpelli
Community School.
, and the controversy over Agent Orange
. The establishment of the Australian Conservation Foundation
in 1966 consolidated national interest in environmental concerns ; however, the UAW did not officially affiliate with the ACF until 1976.
The UAW's interest in the environment was most consistently maintained by country members; it was "ad hoc", shifting from topic to topic as suited the more influential members. Their focus in the 1960s was to petition local and state governments against the use of harmful pesticides such as dieldrin
, which then shifted to the protection of bushland and promotion of recycling. Bringing it back to a domestic angle, the UAW placed particular emphasis on personal responsibility to reduce waste in the household.
The UAW also maintained a constant anti-nuclear stance that was mostly focused on the destructive potential of nuclear weapons, but also stemmed from their maternal concern over the long-term environmental consequences future generations would have to bear. They stood alongside environmental groups in firmly opposing uranium mining in Australia
, particularly the Australian government's controversial decision to invest in uranium mining in 1977.
One of the UAW's last major environmental acts was to petition the government to seek a heritage listing for Kakadu National Park
in 1989, in consideration of its significance to the Aboriginal traditional owners, and the environmental threat posed by the nearby Ranger uranium mine
.
.
While the UAW likely had minimal impact on foreign affairs, organisation leaders were motivated by an "ideological commitment" and members gained the satisfaction of being part of an international movement. Decisions made at the executive level were often informed by their links to other Communist-related organisations, such as the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF). As such, the shift of power during the Cold War
had a noticeable influence on the UAW's international outlook.
Consequently, the UAW staunchly opposed the most problematic war during their peak period of activity—the Vietnam War
. UAW members participated in moratoriums and launched letter-writing campaigns that encouraged disarmament while objecting to conscription and the imprisonment of draft resisters. Some members, notably Nola Barber
, banded with women from other organisations to form the successful Save Our Sons organisation in 1965. When five Save Our Sons members, later dubbed the Fairlea Five, were jailed in Fairlea
for distributing anti-war pamphlets, the UAW publicly supported their release.
Unfortunately, as the peace movement was inherently linked to Communism for much of the 50s and 60s, the UAW started out with little support. However, by the end of the 60s, anti-Vietnam sentiment began mirroring the highly publicised American popular opinion, and the UAW went from being relatively radical to conservative.
The UAW also kept close correspondance with the Vietnamese Women’s Union, visiting North Vietnam
as their guests even as Australia was still at war with the country.
After the war's conclusion, the UAW sent support for the improvement of conditions in Hanoi
.
, and were committed to supporting the 1983 Royal Commission
into the United Kingdom
's atomic testing on Australian sites.
However, while peace united many members earlier in the organisation's lifetime, it also proved to be a divisive sticking point later on. The UAW's executive committee was affected by a "pro-Soviet bias", choosing not to take specific action against the Soviet Union
in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster
. Opinions over the Partial Test Ban Treaty also caused a split along ideological lines, eventually contributing to the UAW's gradual decline.
and Helen Joseph
. In addition, they boycotted multiple avenues of African trade due to their stance on apartheid. Their long-standing support of the African National Congress
was finally acknowledged by Nelson Mandela
when he visited Sydney in 1990.
was almost solely organised by the UAW for a few years, as many other organisations feared the communist associations of the event. For the UAW, it was a rare opportunity to interact with international guests and migrants, connecting local women with international movements..
As the UAW continued supporting it, public attitudes turned from hostility to indifference in the 1960s, and then finally to far greater support in the 70s with the rise of Women's Liberation. In 1972, the UAW collaborated with other organisations to conduct a highly successful rally of 2–3000 people in Melbourne.
The UAW's efforts culminated in their role in organising the first United Nations
-sponsored international conferences for women in 1975, which the United Nations declared International Women's Year
. Prominent attendees included Elizabeth Anne Reid
and Margaret Whitlam
, as well as Joan Child
who was now able to assist as a Member of Federal Parliament . In addition to appropriating and implementing the proposals established at these initial conferences, they continued to participate in several of the UN’s “International Decade for Women” conferences worldwide.
Over the years, the UAW formally received foreign nationals from various countries. The UAW's tendency to invite women from socialist and communist countries would sometimes result in minor controversies during the Cold War. One example was when the UAW invited visitors from the People's Republic of China
in 1962, when the Australian government did not officially recognise their citizens, causing an unnamed large firm to pull out of an exhibition they were to co-sponsor with the UAW. Even in 1980, one of the UAW's Russia
n guests attracted media attention for being completely unaware of the federal ban on Russian entry.
Through international contacts, the UAW also concerned itself with individual plights of socio-political importance, such as the imprisonment of prominent civil rights activist Angela Davis
.
Women's Liberation movement. The Sydney branch in particular experienced several clashes with the Women's Liberation groups, and were accused of being "conservative" and "ladylike". While the UAW did attempt to keep up, reflected by the increasing seriousness of content in Our Women and records of continuous efforts through the 70s, they struggled to identify with the concepts and approaches of this new wave of feminism
, not only failing to attract many new members but losing others to more radical feminist groups. Furthermore, the mothers and housewives that comprised most of their membership began dedicating more time to work and less time to the UAW. Membership steadily declined; in Victoria, the UAW went from an estimated 5–600 members in the 1950s to 400 in 1960, 300 in 1964 and around 200 by the end of the 1970s, at which they stayed throughout the 80s and 90s. The small Western Australian and Tasmanian branches disbanded around this time as well.
Another cause of the organisation's decline was the Sino-Soviet split
that affected the CPA, resulting in the formation of the pro-Soviet Socialist Party of Australia (SPA). By then, the UAW had only a loose association with the CPA, but conflicts nevertheless arose between the CPA-aligned Victorian branch and the SPA-aligned New South Wales and national executive committees, especially over the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963. Given that the UAW's local operations aimed to politicise the everyday and not necessarily along party lines, some members left in disappointment over the extent to which the Sino-Soviet split spilled over into the UAW; others left after questioning the executive-level support of controversial policies in Communist countries.
Although by 1991, the CPA's closure had no effect on the UAW and the UAW's support for paternity leave in 1989 represents an interesting update of their maternalist foundation, they never quite recovered from the decrease in membership and effectiveness caused by the compromised leadership and ideological divides of the 70s and 80s.
By the late 80s and 90s, the organisation had shrunk considerably, with the gradual dissolution and amalgamation of local groups and the streamlining of the national committee in 1993. Political and organisational disagreements led to a lapse in relations with the WIDF in the 80s, culminating in the end of a long-held affiliation in 1996.
As their members entered old age, some passing away, the UAW itself eventually began winding down, and the national organisation closed in 1995. The NSW branch followed suit in 1996, the Queensland branch in 1999.
Currently, only the Victorian UAW survives, headed by Anne Sgro. It still remains active, with a recorded statement from 2011 strongly denouncing the bombing of Afghanistan
and the Australian government's treatment of asylum seekers, particularly in the Tampa affair
. As of 28 October 2011, their website still lists activities for November 2011.
and National Council of Women was an example.
Some notable organisations the UAW stated affiliation with include:
Publication information was compiled from indexes on the Australian Women's Register and Trove.
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
women's organisation that operated in Australia in the latter half of the 20th century concerned with local and international issues regarding women's rights, international peace, and equality.
History
The UAW was established in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
on 31 July 1950 as the successor to the New Housewives' Association (NHA), with the first branch formed in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, soon followed by Victoria
Victoria
- Given name :* Victoria , word origin and list of people* Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Empress of India * Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden * Victoria of Baden , the queen-consort of Sweden as wife of King Gustaf V...
, Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
and Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
. The Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
had a branch revived from the defunct Darwin Housewives' Association, but purportedly attracted few members due to concerns of Communist affiliation.
In 1956, the national UAW organisation was formed, comprising an executive committee based in Sydney and representatives from each state organisation. While executive decisions on national/international issues and state issues were planned at the national and state levels respectively, the bulk of activities were carried out by suburban (and regional) sub-groups in each state (e.g. Sunshine
Sunshine, Victoria
Sunshine is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia lying 11 to 13 km west of the CBD. Its Local Government Area is the City of Brimbank. At the 2006 Census, Sunshine had a population of 8,070.-History:...
and Mildura respectively in Victoria). Through this grassroots approach, the UAW was on one hand able to connect housewives and mothers in local communities to national or international issues beyond the home, and on the other, provide the organisational backing to campaign for improvements in their members' immediate surroundings—such as child-minding centres in Rockhampton
Rockhampton, Queensland
Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
.
Maternalism
The UAW's name, as opposed to the NHA's, reflected their aim to attract "all women" , recognising that those who stayed in the post-war workforce were no longer necessarily housewives and would want to identify otherwise.Nevertheless, the domestic focus persevered, especially through the 1950s, shaping what has come to be called UAW's "maternalist"
Maternalism
Maternalism refers to an attitude or a policy reminiscent of the non-hierarchic pattern of a family based on matriarchy.In this form of system, women use society in order to protect children from unnecessary harm. This system is the opposite of paternalism; which refers to a policy that resembles...
approach. The working-class mothers and housewives who comprised the bulk of earlier UAW membership did challenge traditional maternalism by recognising the necessity for women to work, and in Victoria overcame traditional maternalist policies by advocating local and subsidised childcare
Childcare
Child care means caring for and supervising child/children usually from 0–13 years of age. In the United States child care is increasingly referred to as early childhood education due to the understanding of the impact of early experiences of the developing child...
for all working women. Nevertheless, they subscribed to the underlying notion that children were a woman's responsibility, which informed their stance on issues from living costs to environmental damage, and especially war. The UAW's significant peace activism stemmed from the perceived universal concern of mothers over the mental and physical well-being of children.
Maternalism provided the ideological backdrop for domestic activities, such as apron-making and millinery
Millinery
Hatmaking is the manufacture of hats and headwear, millinery is the designing and manufacture of ladies’ hats.-Notable hatters:* Gerard Albouy , often known by the name Ouy, a French milliner...
demonstrations, to comfortably coexist alongside equally important discussions on serious political issues in local group meetings. Similarly, the UAW's self-published magazine, Our Women, juxtaposed mainstream content such as recipes, light-hearted chat and fashion tips against the latest workers' union news, tracts on women's equality and articles on Aboriginal rights.
The UAW's discourse on the universality of motherhood followed a long tradition of uniting women across race, class, and even national divisions, providing an impetus for local women to agitate for change "from within, rather than from the fringes of, mainstream society".
Political affiliation
Although the UAW was never officially affiliated with any political party , it was associated with the CommunistCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
movement from its inception. Many of its founding members were Communist women who kept in close contact with Communist Party of Australia, which, along with the NHA and other UAW-affiliated organisations, narrowly avoided dissolution by the defeated Communist Party Dissolution Act 1950 (Cth)
Australian Communist Party v Commonwealth
Australian Communist Party v The Commonwealth 83 CLR 1, also known as the Communist Party Case, was a legal case in the High Court of Australia described as "undoubtedly one of the High Court's most important decisions."- Background :...
. When, in 1954, the UAW collected individual signatures supporting a ban on hydrogen and atomic bombs and sent them to then-Federal Minister for Labour and National Service Harold Holt
Harold Holt
Harold Edward Holt, CH was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia.His term as Prime Minister was brought to an early and dramatic end in December 1967 when he disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria, and was presumed drowned.Holt spent 32 years...
, Holt sent back each slip to its signatory, denouncing the UAW as "completely under the control of the Communist Party of Australia", characterising their methods as "insidious" and "deceptive".
Former CPA members later claimed the CPA had little direct involvement in the UAW's actions and that the UAW was "not a danger to the status quo". However, the circumstances surrounding the UAW's formation and individual members' actions in the politically hostile Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
environment earned it the continued scrutiny of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is Australia's national security service, which is responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically-motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and...
through the 1950s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
and 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
. Member Barbara Curthoys claimed that every state branch had "at least one ASIO agent" in a book launch of the UAW's official history. Accordingly, the UAW did not keep a full record of members during that period.
Despite initial condemnation by the New South Wales Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
, the UAW also attracted ALP members such as Nola Barber
Nola Barber
Nola Isabel Constance Barber OBE was an Australian mayor and community worker.Born at Woodend in Victoria to estate agent William Oswald Griffiths and Elizabeth, née Dick, Nola was educated in Melbourne and graduated from the College of Domestic Economy, after which she was a teacher in Melbourne...
after the party split in 1955
Australian Labor Party split of 1955
The Australian Labor Party split of 1955 was a splintering of the Australian Labor Party along sectarian and ideological lines in the mid 1950s...
and relaxed its ban on members from joining Communist-linked organisations.
At the local level, the UAW focused on the everyday lives of its members and sought to relate them to broader political issues, rather than dictate party policy.
Women’s Issues
One of the UAW's key concerns was the well-being of women across the world. While the UAW located women within its broader campaigns (see sections below), it also focused on women's issues pertinent to its largely working-classWorking class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
membership of housewives and young mothers in the relatively anti-feminist early Cold War era. They campaigned for women's rights to work and receive equal treatment, hand-in-hand with affordable and universal childcare. With the rise of the Women's Liberation movement in the 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
, reproductive rights
Reproductive rights
Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:...
and contraception
Contraception
Contraception is the prevention of the fusion of gametes during or after sexual activity. The term contraception is a contraction of contra, which means against, and the word conception, meaning fertilization...
became an additional focus, although the UAW's persistent maternalist and domestic approach struggled to keep up with the eventual trajectory of feminism.
Women in the workplace
The UAW started off in an environment hostile to the notion of women joining the workforce, despite the availability of work, availability of time afforded by advances in domestic technologyDomestic technology
Domestic technology is the incorporation of applied science into the home. There are many aspects of domestic technology. On one level, there are home appliances, home automation and other devices commonly used in the home, such as clothes dryers and washing machines. These things are itemized...
, and the necessity for working-class households to meet rising costs of living (another target of the UAW's efforts; see below). Initial protest
Protest
A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations...
s and letter-writing campaigns for equal pay therefore received little support from the public and even from worker's unions
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
, whose ideas of equal family wages rested mostly on men earning the bulk of income. Nevertheless, the UAW realised working with unions would be the most effective, petitioning and vocally advocating for the issue without letting it be ignored, even as many UAW members did not personally insist on being independent earners.
By the late 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
, the tide was inevitably turning as women continued to take up work; most UAW members were now employed, although regular participants necessarily accorded their own jobs a secondary role in order to participate in UAW activities. At this point the UAW voluntarily cooperated with the nascent Women's Liberation Movement organisation in Australia, actively distributing leaflets
Flyer (pamphlet)
__notoc__A flyer or flier, also called a circular, handbill or leaflet, is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in public place....
at rallies. The UAW's most noted contributions were submissions to the National Wage Cases: firstly in 1969, where 6-year UAW member and future Parliament member Joan Child
Joan Child
Gloria Joan Liles Child AO is a former Australian politician. She was the first, and so far only, woman to be Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives....
acted as spokesman for the ACTU
Australian Council of Trade Unions
The Australian Council of Trade Unions is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated unions.-History:The ACTU was formed in 1927 as the "Australian Council of Trade Unions"...
's test case
Test case (law)
In case law, a test case is a legal action whose purpose is to set a precedent. An example of a test case might be a legal entity who files a lawsuit in order to see if the court considers a certain law or a certain legal precedent applicable in specific circumstances...
; then in 1972 alongside the WEL
Women's Electoral Lobby
WEL is credited with major achievements for women in Australia in relation to anti-discrimination and equal opportunity legislation, equal pay decisions, the funding of women’s and children’s services.....
with partial success,
followed by 1974 and 1983.
As the UAW saw their efforts come to fruition with the introduction of progressive legislation and encouraging results in the workforce, they remained persistent in supporting equal treatment at the workplace. In 1981, for example, NSW state secretary Lee Gorman
Lee Rhiannon
Lee Rhiannon , an Australian politician, is a Senator for New South Wales, elected at the 2010 federal election, representing the Australian Greens...
pledged the UAW's support in pursuing the case of four women appealing to the Anti-Discrimination Board for being stood down by the Urban Transit Authority
State Transit Authority of New South Wales
The State Transit Authority of New South Wales is an agency of the Government of New South Wales based in Sydney, Australia operating bus and ferry services. The STA is part of transport minister Gladys Berejiklian's portfolio...
for being pregnant.
Childcare
ChildcareChildcare
Child care means caring for and supervising child/children usually from 0–13 years of age. In the United States child care is increasingly referred to as early childhood education due to the understanding of the impact of early experiences of the developing child...
was one of the UAW's earliest and most significant concerns. Their advocacy for working women was inextricably linked to their push for government-supported childcare accessible by all women. This was consistent with their position that mothers, not both parents, were responsible for children's welfare, and thus childcare was purely a women's issue. While this position fell out of favour with the feminism of women's groups from the 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
onwards, it was once ahead of its time, challenging the traditional maternalist thinking dominant in the 1950s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
and 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
, which dictated that women had to look after their children at home.
The UAW's efforts were particularly vigorous in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, where childcare (commonly referred to as child-minding) through the 1950s and 60s was considered a last resort—a recourse only for single mothers
Single parent
Single parent is a term that is mostly used to suggest that one parent has most of the day to day responsibilities in the raising of the child or children, which would categorize them as the dominant caregiver...
, the destitute and otherwise "unfortunate". Married women who required childcare to work were urged to put their family first instead. Local authorities were slow in regulating the mushrooming private childcare institutions, and insistent that childcare/pre-school services not enable mothers to "park children". In response, the UAW, despite their relatively limited political influence, worked at local levels
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
by making mothers aware of existing efforts, and collecting data to present to local authorities as evidence establishing the pressing need for quality, accessible childcare and preschool
Preschool education
Preschool education is the provision of learning to children before the commencement of statutory and obligatory education, usually between the ages of zero and three or five, depending on the jurisdiction....
services. Crucially, this involved lobbying for local government
Local government in Australia
Local government in Australia is the third tier of government, administered by the states and territories which in turn are beneath the Commonwealth or federal tier. Unlike New Zealand, the US or the UK, there is only one level of local government in all states, with no distinction such as...
funding as well as higher child endowments.
Although the UAW met with limited success in the 50s and early 60s, it was ironically near the end of the 1960s, when they started losing members to the Women's Liberation movement, that their efforts to lay the necessary groundwork paid off. Childcare became a mainstream concern, and prominent UAW members such as Alma Morton built on their experience to become leaders in the successful Victorian community childcare movement.
Women's health and reproductive rights
The UAW initially took a broad approach towards women's health, organising public meetings and letter-writing campaigns on topics from cervical cancer to childbirth. On the issue of contraceptionContraception
Contraception is the prevention of the fusion of gametes during or after sexual activity. The term contraception is a contraction of contra, which means against, and the word conception, meaning fertilization...
and reproductive rights
Reproductive rights
Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:...
, members in the 50s and 60s generally tended to be ambivalent, particularly over the issue of abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, with many preferring to place their faith in the medical profession
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
for making individual decisions. Although the UAW was more assertive than the public on women's health, they were less progressive than most women's groups in the 60s.
By the 70s, however, this hesitant position was untenable as birth control became a central topic of mainstream public discussion. The UAW's conservative approach quickly became more supportive, with members successfully lobbying with the Women's Liberation movement for the removal of tax on contraceptives in 1973. Victorian members worked against anti-abortionists taking over the directory boards of the Royal Women's and Queen Victoria hospitals between 1970 and 1975, and publicly countered their attempts to exclude abortion from the Medicare
Medicare (Australia)
Medicare is Australia's publicly funded universal health care system, operated by the government authority Medicare Australia. Medicare is intended to provide affordable treatment by doctors and in public hospitals for all resident citizens and permanent residents except for those on Norfolk Island...
rebate scheme. 1973 also saw the UAW officially incorporate a pro-choice
Pro-choice
Support for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....
policy.
National Issues
The UAW was also concerned with broader national issues that manifested in national, state, and local-level action. Chief among these issues were living standardsStandard of living
Standard of living is generally measured by standards such as real income per person and poverty rate. Other measures such as access and quality of health care, income growth inequality and educational standards are also used. Examples are access to certain goods , or measures of health such as...
, Indigenous rights
Indigenous rights
Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the preservation of their land, language, religion and other elements of cultural...
and the environment
Environment (biophysical)
The biophysical environment is the combined modeling of the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables, parameters as well as conditions and modes inside the Earth's biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories:...
.
Living Standards Campaigns
Purchasing powerPurchasing power
Purchasing power is the number of goods/services that can be purchased with a unit of currency. For example, if you had taken one dollar to a store in the 1950s, you would have been able to buy a greater number of items than you would today, indicating that you would have had a greater purchasing...
was a matter of great concern to the UAW's mostly working-class membership, who used the opportunity in the UAW to protest against price increases in the face of static wages. One of their first actions was a city rally, organised in 1950 in conjunction with the Trades Union Defence Committee. The Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
saw the price of living in Australia rise by 21% in 1951, which spurred the UAW to heat up their campaign for an affordable decent standard of living. They would conduct surveys and draw up petitions on the cost of living, which would then be passed on to unions as evidence in wage cases. The UAW argued their own cases as well—for example, in a 1953 inquiry on milk prices in Sydney, where the UAW president spoke from the viewpoint of a mother responsible for her children's nutrition.
In 1964, the UAW had a successful submission to the Milk Board on behalf of pensioner
Pensioner
In common parlance, a pensioner is a person who has retired, and now collects a pension. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom and Australia where someone of pensionable age may also be referred to as an 'old age pensioner', or OAP. In the United States, the term retiree is more...
s. This would be one of their limited victories in the area of campaigning for affordability..
Despite these efforts, in 1970 The Herald reported that the "price of living had increased faster than the minimum wage" . In response, the UAW joined about a dozen militant groups in a discussion of the cost of living and price control..
As the women of the union aged, they continued to monitor and comment on wages and living costs, but their focus shifted to the needs and living standards of senior citizens and pensioners, whose static pensions were particularly affected by inflation.
Indigenous rights activism
The UAW was an early, ardent and constant supporter of Indigenous rightsIndigenous rights
Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the preservation of their land, language, religion and other elements of cultural...
, striving to promote racial equality
Racial equality
Racial equality means different things in different contexts. It mostly deals with an equal regard to all races.It can refer to a belief in biological equality of all human races....
consistent with their left-wing opposition to oppression. They were affiliated with Aboriginal groups such as the Aboriginal Advancement League (AAL) and the Council for Aboriginal Rights (CAR) with some members serving on their committees. UAW member Shirley Andrew was the first secretary for the CAR in Victoria in 1952 , and prominent Aboriginal activist Pearl Gibbs
Pearl Gibbs
Pearl Gibbs was an Indigenous Australian activist, and the most prominent female activist within the Aboriginal movement in the early 20th century...
served on the management committee of the UAW's NSW branch, acting as an important link between the Aboriginal and women's movements.
As well as sending representatives to attend AAL and CAR meetings, the UAW encouraged Aboriginal members to join, such as Melva Walsh, who was the vice president of the Moe, Victoria
Moe, Victoria
Moe is a city in the Latrobe Valley and Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. It is about east of Melbourne and at the 2006 census had a population of 15,582 . It is administered by the City of Latrobe council....
UAW group in the 1960s and led an eventually successful campaign on land rights for Indigenous people forced off the Lake Tyers reserve in the 1960s. The UAW also invited Kath Walker/Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Oodgeroo Noonuccal was an Australian poet, political activist, artist and educator. She was also a campaigner for Aboriginal rights...
and Gladys O'Shane (mother of Pat O'Shane
Pat O'Shane
Patricia June O'Shane is a magistrate of the Local Court of New South Wales living in Sydney, Australia. A former head of the New South Wales Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, and Aboriginal herself, O'Shane was appointed a magistrate in 1986...
) to speak regularly at meetings, where they were widely welcomed. Notably, the UAW also strived to depict Indigenous people in a positive light in their magazine Our Women, in stark contrast to mainstream media at the time.
The UAW's constant lobbying against racist laws in the 50s and 60s were finally vindicated by the 1967 Australian refendum, where over 90% of Australians voted to give Australian Aborigines
Australian Aborigines
Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
citizenship as well as equal rights under federal jurisdiction.
From this point, Indigenous organisations began to gain greater agency
Agency (sociology)
In the social sciences, agency refers to the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices. By contrast, "Structure" refers to the factors of influence that determine or limit an agent and his or her decisions...
and were able to rely on their own voice. Nevertheless, the UAW continued to aid and support Indigenous people where possible. In 1970, the UAW were active in aiding the Roper River
Roper River
The Roper River is one of the largest rivers in the Northern Territory, Australia, extending east for over 500 km to meet the sea in Limmen Bight on the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is navigable for about 145 km, until the tidal limit at Roper Bar, and forms the southern boundary of the region...
People's land rights
Land rights
Land law is the form of law that deals with the rights to use, alienate, or exclude others from land. In many jurisdictions, these species of property are referred to as real estate or real property, as distinct from personal property. Land use agreements, including renting, are an important...
claim and then in September 1971 they similarly aided the Gurindji people
Gurindji people
Gurindji are a group of Indigenous Australians living in northern Australia, 460 km southwest of Katherine in the Northern Territory's Victoria River region....
. Between 1971 and 1974, the UAW held fourteen meetings focusing on Indigenous issues and racism, as well as inviting Aboriginal women to speak at the 1972 and 1974 International Women’s Day celebrations, and having members who shared their experience in northern and inland Australian Indigenous communities..
Over the late 70s and early 80s, the Indigenous rights movement had come into its own, and eventually drifted away from the UAW. While the organisational relationships faded, the UAW nevertheless remained fully supportive of Indigenous causes and continued to contribute when possible, such as donating a third of a received bequest to the Oenpelli
Oenpelli, Northern Territory
Oenpelli is an Aboriginal community in west Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.-Access:The sealed Arnhem Highway links Darwin to Jabiru, the town within Kakadu National Park...
Community School.
Environmental Lobbying
The UAW was one of the first urban women’s groups to act on environmental issues , starting in the 1960s after being inspired by ideas brought from America in books such as Silent SpringSilent Spring
Silent Spring is a book written by Rachel Carson and published by Houghton Mifflin on 27 September 1962. The book is widely credited with helping launch the environmental movement....
, and the controversy over Agent Orange
Agent Orange
Agent Orange is the code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. Vietnam estimates 400,000 people were killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth...
. The establishment of the Australian Conservation Foundation
Australian Conservation Foundation
The Australian Conservation Foundation is an Australian non-profit, community-based environmental organisation focused on advocacy, policy research and community outreach.-History:...
in 1966 consolidated national interest in environmental concerns ; however, the UAW did not officially affiliate with the ACF until 1976.
The UAW's interest in the environment was most consistently maintained by country members; it was "ad hoc", shifting from topic to topic as suited the more influential members. Their focus in the 1960s was to petition local and state governments against the use of harmful pesticides such as dieldrin
Dieldrin
Dieldrin is a chlorinated hydrocarbon originally produced in 1948 by J. Hyman & Co, Denver, as an insecticide. Dieldrin is closely related to aldrin, which reacts further to form dieldrin. Aldrin is not toxic to insects; it is oxidized in the insect to form dieldrin which is the active compound...
, which then shifted to the protection of bushland and promotion of recycling. Bringing it back to a domestic angle, the UAW placed particular emphasis on personal responsibility to reduce waste in the household.
The UAW also maintained a constant anti-nuclear stance that was mostly focused on the destructive potential of nuclear weapons, but also stemmed from their maternal concern over the long-term environmental consequences future generations would have to bear. They stood alongside environmental groups in firmly opposing uranium mining in Australia
Anti-nuclear movement in Australia
Nuclear testing, uranium mining and export, and nuclear energy have often been the subject of public debate in Australia, and the anti-nuclear movement in Australia has a long history...
, particularly the Australian government's controversial decision to invest in uranium mining in 1977.
One of the UAW's last major environmental acts was to petition the government to seek a heritage listing for Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park is in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km southeast of Darwin.Kakadu National Park is located within the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It covers an area of , extending nearly 200 kilometres from north to south and over 100 kilometres...
in 1989, in consideration of its significance to the Aboriginal traditional owners, and the environmental threat posed by the nearby Ranger uranium mine
Ranger Uranium Mine
The Ranger uranium mine is surrounded by Kakadu National Park, in the Northern Territory of Australia, 230 km east of Darwin. The orebody was discovered in 1969, and the mine commenced operation in 1980, reaching full production of uranium oxide in 1981...
.
International issues
In addition to supporting local causes, the UAW was also vocal on international causes, particularly peace. Through personal correspondence and grassroots campaigns, they addressed conflicts related to issues of equality and freedom, and strongly protested against Australia's involvement in the Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
While the UAW likely had minimal impact on foreign affairs, organisation leaders were motivated by an "ideological commitment" and members gained the satisfaction of being part of an international movement. Decisions made at the executive level were often informed by their links to other Communist-related organisations, such as the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF). As such, the shift of power during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
had a noticeable influence on the UAW's international outlook.
Vietnam War
The UAW was fundamentally committed to peace, both from a general anti-violence perspective and a feminist/maternal one, which championed the nurturing, peaceful qualities of mothers. This rhetoric created an obligation to protest, by specifically highlighting the damage war had on children.Consequently, the UAW staunchly opposed the most problematic war during their peak period of activity—the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. UAW members participated in moratoriums and launched letter-writing campaigns that encouraged disarmament while objecting to conscription and the imprisonment of draft resisters. Some members, notably Nola Barber
Nola Barber
Nola Isabel Constance Barber OBE was an Australian mayor and community worker.Born at Woodend in Victoria to estate agent William Oswald Griffiths and Elizabeth, née Dick, Nola was educated in Melbourne and graduated from the College of Domestic Economy, after which she was a teacher in Melbourne...
, banded with women from other organisations to form the successful Save Our Sons organisation in 1965. When five Save Our Sons members, later dubbed the Fairlea Five, were jailed in Fairlea
HM Prison Fairlea
HM Prison Fairlea was an Australian female prison located on Yarra Bend Road in the suburb of Fairfield, Victoria, Australia. The first all-female prison in Victoria, it was built on the site of the Yarra Bend Asylum, with remnants of the walls and gates being used in the layout of the prison. In...
for distributing anti-war pamphlets, the UAW publicly supported their release.
Unfortunately, as the peace movement was inherently linked to Communism for much of the 50s and 60s, the UAW started out with little support. However, by the end of the 60s, anti-Vietnam sentiment began mirroring the highly publicised American popular opinion, and the UAW went from being relatively radical to conservative.
The UAW also kept close correspondance with the Vietnamese Women’s Union, visiting North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
as their guests even as Australia was still at war with the country.
After the war's conclusion, the UAW sent support for the improvement of conditions in Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
.
Nuclear testing
Central to the peace movement was a strong objection to the use of nuclear weapons. The UAW took a particularly maternalist interpretation of this, focusing on the universal plight of children during war, and particularly nuclear warfare, which could leave a mark for decades on children's lives. From the 1960s through to the 1980s, the UAW opposed French and Chinese atmospheric nuclear testing, stood alongside environmental groups in opposing uranium mining, spread petitions during the 1980s nuclear arms raceNuclear arms race
The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War...
, and were committed to supporting the 1983 Royal Commission
McClelland Royal Commission
The McClelland Royal Commission or Royal Commission into British nuclear tests in Australia was an inquiry by the Australian government in 1984-1985 to investigate the conduct of the British in its use, with the then Australian government's permission, of Australian territory and soldiers for...
into the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's atomic testing on Australian sites.
However, while peace united many members earlier in the organisation's lifetime, it also proved to be a divisive sticking point later on. The UAW's executive committee was affected by a "pro-Soviet bias", choosing not to take specific action against the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
. Opinions over the Partial Test Ban Treaty also caused a split along ideological lines, eventually contributing to the UAW's gradual decline.
Anti-Apartheid
The UAW protested the South African apartheid movement since the 1950s, maintaining support for various anti-apartheid citizens and figures, including Elizabeth MafekengElizabeth Mafekeng
Elizabeth Mafekeng was a trade union political leader who fought against the injustices suffered by the working class and against the racial segregation laws imposed by the apartheid system....
and Helen Joseph
Helen Joseph
Helen Joseph , a South African anti-apartheid activist, was born in Easebourne near Midhurst West Sussex, England and graduated from King's College London, in 1927. After working as a teacher in India for three years, Helen came to South Africa in 1931, where she met and married Billie Joseph...
. In addition, they boycotted multiple avenues of African trade due to their stance on apartheid. Their long-standing support of the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
was finally acknowledged by Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
when he visited Sydney in 1990.
International Women's Day/Year
After the war, International Women's DayInternational Women's Day
International Women's Day , originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and...
was almost solely organised by the UAW for a few years, as many other organisations feared the communist associations of the event. For the UAW, it was a rare opportunity to interact with international guests and migrants, connecting local women with international movements..
As the UAW continued supporting it, public attitudes turned from hostility to indifference in the 1960s, and then finally to far greater support in the 70s with the rise of Women's Liberation. In 1972, the UAW collaborated with other organisations to conduct a highly successful rally of 2–3000 people in Melbourne.
The UAW's efforts culminated in their role in organising the first United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
-sponsored international conferences for women in 1975, which the United Nations declared International Women's Year
International Women's Year
International Women's Year was the name given to 1975 by the United Nations. Since that year March 8 has been celebrated as International Women's Day, and the United Nations Decade for Women, from 1976–1985, was also established.-International:...
. Prominent attendees included Elizabeth Anne Reid
Elizabeth Anne Reid
Elizabeth Anne Reid AO, FASSA, is an Australian development practitioner, feminist and academic with a distinguished career in and significant contribution to national and international public service. She founded, established and worked with a number of pioneering and specialised United Nations...
and Margaret Whitlam
Margaret Whitlam
Margaret Whitlam AO is a prominent Australian personality and the wife of former Prime Minister of Australia Gough Whitlam...
, as well as Joan Child
Joan Child
Gloria Joan Liles Child AO is a former Australian politician. She was the first, and so far only, woman to be Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives....
who was now able to assist as a Member of Federal Parliament . In addition to appropriating and implementing the proposals established at these initial conferences, they continued to participate in several of the UN’s “International Decade for Women” conferences worldwide.
International guests and exchanges
The UAW's founding undercurrent of coupling Soviet-influenced internationalism with the "common female experience" promoted regular interaction with individuals and organisations from multiple countries, often women's unions that shared similar goals and philosophies. Among these, the most prominent and long-standing affiliation was with the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF), of which UAW national president Freda Brown went on to serve as president from 1975–1989. Traditional women's organisations shied away from associating with in the 1950s due to the WIDF's Communist reputation., but the UAW proudly and frequently featured WIDF-produced content in their magazine Our Women, offering suburban housewives a connection to socialist women's movements across the world.Over the years, the UAW formally received foreign nationals from various countries. The UAW's tendency to invite women from socialist and communist countries would sometimes result in minor controversies during the Cold War. One example was when the UAW invited visitors from the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
in 1962, when the Australian government did not officially recognise their citizens, causing an unnamed large firm to pull out of an exhibition they were to co-sponsor with the UAW. Even in 1980, one of the UAW's Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n guests attracted media attention for being completely unaware of the federal ban on Russian entry.
Through international contacts, the UAW also concerned itself with individual plights of socio-political importance, such as the imprisonment of prominent civil rights activist Angela Davis
Angela Davis
Angela Davis is an American political activist, scholar, and author. Davis was most politically active during the late 1960s through the 1970s and was associated with the Communist Party USA, the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panther Party...
.
Legacy
The UAW enjoyed success in the 1950s and 1960s with their combination of the conventional and subversive, being a "product of both mainstream and left culture". However, this also proved to be their weak point, as the UAW's continued focus on peaceful motherhood started to seem outmoded and ineffective to a new generation of activists and campaigners in the vigorous post-VietnamVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
Women's Liberation movement. The Sydney branch in particular experienced several clashes with the Women's Liberation groups, and were accused of being "conservative" and "ladylike". While the UAW did attempt to keep up, reflected by the increasing seriousness of content in Our Women and records of continuous efforts through the 70s, they struggled to identify with the concepts and approaches of this new wave of feminism
Second-wave feminism
The Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted through the early 1990s....
, not only failing to attract many new members but losing others to more radical feminist groups. Furthermore, the mothers and housewives that comprised most of their membership began dedicating more time to work and less time to the UAW. Membership steadily declined; in Victoria, the UAW went from an estimated 5–600 members in the 1950s to 400 in 1960, 300 in 1964 and around 200 by the end of the 1970s, at which they stayed throughout the 80s and 90s. The small Western Australian and Tasmanian branches disbanded around this time as well.
Another cause of the organisation's decline was the Sino-Soviet split
Sino-Soviet split
In political science, the term Sino–Soviet split denotes the worsening of political and ideologic relations between the People's Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Cold War...
that affected the CPA, resulting in the formation of the pro-Soviet Socialist Party of Australia (SPA). By then, the UAW had only a loose association with the CPA, but conflicts nevertheless arose between the CPA-aligned Victorian branch and the SPA-aligned New South Wales and national executive committees, especially over the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963. Given that the UAW's local operations aimed to politicise the everyday and not necessarily along party lines, some members left in disappointment over the extent to which the Sino-Soviet split spilled over into the UAW; others left after questioning the executive-level support of controversial policies in Communist countries.
Although by 1991, the CPA's closure had no effect on the UAW and the UAW's support for paternity leave in 1989 represents an interesting update of their maternalist foundation, they never quite recovered from the decrease in membership and effectiveness caused by the compromised leadership and ideological divides of the 70s and 80s.
By the late 80s and 90s, the organisation had shrunk considerably, with the gradual dissolution and amalgamation of local groups and the streamlining of the national committee in 1993. Political and organisational disagreements led to a lapse in relations with the WIDF in the 80s, culminating in the end of a long-held affiliation in 1996.
As their members entered old age, some passing away, the UAW itself eventually began winding down, and the national organisation closed in 1995. The NSW branch followed suit in 1996, the Queensland branch in 1999.
Currently, only the Victorian UAW survives, headed by Anne Sgro. It still remains active, with a recorded statement from 2011 strongly denouncing the bombing of Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
and the Australian government's treatment of asylum seekers, particularly in the Tampa affair
Tampa affair
In August 2001, the Howard Government of Australia refused permission for the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa, carrying 438 rescued Afghans from a distressed fishing vessel in international waters, to enter Australian waters...
. As of 28 October 2011, their website still lists activities for November 2011.
Affiliations
The UAW has, throughout its history, campaigned alongside other organisations across various fields. They often worked in conjunction with unions and women's groups to send out stronger messages and bring about social change. The joint intervention in the 1983 National Wage Case with the Women's Electoral LobbyWomen's Electoral Lobby
WEL is credited with major achievements for women in Australia in relation to anti-discrimination and equal opportunity legislation, equal pay decisions, the funding of women’s and children’s services.....
and National Council of Women was an example.
Some notable organisations the UAW stated affiliation with include:
- Australian People for Health, Education and Development AbroadAustralian People for Health, Education and Development AbroadAustralian People for Health, Education and Development Abroad , also called Union Aid Abroad, is the overseas aid agency of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, established in 1985....
(APHEDA) - UNIFEMUNIFEMThe United Nations Development Fund for Women, commonly known as UNIFEM was established in December 1976 originally as the Voluntary Fund for the United Nations Decade for Women in the International Women's Year. Its first director was Dr. Margaret Snyder, Ph.D...
- UNICEF
- Waterside Workers' Federation and Seamen's Union of Australia Women's Committees
- Women's Electoral LobbyWomen's Electoral LobbyWEL is credited with major achievements for women in Australia in relation to anti-discrimination and equal opportunity legislation, equal pay decisions, the funding of women’s and children’s services.....
(WEL) - Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF)
- Women's International League for Peace and FreedomWomen's International League for Peace and FreedomThe Women's International League for Peace and Freedom was established in the United States in January 1915 as the Woman's Peace Party...
(WILPF)
Selected Publications
The UAW released a range of periodic publications during the height of their activity, the most representative being mixed-content magazine, Our Women, which ceased publication in 1971 owing to the changed circumstances of the UAW. They also released official histories of the national (More Than a Hat and Glove Brigade) and Queensland (Daring to Take a Stand) branches near their closures. A comprehensive history of the Victorian branch (Left-Wing Ladies) was published in 2000 by non-members Suzanne Fabian and Morag Loh.Publication information was compiled from indexes on the Australian Women's Register and Trove.
Records
Some of the UAW's correspondence, flyers, records and other papers have been archived at the following libraries:Notable members
- Freda Brown, national secretary, then national president 1967–1975
- Flo CluffFlo CluffFlorence Amy "Flo" Cluff OAM, formerly Kershaw and Davis was an Australian trade unionist, communist and pensioner activist....
, vice-president of NSW branch in 1950s - Lee RhiannonLee RhiannonLee Rhiannon , an Australian politician, is a Senator for New South Wales, elected at the 2010 federal election, representing the Australian Greens...
, secretary of NSW branch 1980–1983 - Pearl GibbsPearl GibbsPearl Gibbs was an Indigenous Australian activist, and the most prominent female activist within the Aboriginal movement in the early 20th century...
, NSW branch management committee - Nola BarberNola BarberNola Isabel Constance Barber OBE was an Australian mayor and community worker.Born at Woodend in Victoria to estate agent William Oswald Griffiths and Elizabeth, née Dick, Nola was educated in Melbourne and graduated from the College of Domestic Economy, after which she was a teacher in Melbourne...
- Eva BaconEva BaconEva Bacon , born Eva Goldner, was a socialist and feminist based in Brisbane, Australia, who was most active between the 1950s and the 1980s. Raised in Austria and a member of several leftist political organisations in her youth, Eva Goldner escaped Nazi occupied Austria in 1939, eventually...
- Oodgeroo NoonuccalOodgeroo NoonuccalOodgeroo Noonuccal was an Australian poet, political activist, artist and educator. She was also a campaigner for Aboriginal rights...
- Henrietta GrevilleHenrietta GrevilleHenrietta Greville MBE, née Wyse was an Australian labour organiser and one of the first women to run for the Australian Parliament with major party endorsement....
- Lily D'AmbrosioLily D'AmbrosioLiliana D'Ambrosio is an Australian politician. She has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 2002, representing the electorate of Mill Park....
External links
- Official website of the Union of Australian Women (Victoria) (archived on the NLANational Library of AustraliaThe National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
's PANDORA archivePandora ArchivePANDORA - Australia's Web Archive is the national web archive for the preservation of Australia's online publications. It was established by the National Library of Australia in 1996, and is now built in collaboration with a number of other Australian state libraries and cultural collecting...
)