The Long Campaign for Equal Pay and Employment
The long campaign for equal pay achieved partial success in 1969, but it is not until the Labor Party wins government in 1972 that equal pay is finally won. The new government answered feminists’ demands for maternity leave and childcare, and enacted equal opportunity laws. (The Australian Women’s History Forum, 2012)
Women’s right to vote was more easily achieved than women’s right to equal employment and pay. It took women a shorter time to achieve this goal and once it was achieved, there was not much more to do as equality between men and women had been achieved. However, the right to equal employment and pay was and still is a harder right for women to achieve because it is a much more complex issue. Even though the campaign achieved success in 1969, it is still an issue that women in Australia are fighting for today despite having a female Prime Minister.
(Working Women's Rights, [Photograph], 1972, Retrieved from <http://www.musawa.ps/>.)
(Walk for Peace, [Photograph] 1963, Retrieved from <http://www.isis.aust.com/iwd/stevens/50s60s.htm>.