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The Politics of the Small Purse: The Mobilization of Housewives in Interwar Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2010

Judith Smart
Judith Smart
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne and RMIT University
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Abstract

The Housewives' Associations were the largest women's organizations in Australia during the interwar years and were the first consumer-watch agencies. This article examines the gendered economic identity they cultivated in successfully mobilizing women under the banner of free-market economics against the protectionism of the mainstream political parties and the labor movement. In challenging the dominant economic discourse, they asserted the claims of consumption to the same status and recognition in the functioning of the economic system as the overwhelmingly masculine forces of capital and labor. In the process, they also threw into question the relevance of class as a basis for women's political activism.

Type
Gendered Activism and the Politics of Women's Work
Information
International Labor and Working-Class History , Volume 77 , Issue 1 , Spring 2010 , pp. 48 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc. 2010

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References

Notes

1. Housewife (South Australia), November 1932, 13.

2. See Hunt, Karen, “Negotiating the Boundaries of the Domestic: British Socialist Women and the Politics of Consumption,” Women's History Review 9 (2000): 389–410CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Frank, Dana, “Housewives, Socialists and the Politics of Food: The 1917 New York Cost-of-Living Protests,” Feminist Studies 11 (1985): 255–285CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Orleck, Annelise, “‘We are that mythical thing called the public’: Militant Housewives During the Great Depression,” Feminist Studies 19 (1993): 147–172CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3. Storrs, Landon, “Left-Feminism, the Consumer Movement and Red-Scare Politics in the United States, 1935–1960,” Journal of Women's History 18 (2006): 40–67CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4. Julie Guard, “A Mighty Power against the Cost of Living: Canadian Housewives Organize in the 1930s,” in this issue of International Labor and Working-Class History.

5. Smart, Judith, “The Politics of Consumption: The Housewives' Associations in Southeastern Australia before 1950,” Journal of Women's History 18 (2006): 13–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6. It became the Australian Consumers' Association in 1963 and is now known as Choice. Its current total of 200,000 members (male and female) in a population of twenty-two million is proportionately much smaller than the Housewives' 1940 total. See http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticleAsOnePage.aspx?id=101224 (accessed June 15, 2009).

7. See Smart, “The Politics of Consumption.” Victoria's predominance owes partly to the fact that Melbourne, the nation's capital until 1927, was located there.

8. Housewife, July 1940, 2–3, 17; July 1941, 10–11.

9. Following the establishment in 1888 of the International Council of Women (ICW), elite women formed affiliated National Councils of Women in all Australian states between 1896 and 1911. These sought affiliates among existing women's organizations promising to represent their concerns to local governments and the ICW. The Australian Councils federated in 1931. See Smart, Judith and Quartly, Marian, “Making the National Councils of Women National: The Formation of a Nation-wide Organisation in Australia 1896–1931,” in Suffrage, Gender and Citizenship: International Perspectives on Parliamentary Reforms, ed. Sulkunen, Irma, Markkola, Pirjo, and Nevala-Nurmi, Seija-Leena (Newcastle upon Tyne, 2009), 339–357Google Scholar.

10. Maxwell, May, “History of the Housewives' Association,” Housewife (Victoria), June 1937, 26Google Scholar. The Liberal Party, then as now, was the party of the political Right.

11. “Housewives Co-operative Association” and “A Brief Chronology,” Herbert and Ivy Brookes Papers, MS1924/38/9–14, 52–67, National Library of Australia (hereafter cited as Brookes Papers).

12. Housewife (Victoria), September 1915, 2.

13. Hughes, Vern, “Co-operatives and the Labour Movement,” Recorder: Official Organ of the Melbourne Branch of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History 216 (1999): 4Google Scholar.

14. Balnave, Nikola and Patmore, Greg, “The Politics of Consumption and Cooperation: An Overview,” Labour History 91 (2006): 1–12CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

15. Labor Call, May 14, 1914, inside front cover; July 23, 1914, 6.

16. For example, the feminist Women's Political Association in Victoria was proscribed in 1914. See Political Labor Council (PLC) Central Executive Minutes, November 27, 1914, located with Democratic Labor Party (Australia) Victorian Branch Records, MS10389, State Library of Victoria (SLV) (hereafter cited as PLC Records); and see Bongiorno, Frank, The People's Party: Victorian Labor and the Radical Tradition 1875–1914 (Melbourne, 1996)Google Scholar on Labor Party attitudes toward women before the First World War.

17. Trades Hall Council (THC) Minutes, December 10, 1914, Victorian Trades Hall Council Records, Accession No. 86/98, University of Melbourne Archives (hereafter cited as VTHC Records); PLC Central Executive Minutes, February 19, 1915, PLC Records.

18. Housewife (Victoria), September 1915, 2–3.

19. Shareholders declined from 250 to 96. See “Housewives Co-operative Association” and “A Brief Chronology,” Brookes Papers, MS1924/38/15–17, 18–19, 24, 25, 26; Housewives' Association of Victoria Ltd (HAV) Minutes of Executive 1915–1916, Housewives' Association of Victoria Records, MS13340, Box 4, SLV (hereafter cited as HAV Records).

20. THC Executive Minutes, August 18, 1914; September 15 and 22, 1914; October 6, 1914; THC Minutes, October 1 and 8, 1914, both in VTHC Records. Age, November 21, 1914.

21. See Smart, Judith, “Homefires and Housewives: Women, War and the Politics of Consumption,” Victorian Historical Journal 75 (2004): 96–109Google Scholar.

22. See Smart, Judith, “Feminists, Food and the Fair Price: The Cost of Living Demonstrations in Melbourne, August–September, 1917,” Labour History 50 (1986): 113–131CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23. The 75,000 claim was made retrospectively by president Alice Thomas in the Age, April 2, 1930; Argus, February 2, 1921, gives branch numbers.

24. Atkinson, Meredith, The New Social Order: A Study of Post-war Reconstruction (Sydney, 1919)Google Scholar, chaps. XVIII and XXIV. Atkinson, a teacher at the University of Melbourne and president of the Workers' Education Association of Australia, addressed the Housewives' Association on the principles of cooperation.

25. In South Australia, the Labor Party's Marie Skitch did become leader. Her radicalism was accepted by other leaders because of her profound Christian convictions. See Housewife (South Australia) for articles by Skitch. She was president 1940–1941 and 1949–1950.

26. In 1942, the Newcastle and Wollongong branches in NSW were accused of welcoming communists and expelled. See Sydney Morning Herald, late October–November 1941. After the war, communist women formed the New Housewives' Association, later renamed the Union of Australian Women. See Curthoys, Barbara and McDonald, Audrey, More Than a Hat and Glove Brigade: The Story of the Union of Australian Women (Sydney, 2000), 1–5Google Scholar; and Fabian, Suzanne and Loh, Morag, Left-wing Ladies: The Union of Australian Women in Victoria, 1950–1998 (Melbourne, 2000)Google Scholar, chap. 1.

27. Ours, July 1921. See also McQueen, Humphrey, “Shoot the Bolshevik! Hang the Profiteer! Reconstructing Australian Capitalism, 1918–21,” in Essays in the Political Economy of Australian Capitalism, ed. Wheelwright, E. L. and Buckley, Ken (Sydney, 1978), vol. 2, 185–206Google Scholar.

28. Smart, “The Politics of Consumption,” 19, 24.

29. The list of objectives published by the Argus, February 2, 1921, included: “To advocate the equal status of women and adequate representation on all boards and tribunals dealing with the home and the cost of living; to encourage increased production and the manufacture of articles capable of being home-made; to advocate a standardised milk system …; to advocate and promote open-air markets in every suburb …; … to promote and establish cooperation among housewives; to oppose profiteering …; to deal with manufacturers and producers for its members …, and to save commissions and charges at present paid to middlemen[.]”

30. In a rare exception, the Association attacked the NSW Labor premier's threat to repudiate interest on debts to British bondholders during the Depression.

31. Butlin, N.G., Barnard, A., and Pincus, J.J., Government and Capitalism: Public and Private Choice in Twentieth Century Australia (Sydney, 1982), 79Google Scholar.

32. On the pillars of protection, see Kelly, Paul, The End of Certainty (Sydney, 1992)Google Scholar.

33. See Butlin, Barnard, and Pincus, Government and Capitalism, 76; and Haig-Muir, Marnie, “The Economy at War,” in Australia's War 1914–18, ed. Beaumont, Joan (Sydney, 1995), 93–124Google Scholar.

34. Graham, B.D., The Formation of the Australian Country Parties (Canberra, 1966)Google Scholar.

35. Butlin, Barnard, and Pincus, Government and Capitalism, 78, 81–88.

36. Copland, D.B. and Janes, C.V., ed., Australian Marketing Problems: A Book of Documents 1932–1937 (Sydney, 1938), xGoogle Scholar.

37. Argus, July 26, 1928, 14.

38. L.F. Giblin, “1. The Theory of Home Price: 1. The Home Price and Export Industries: Memorandum Submitted by Professor L.F. Giblin to Royal Commission on Wheat, Flour and Bread Industries, 27 November 1934,” in Australian Marketing Problems, ed. Copland and Janes, 2.

39. Housewife (Victoria), December 1929, 1.

40. “The Marketing of Sugar: Memorandum by J.C. Rescorl, Esq., B.Ec., 7 December 1937,” Document 228, in Australian Marketing Problems, ed. Copland and Janes, 524.

41. “Housewives Co-operative Association” and “A Brief Chronology,” Brookes Papers, MS1924/38/52–67.

42. Argus, February 2, 1921.

43. Ibid.

44. Argus, July 15, 1921.

45. Argus, August 1, 1923.

46. In Glencross's words, the agreement threatened “to strain their loyalty to the White Australia policy by paying more for sugar than was paid in any other country.” Argus, June 30, 1926.

47. Tregent, Dudley A., “Butter and Sugar: A Review of the Tariff,” Housewife, November 1929, 8Google Scholar.

48. Argus, August 5, 1930, 10.

49. Graham, Australian Country Parties, 244–245.

50. Housewife (Victoria), September 1929, 7; Tregent, “Butter and Sugar,” 8; Butlin, Barnard, and Pincus, Government and Capitalism, 86–87. The legislation passed in December 1933. See Housewife (Victoria), April 1934, 16.

51. Butlin, Barnard, and Pincus, Government and Capitalism, 86–87.

52. Argus, February 18, 1921, 6.

53. See, for example, Housewife (Victoria), December 1933, 9.

54. Housewife (Victoria), August 1934, 6.

55. Argus, June 10, 1927, 15; March 28, 1928, 19.

56. Argus, August 7, 1929, 9; August 13, 1929, 10; August 15, 1929, 5; Housewife, September 1929, 7, 24, 25, 29, 30.

57. On the split that led to Russell's expulsion, see Smart, Judith, “A Mission to the Home: The Housewives' Association, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Protestant Christianity, 1920–40,” Australian Feminist Studies 13 (1998): 215–234CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

58. Argus, June 11, 1925, 11.

59. Argus, September 30, 1925, 21.

60. Argus, June 11, 1925, 11; See also FAAH resolutions on tariff policy, 1926 Conference (Sydney), FAAH Minute Books, HAV Records, MS13340, Box 4, SLV.

61. Argus, March 28, 1928, 19.

62. Argus, June 30, 1926; see also FAAH resolution on sugar, 1926 Conference (Sydney), FAAH Minute Books, HAV Records, MS13340, Box 4, SLV.

63. Argus, June 30, 1926, 24.

64. FAAH resolution on Paterson butter scheme, 1926 Conference (Sydney), FAAH Minute Books, HAV Records, MS13340, Box 4, SLV.

65. Argus, June 1, 1927, 8; June 10, 1927, 15.

66. Argus, September 22, 1927, 18; FAAH resolution on tariff reform, 1927 Conference (Adelaide), FAAH Minute Books, HAV Records, MS13340, Box 4, SLV.

67. FAAH resolution on bounties, 1927 Conference (Adelaide), FAAH Minute Books, HAV Records, MS13340, Box 4, SLV.

68. Argus, March 28, 1928, 14; Housewife (Victoria), December 5, 1929, 3.

69. For example, see HAV Council Minutes, July 5, 1932, HAV Records, MS13340, Box 6, SLV.

70. FAAH resolutions, 1934 Conference (Melbourne), FAAH Minute Books, HAV Records, MS13340, Box 4, SLV.

71. Housewife (Victoria), May 1934, 4.

72. Wilfred Kent Hughes, VPD, May 28, 1935, 367. NSW's legislation was passed in 1927 and Queensland's in the early 1920s. Before the enabling legislation, producers had relied on voluntary pools. The British measure Kent Hughes cited was the Agricultural Marketing Act 1931. Similar legislation passed in Canada (Natural Products Marketing Act) in 1934.

73. Housewife (Victoria), December 1933, 7; April 1934, 16.

74. The legislation provided that sixty-five percent of eligible producers must vote and fifty-five percent of those must vote yes—thus thirty-six percent could establish a board regardless of the wishes of the other sixty-four percent. Maltby, Thomas (Barwon), Victorian Parliamentary Debates (VPD), May 28, 1935, 376Google Scholar.

75. VPD, May 29, 1935, 403.

76. Mr. Parker (Allandale), VPD, May 29, 1935, 403; Mr. Cameron (Kara Kara and Borung), VPD, May 29, 1935, 420; Mr. Slater (Dundas), VPD, May 29, 1935, 416.

77. Housewife, May 1935, 10; June 1935, 12; VPD, May 28, 1935, 372.

78. Murphy, John, One Bag in Six: Onion Growing in Gippsland 1900–2007 (Leongatha, Victoria, 2007), 27Google Scholar.

79. Housewife (Victoria), May 1935, 10; June 1935, 12; July 1935, 1; May 1934, 4.

80. Housewife (Victoria), September 1936, 5.

81. Quoted in VPD, May 29, 1935, 417.

82. Housewife (Victoria), July 1935, 5.

83. Housewife (Victoria), November 1934, 1.

84. Argus, September 28, 1927, 23; FAAH resolutions, 1932 Conference (Melbourne), FAAH Minute Books, HAV Records, MS13340, Box 4, SLV.

85. Summary of constitutional issues derived from documents in Australian Marketing Problems, ed. Copland and Janes, Chap. II, Section 92. See also HAV Special Executive Minutes, April 30, 1935, HAV Records, MS13340, Box 6, SLV.

86. For the wording of the proposed amendment, see “The Case ‘For’ and ‘Against’ the Marketing Referendum: Extract from Official Pamphlet, December 1936. The Case ‘For’,” in Australian Marketing Problems, ed. Copland and Janes, Document 65, 165.

87. HAV Special Executive Minutes, December 11, 1936, HAV Records, MS13340, Box 6, SLV.

88. HAV Special Council Minutes, December 15, 1936, HAV Records, MS13340, Box 6, SLV.

89. HAV Executive Minutes, March 2, 1937, HAV Records, MS13340, Box 6, SLV.

90. Housewife (Victoria), February 1937, 18, 28.

91. See “Constitutional Alteration (Marketing) Bill 1936,” Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, Vol. 151, 1935–1936, 1194–1211, 1227–1237; Vol. 152, 1935–1936, 1389–1465.

92. See Age, March 1–6, 1937. Lang Labor followed the controversial NSW premier, Jack Lang, dismissed as premier and expelled from the Australian Labor Party after defaulting on payments to British bond holders during the Depression. Maurice Blackburn's wife, Doris, was one of the few self-identified Labor women in the Victorian branch of the Housewives' Association. See Housewife (Victoria), January 1937, 15.

93. “Result of Referendum, 6 March 1937,” in Australian Marketing Problems, ed. Copland and Janes, Document 66, 173. Compulsory voting operated in Australia for all elections and referendums.

94. Housewife (Victoria), February 1937, 28; August 1940, 3–4.

95. HAV Executive Minutes, July 5, 1938, HAV Records, MS13340, Box 6, SLV; Housewife (Victoria), June 1942, 10.

96. HAV Adjourned Executive Minutes, October 9, 1939, HAV Records, MS13340, Box 5, SLV; Housewife (Victoria), 1939–1945 passim.

97. Housewife (Victoria), November 1939, 2.

98. Housewife (Victoria), February 1944, inside front cover.

99. Housewife (Victoria), January 1943, 19, 20.

100. Housewife (Victoria), July 1937, 21; December 1937, 30; June 1938, 3, 35. The Housewife regularly reported her visits to country branches.

101. The “Pink Guide” was first published in 1934. See Housewife (Victoria), April 1934, 6.

102. Housewife (Victoria), April 1939, 7; August 1939, 2, 23; October 1939, 8; April 1940, 16–18.

103. See HAV Minute Books, 1933–1939 passim, HAV Records, MS13340, Box 4, SLV. Also see Housewife, both the South Australian and Victorian journals, for the 1930s and 1940s.

104. Housewife (Victoria), September 1940, 5.

105. Modern Housewife (Queensland), December 1968, 3.