Ross House, 2nd
Floor
247 Flinders
Lane,
Melbourne 3000
Telephone/Fax: (03) 9 654 7409
Email: uawv@vicnet.net.au
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
When the UAW was formed in 1950, the dominant view was that women's place was in the home, with children. At the same time women were welcome in the factories as a source of cheap labour. There was no day-long child care. Whole suburbs were without kindergartens and libraries. Equal Pay was opposed. Contraceptive advice was difficult to obtain. Abortion was a crime. Indigenous Australians were not citizens and White Autralia ruled supreme. The Cold War was at its height.
The women who founded the UAW had grown up in an Australia of hard times, of deprivation and loss, arising out of two world wars and a devastating economic depression.
The UAW founders wanted a world which minimised the risk of war through disarmament and a society where wealth and opportunity were more equally distributed. They were prepared to work publicly for their goals, not just by attending meetings, writing letters and lobbying politicians, but by making themselves visible on the streets.
Our photo gallery shows some of the members and activities over the years.
Their activism made the UAW members unusual in a society which expected women to confine their interests to the domestic sphere. Some UAW goals such as enhanced status for women, higher living standards, improved welfare and public infrastructure were shared by many Australians. Other UAW aims were far ahead of public opinion, including the right of women to work,fertility control, equality of indigenous Australians and opposition to the White Australia policy. Their calls for peace and international friendship were considered subversive.
