Revisiting the Revolution: Whitlam and Women

On 11 November 1975 the Whitlam Government was thrown out of office, not by the people who had elected it, but by an unelected official, in what many maintain to this day was an unconstitutional act. Much of the background to this unprecedented action has been clothed in secrecy because of the refusal of the Palace to release to Australians the relevant correspondence between the Monarch and the Governor-General at the time. That refusal was set aside by the High Court decision of 29 May 2020, so more is becoming known. The traumatic and premature conclusion of the Whitlam Government was a shock and a huge disappointment to many Australians. For Australian women, it was particularly damaging and a major setback. The Whitlam Government (1972-1975) was the first national government to implement a big reform agenda for women, the first to involve women at the highest levels of government, and the first to move with purpose and effect toward the objective of a society in which men and women of Australia would be equals in every way. The Whitlam Government made significant progress towards the gender equality objective. It would have made more if not cut off midway through its second term by the traumatic Dismissal of that government and its subsequent overwhelming electoral defeat. In 2019, close to this historic date, the Whitlam Institute hosted a forum at Old Parliament House in the ACT, “Revisiting the Revolution: Whitlam and Women” (the Forum). This gathering of activists, old and new, considered the broad scope of Whitlam’s policy agenda for women. The contributors were drawn from the cohort of exceptional women who at the time under discussion were key activists, advocates, policy experts, public servants, diplomats and lawyers. They made the revolution happen. It also included perspectives from the new generation of Australian women leaders. This paper is informed by their contributions. The papers contributed by these exceptional women are available on the Whitlam Institute website, whitlam.org. I refer to some of this valuable material in this paper but commend readers to the complete contributions for their highly relevant and important detail. Together they create an authentic sense of those times when so much progress was delivered. The aim of this paper is threefold: first to explore where Whitlam’s women’s agenda came from, and how it became a significant, even central part of the broader agenda of his government. Secondly, it will revisit the major policy and law reform initiatives of the agenda. Innovations such as childcare; women’s refuges; universal health cover; equal pay; the minimum wage; access to senior levels in the Commonwealth Public Service; maternity leave for public servants; the appointment of talented women to top positions; and significantly, improved access to all levels of education. These changes amounted to a social and economic revolution for women.