Marking a proud, but somewhat accidental, moment in South Australian history
Many of today’s foregone conclusions, such as universal suffrage, were yesterday’s hard-won political victories, writes Reggie Martin.
South Australia has a proud history of leadership when it comes to progressive reforms. In fact, at several moments in our history, South Australia has led the world. Many would argue that our enthusiasm for progressive change is part of our state’s identity.
Perhaps the best-known example of our global leadership marks its 130th anniversary this year. In December 1894, the bill for women’s suffrage was passed, and South Australia became the first colony in Australia to extend its voting franchise to women.
Sensationally as it turned out, in that same moment, we also became the first jurisdiction in the world to permit women to stand for parliament.
But this reform did not come about suddenly, and seven separate attempts to legislate for women’s suffrage had failed before the 1894 bill succeeded.
It was a decade-long grassroots campaign effort that slowly turned the tide. Led by the Women’s Suffrage League, it was strongly supported by organisations including the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, the Working Women’s Trade Union and the United Labor Party.
Members of these organisations travelled enormous distances to cover every corner of the colony, which at the time included the Northern Territory. They spent years knocking on doors and organising public meetings.
They weren’t just winning hearts and minds. They were collecting signatures.
Their efforts came to a dramatic conclusion with the presentation of a petition to the parliament. It was signed by some 11,600 men and women from every part of South Australia – the largest petition ever presented to parliament.
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When the bill was debated in the chamber, the arguments put forward by its opponents were more than challenging and, I expect, deeply offensive to any modern observer.
Some questioned whether women’s enfranchisement would damage the household as an institution. Others argued that women had no genuine interest in public affairs, and in any case weren’t educated enough in political matters to be capable of informed voting.
One MP warned that having the vote would corrupt women’s gentle nature and “make them masculine.” Another proclaimed that a woman’s proper role was “to adorn and assist her husband.” One MP even suggested that women didn’t need the right to vote, because they were already skilled at manipulating their husbands into voting in accordance with their wishes.
The uniting principle behind each of these arguments was nothing other than bare misogyny.
But fortunately, after many years of failure, the bill finally had more supporters than opponents – thanks to the Women’s Suffrage League and its strategic allies.
And here is where the sensational thing happened.
The bill’s supporters in the Legislative Council found a way to take advantage of the misogyny of its opponents to deliver a reform that went further than anyone’s expectation.
Not even the Women’s Suffrage League had called for women to be able to stand for election. The purpose of the bill was only to extend to women the voting rights that men already had.
The bill therefore included Clause 4, which said that women would not be permitted to sit in Parliament.
An especially strident opponent of women’s suffrage in the Legislative Council was a notoriously combative person called Ebenezer Ward.
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Ward decided to try to thwart the bill by moving an amendment to strike out Clause 4. This would mean the bill gave women the right to stand for election.
Ward assumed that allowing women the right to stand for Parliament would seem such an outlandish proposition even to the bill’s supporters that the entire bill would be voted down.
But Ward had miscalculated. Most of the bill’s supporters also voted to strike out the clause. Shortly thereafter, the bill passed – without Clause 4.
Ebenezer Ward thus became publicly known for facilitating the most progressive political enfranchisement in the world for South Australian women – and the legacy stuck. The ‘personal details’ section of his Wikipedia page today reads:
Occupation: Journalist.
Known for: Accidentally giving women the right to stand for Parliament.
Today, it’s widely accepted that universal suffrage is essential to a fair and just democracy. It is inconceivable that women should be excluded. But earlier in our history, many people thought differently.
It was the tireless efforts of dedicated activists that opened the door to change.
The passage of the suffrage bill was made possible by a decade of tireless advocacy by a group of dedicated women and men whose efforts led to South Australian women gaining the vote decades ahead of other jurisdictions.
For those of us who seek to continue the project of moving our great state forward, we must remember that many of today’s foregone conclusions were yesterday’s hard-won political victories.
Being on the correct side of the debate does not guarantee the political winds will blow in our favour. We must organise, we must advocate, and we must continually work together towards realising our shared ambitions.
Finding new ways in which to strengthen the integrity of our democracy and the fairness of our society is the best way we can do justice to the phenomenal work of those who came before.
And South Australia can continue leading the world in progressive reform. History shows we are very good at it.
Reggie Martin is a Member of the Legislative Council.
