'An Utter Absence of National Feeling': Australian Women and the International Suffrage Movement, 1900–14. Issue 3 (1st September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Keating, James
• Is Part Of: Australian historical studies. Volume 47:Issue 3(2016)
• Page Start: 462
• Page End: 481
• Publication Date: 2016-09-01
• Subjects: History -- Periodicals; Australia -- History -- Periodicals; New Zealand -- History -- Periodicals; 994.005
• DOI: 10.1080/1031461X.2016.1194441
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1031-461X

Abstract

Abstract : In February 1902 the Victorian suffragist Vida Goldstein helped establish the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) in Washington, D.C. Four months later, the Commonwealth Franchise Act gave white women unprecedented political privileges. Despite these pioneer achievements, Australian women struggled to achieve prominence within the international suffrage movement before the First World War. Discounting traditional explanations that expense and distance kept Australians on the IWSA's margins, this article reconsiders the concept of national representation – a central tenet of liberal internationalism. In the wake of Federation, deep colonial loyalties persisted and women remained ambivalent about assuming the responsibilities of national and international citizenship.