Women's Rights In Australia In The 19th Century

One of the greatest triumphs of Australia in the 19th Century was the idea of a “working man’s paradise”. It was crucial in the formation of Australian laws, culture and identity. The idea of having enough time and money to support yourself and your family was new, appealing and what the people needed. However, this is not what all people got. The fight for rights was a long and arduous one, but only European males were triumphant. Even if they worked as hard as their counterparts; women, Aboriginals and immigrants failed to receive the same rights. Australia made revolutionary developments for the rights of workers, yet the only people who had access to them were white men.

After decades of protests, strikes and struggles, the rights gained
Traditionally, women worked from the home; caring for the house and children as her husband earned money. The only women who worked were those in domestic services, or widows and the unmarried who needed to work to survive. However, the 19th Century saw a rise in the number of women in the workforce. Women started to work in jobs such as teaching, medicine, manufacturing, nursing, textiles and retail. The Suffragette Movement was “implicitly about women’s labour”, and advocated for better working rights for women along with the right to vote. Yet the idea of women being weaker and inferior to men was prevalent in how they were treated in the workforce. The jobs that women worked in did not require physical labour, thus they did not have an eight hour working day and were required to work for as long as 14 hours. On average they were paid “50% less than their male counterparts” and were paid more for having children rather than working, due to the Maternity Allowance Act. Women were unable to get support from unions as they were more focussed on improving the jobs of men. It was clear that the women’s place was still the home. Women did not have the same rights, benefits, and opportunities as men. In both the workforce and society, they were considered to be lesser than men, making it clear that this paradise was only for the working
Both of these minority groups were oppressed in several different ways, with the workforce being just one of them. Neither were allowed to vote or considered to be part of the Australian community, since “the Constitution denies citizenship, franchise and the right to military duty to Aboriginal People, Asians and Africans”. Aboriginals were categorised as flora and fauna, attacked, massacred and believed to be a dying population. They were forced to conform to British culture, yet the Europeans used the Aborigines for cheap labour or, in some cases, as slaves. Men worked in jobs that required hard, manual labour while women often worked in factories. These jobs were low paying and the Aboriginal workers did not receive aid from the unions as it could’ve been a threat to the rights of white workers. Immigrants, in particular the Chinese, were also seen as a threat to the working man’s paradise. The Chinese were diligent, hard working and accustomed to working for long hours. Since they accepted lower wages for harder labour and longer hours, it was believed that they would lower the standards for white workers. Similar to the Aborigines, immigrants were also used for cheap labour, as seen with the Pacific Islanders and the Japanese pearl divers. In a mix of cultural barriers, discrimination and fear,