Australian Federation of Women Voters

The Australian Federation of Women Voters (AFWV) was an organization from Australia. It lobbied for women's suffrage. AFWV was started in 1921.

A photograph of women who were members of the Australian Federation of Women Voters. This picture was taken in Melbourne, May 1930.

Overview

The idea for the organization started at a meeting of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in Perth in 1918. By the time the Union met again in 1921, the AFWV was founded. Bessie Rischbieth was the first president of the organization.They had a magazine called The Dawn. They helped get the first woman from Australia to represent them at the Legion of Nations in 1922. After she went, they had a woman attend for them to the Legion of Nations three more times: 1928, 1935, and 1936. They wrote a memorandum about sex discrimination in Australia called the "Status of Women," in 1937. Ten years later, in 1947, they wrote another.

In 1972, the organization ended. It became a part of the Women's Electoral Lobby.

Other websites

• Australian Federation of Women Voters in The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia
• Records of the The Australian Federation of Women Voters in the National Library of Australia (finding aid)