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The Forum > Article Comments > The Queensland Centenary of Women's enfranchisement > Comments

The Queensland Centenary of Women's enfranchisement : Comments

By John McCulloch, published 8/2/2005

John McCulloch traces the background and history to the women's vote in Queensland.

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I think this article is an extremely interesting account on how democracy evolves over time. While it may be said by some, that women were denied equal rights to males, a more thorough look at the situation usually shows that males had minimal rights or privileges themselves.

An important aspect of democracy would be ready access to information, so that informed decisions can be made on what political party or candidate to vote for. However in earlier times, information or news would have been in very short supply compared to today. There was of course no TV, and very few radios or even newspapers. Many people could not read very well anyway.

Even during the 2nd world war, news about the war was often weeks or months old and quite often censored in some way. People would go to the local picture theatres to see film clips about the war, but often these film clips were not accurate, or were weeks old or heavily censored.

In real terms, having the vote in earlier times meant very little to the average man or woman.
Posted by Timkins, Tuesday, 8 February 2005 12:05:23 PM
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What a wonderful slice of history John McCulloch, and thanks for putting it all together in such an informative and entertaining way. It is such a pity that the history of our political struggles in Australia, including the important role of those brave suffragettes, is not a compulsory part of our school curriculums. Most kids today know more about american and english history than they do about their own history. And we have so much to be proud of in this country. We used to be world leaders.

If we all knew a bit more about our own political history, warts and all, we would be in a better place to defend ourselves against the current assaults on our basic freedoms by the Howard government. Arbitrary detention in desert gulags, and kidnapping and torture by foreign governments spring to mind, in the recent cases of Rau and Habib. Not to mention the pending changes to the Electoral Act, once the Senate falls to the conservatives in July, that will roll back our access to the franchise. But that's another story, stay tuned.
Posted by grace pettigrew, Tuesday, 8 February 2005 12:35:59 PM
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More focus on our political history ..warts and all would be great.. AND..our cultural history I would add.

Brave Suffragettes ? Yep some of them were, on all sides of the ocean. Others were pure terrorists.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/suffragettes.htm

"The Suffragettes refused to bow to violence. They burned down churches as the Church of England was against what they wanted; they vandalised Oxford Street, apparently breaking all the windows in this famous street; they chained themselves to Buckingham Palace as the Royal Family were seen to be against women having the right to vote; they hired out boats, sailed up the Thames and shouted abuse through loud hailers at Parliament as it sat; others refused to pay their tax. Politicians were attacked as they went to work. They homes were fire bombed. Golf courses were vandalised. The first decade of Britain in the C20th was proving to be violent in the extreme."

If one is so adamant about 'due process'.. this raises just a few questions. "Is terrorism ok to obtain social goals" ? If so, then why worry about Habib etc. If it is not, then why refer to the suffragettes in such glowing terms.
Worth thinking about in terms of consistency.
Posted by BOAZ_David, Tuesday, 8 February 2005 9:10:04 PM
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Boaz.
Even with all the different activities carried out by suffragettes, most of the time people voted according to who they were told to vote for by their union rep, their church, or how their parents voted etc.

As well it is debateable whether one gender is better than another when it comes to politics.

Consider the following:-

"Comrades! We must abolish the cult of the individual decisively, once and for all." [Nikita Khrushchev , February 25, 1956 20th Congress of the Communist Party]

"We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society." [Hillary Clinton, 1993]

I have heard that Hillary was offered $8 Million for her memoirs. The strugle for democracy continues
Posted by Timkins, Tuesday, 8 February 2005 10:48:01 PM
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Tim.. just to be sure of something here .. I'm not suggesting any gender is better at voting :)
And the suffragettes of Australia seemed to have it 'right' in the sense of no reported violence that I could see.
Its also noteworthy that it was through their power relationships with certain men who helped them which decided the issue. Not without some nagging mind you..but it got up.
Posted by BOAZ_David, Wednesday, 9 February 2005 7:31:56 AM
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I can play that game to timmy

I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you.I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good ... Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country. We don'twant equal time. We don't want pluralism. [TheNews-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana), August 16, 1993]

There is no such thing as separation of church and state. It is merely a figment of the imagination of infidels." [Taped interview at the Republican National Convention (9/6/84)] W.A. CRISWELL (Senior Pastor of Dallas's First Baptist Church)
Posted by Kenny, Wednesday, 9 February 2005 12:03:51 PM
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