| History about WEL |
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WEL NSW CELEBRATES 25 YEARS - 1972-1997 In 1997, the Women's Electoral Lobby (WEL) in New South Wales (and nationally) celebrated 25 years of advocacy for women's welfare and women's rights. It also celebrated the many reforms which have followed that advocacy.
How it began In May 1972, Beatrice Faust, a Melbourne academic and abortion law reform advocate, addressed a meeting in Sydney at the house of Julia Freebury, the Sydney organiser of the Abortion Law Reform Association, about forming a women's lobby for the purpose of interviewing all candidates for the 1972 federal elections about their attitudes to issues being enunciated by the Women's Liberation Movement. Such a lobby group had already formed in Melbourne. After discussion, Caroline Graham, June Surtees (now Williams) and Wendy McCarthy agreed to become co-convenors. The founding members were already connected through their involvement in childbirth education, women's health issues, abortion law reform and Women's Liberation. They were able to contact other women through these networks. The first public meeting was held on 17 June, 1972 with 40 women attending. Within six months the attendance at meetings in Sydney was over 100 and WEL branches were established in every State and in many regions. WEL had become a national organisation. Women from all walks of life quickly joined. They tended to be in their early thirties, married, many with small children and working in and trained for 'feminine' white collar occupations such as teaching, nursing and office work. A few were academics, whose research skills were later to ensure that WEL's submissions, such as that to the Poverty Enquiry in the early 1970s, were accurate and well argued. A few older women, such as Edna Ryan, had been activists in education and union circles. The latter brought to the organisation their expertise and their well developed political skills. Others quickly developed the political skills necessary to make submissions on policy issues, organise meetings and conferences, write media material, address public meetings, and to speak on the radio and TV. They also quickly learned to trust one another and to trust the skills and expertise which members brought to the organisation. All felt for the first time an excitement never experienced before, that of working with other women for their own and their sisters' betterment. Neither side of politics welcomed WEL, each hinting that it was a front for the other side. As well, we were constantly criticised as anti-family and by some in the women's movement as 'middle class' and 'reformist'. Anti-family we were not, just advocates of equality between spouses and partners. Middle class in part we were. Reformist we were and proudly we still are. Initially the unions saw us as 'meddling in their business', ie., meddling in matters they had not solved satisfactorily for their women members for over a century. The 1972 questionnaire WEL's first task was to write a questionnaire, applicable nationally, to be submitted to each candidate for election, and to develop an interviewing technique which would ensure fairness to all candidates and parties. In NSW the job of developing the questionnaire was undertaken by Eva Cox, Edwina Doe and June Surtees. Reluctant parliamentary candidates were interviewed by teams of two or three members in each electorate. The results were collated, candidates rated for their commitment to women's issues and the results then published amid great excitement by the media, all eager to exploit the novelty of women publicly espousing their own cause about issues previously not considered respectable as matters for frank public debate, such as abortion and fertility control, women's economic disadvantage and so on. Wendy McCarthy managed the national publication of the results of the WEL questionnaire. She organised what we realised afterwards was a really sophisticated media campaign to ensure that national, state and local media all got exclusives. Most discomforting for the politicians was publication of their poor ratings and some of their more inane responses to WEL's questionnaire. How WEL operates Since 1972, WEL NSW has operated on the same lines as its sister State WEL organisations, working through volunteer action groups and lobbying through submissions, letters and dialogue with governments. Members have constantly participated in public debate in the media. Many such as Wendy McCarthy, Eva Cox, Edna Ryan, June Surtees, Dorothy Simons and Joan Bielski became particularly effective media performers. Wendy McCarthy's media management skills meant we were frequently in the news, always credible, in demand by the media as 'good talent'. WEL NSW has always been able to skillfully put forward a feminist perspective on issues such as abortion, prostitution, sexual assault, education and employment. Jane Gardiner continues to present WEL in the media in the tradition of our founding members. From time to time and as the need arises, WEL NSW has participated at the national level in the development of national policy through consultations, conferences and submissions to successive Federal Governments and has appeared for WEL Australia in the national industrial courts. WEL NSW set up action groups to articulate policy on specific feminist concerns and then to lobby for the implementation of these policies by governments and public institutions. The action groups have waxed and waned as circumstances demanded. Some of the persistent issues were hived off to become specialist lobbies in their own right. Examples are child care, abortion and education. Occasionally all State groups have collaborated on an issue. Sometimes a State group which had expertise on a particular issue acted for all States. WEL maintains a watching brief on all women's issues and acts when a crisis occurs at national or state level, depending on what the issue is. National campaigns An example of a State group acting for WEL Australia occurred when WEL Victoria acted to immediately intervene in the 1996 High Court Case of Superclinics Australia v. CES, where women's right to abortion was being challenged. WEL immediately raised some money from within its ranks and intervened 'as a friend of the Court' in the case to ensure that women's right to abortion as a social and political issue was the focus of argument rather than the arguments of the Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Hospitals Associations. Consequently the case was withdrawn by the main litigant. An example of the technique of trusting an issue to experts was the work of the late Edna Ryan (1904-97), unionist and women's workforce historian, when WEL NSW acted for all State groups. Edna gathered around her an Industrial Action Group, made up of women with similar interests, such as the late Anne Conlon and June Williams, now Commissioner for Equal Opportunity in WA. Together they developed WEL's expertise on industrial issues and made many significant contributions to improvements in women's workforce conditions. An Australian first was when WEL intervened 'in the public interest' in the Commonwealth Bank Officers case against the ANZ and Others to oppose the union's application to prevent the employment of part-time workers in banks and to obtain pro-rata pay, equal working conditions and career paths for part-time employees, mainly women, comparable to full-time employees. (Regrettably, only the right to part-time work was won.) June Williams appeared for WEL before the Arbitration Commission. In the 1970s, WEL was already working for a family-friendly workplace. In late 1973, Edna Ryan succeeded in having the Commonwealth Minister for Labour and Industry agree that the Commonwealth would support the ACTU's National Wage Case, if the ACTU would seek the extension of the male minimum wage to women. The ACTU did so and in February 1974, Edna presented WEL Australia's case to the National Wage Bench for the extension of the minimum wage to women. Again in 1978 as WEL's advocate, Edna argued, in meticulous detail, the case for maternity leave before the full bench of the Arbitration Commission. These reforms changed the industrial landscape for women in Australia forever. About this time, WEL NSW also raised the then great sum of $150 to obtain a barrister's opinion as to whether, subsequent to its foreign affairs powers and its international obligations, the Commonwealth had the right to legislate anti-discrimination legislation. When assured that the Commonwealth had such powers, WEL began lobbying the then Minister for Labour and Industry to enact such legislation. The Government changed and the matter lapsed. Consequently, various States enacted anti-discrimination legislation before the Commonwealth did so in 1983. WEL remains strong and involved in industrial issues. In 1996 Juliet Richter, a member of WEL NSW, was very active as WEL's spokesperson in the coalition of women's groups which successfully campaigned for key amendments - among them the adequate equal pay provisions and various anti-discrimination provisions - to the Workplace Relations Bill. Over the past three years Juliet has been WEL's advocate before the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, presenting submissions on discrimination in awards and the impact of enterprise bargaining on women. She is WEL's advocate (and also the advocate for the National Pay Equity Coalition) before the Commission at the time of writing (September 1997) in the so-called award simplification hearings, as well as the next equal pay hearings. She will be involved in the preparation of a joint submission by the National Pay Equity Coalition and WEL to the Pay Equity Inquiry soon to conducted by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission. Juliet Richter and others continue the great tradition begun by Edna Ryan and her colleagues. Some major WEL NSW campaigns lobbying for anti-discrimination legislation Success came with the passing of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act in 1977. Members active in this campaign included Helen Coonan, Lori Brennan, Joan Bielski, Di Ward, Anne Conlon and June Surtees (Williams). Lobbying on this meant many hilarious evenings spent talking to uncomprehending male Parliamentarians at Parliament House. While WEL realised that the law was an imperfect instrument to change practices, customs and attitudes, it was better than no law at all. The NSW Anti-Discrimination Act (1977) has provided thousands of NSW women (and Aborigines and peoples from non-English speaking backgrounds) with the opportunity to challenge injustice in employment, the workplace, education, the supply of goods and services and other areas of public life. lobbying for the establishment of the Women's Coordination Unit in the Premier's Department as an advocacy unit in Government to develop programs specific to women and to ensure women's interests were not overlooked in mainstream government. Among the women who developed the submission to the NSW Government were Liz Windschuttle, Juliet Richter, Eva Cox and Joan Bielski. The Unit was established in 1977. Later it became the Ministry for Women and then in 1995 the Department for Women. The Unit, now the Department, under the leadership of women well versed in women's affairs and under Ministers from both sides of the political spectrum, has over 25 years been active in pre-budget discussions and, with input from women's NGOs and women's advisory councils, has been active in nearly all matters related to government policy and its impact on women, and in putting women's issues, women's disadvantage and women's welfare issues before the NSW government. Lobbying for reform of the rape laws In 1976, WEL put forward a draft Bill on Rape and Other Sexual Offences which was included in and was central to the NSW Attorney-General's Department Supplementary Report on Rape in 1977 and to the debate at the Rape Law Reform National Conference, 1980. It was the basis for amendments to the NSW Crimes Act, 1981, and changes in the ACT and Tasmania. It subsequently influenced the NT Criminal Code, changes to the Victorian Crimes Act and relevant laws in NZ. The WEL draft Bill was significant in that it was the first time that a definition of what is NOT consent was determined and deemed a necessary incorporation in rape law. The draft Bill was the work of Dr Jocelynne Scutt. Working to improve women's access to fertility control In 1973, WEL formed a family planning action group because it was felt the NSW Family Planning Association should be run on feminist lines. With this in mind the original members of the Family Planning Group, Celia (Dorothy) Nolan, Emmi Snyder and Dorothy Simons, decided to try to get some WEL members on the FPA Board. This led to a fully fledged takeover in 1975. Now, in 1997, it sounds easy, but it cost much blood, sweat and tears and the efforts of practically all WEL NSW members. Continuing activity WEL NSW has regularly published its newsletter, WEL-Informed, of eleven issues per year for 25 years. It is a source of feminist news and comment for women, especially valuable for those based in country areas. This is a remarkable achievement considering that WEL has always been under-resourced, reliant on the annual subscription for its main income, supplemented from occasional fund raising events and the rare legacy. It has been feminism on a shoestring, dependent for its success on the loving work of many volunteers unmentioned here. From the start, WEL NSW (and nationally) became a network of like-minded women, from which many life-long friendships were formed. WEL became the public face of late 20th century feminism, a contact point for women wanting to involve themselves in the feminist cause. It provides a place where numerous women are confirmed in their feminist consciousness; where they gain the insights, the confidence, the communication, political and organisational skills which enable them not only to be successful advocates of women's causes but which also enable them to advance their careers in public administration, the professions, business, community organisations and politics. Many of the founding members have become national figures in their fields. Early successes made many members feel that WEL could do anything. Now members realise that it is hard slog all the way. WEL's key achievements have been to put women's issues on the political agenda, making women's issues proper politics, and to successfully demand reforms for women, especially in the area of employment. WEL's efforts have been directed to effecting change through government action and legal and institutional change. Matters previously not canvassed in public debate have become regular items for public discussion. WEL was part of a larger movement which changed forever the visibility and image of women in the public sphere, in the public consciousness and in public policy. Three challenges for the next 25 years The first is to find the many women needed to provide the expert advocacy and the volunteer work needed for the fight for women's rights and welfare. There is now a proliferation of women's organisations vying for members, especially business women's organisations. These may well be more attractive to younger women than WEL is. The second is that WEL is no longer the only public face of feminism. Many of the older women's organisations have taken on the modern feminist agenda. These organisations also frequently provide services to women - much favoured by funding bodies. The third challenge arises from the fact that WEL was designed to influence governments and public institutions. The challenge is for WEL to redefine and modernise its role in an era of minimalist government, economic rationalism, business triumphalism, union decline, employment insecurity, time poverty, compassion fatigue, individualism, and political and social conservatism. Nevertheless the only way for women is up. The future is ours if we stay in the struggle. Joan Bielski AM |
