Women's Committees

The Seamen’s Union of Australia established women’s auxiliaries during the Second World War, aimed at providing support to seamen during these challenging years (Fitzpatrick & Cahill 1981, p. 342). With the exception of the Brisbane Auxiliary, the groups disbanded after the war, but were replaced by Women’s Committees in the 1950s. These committees worked to improve the welfare of seafarers and their families. They were also active in SUA campaigns, particularly those affecting women, and they were a constant at union events and demonstrations.  

The first Waterside Workers’ Federation Women’s Committee was established in Sydney in August 1952, when the Sydney Branch Executive invited a group of waterside workers’ wives to work with the Executive to improve living conditions for workers and their families. One of the committee’s first responsibilities was the management of the branch’s canteen. With the branch numbering approximately 7,000 members, this was a task that took up too much time of the committee and management was handed back to the union so the Women’s Committee could work on broader issues and learn more about conditions on the waterfront.

WWF Women’s Committees formed in other areas throughout the 1950s, including in Newcastle, Port Kembla, Coffs Harbour, Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Portland, Fremantle, Geraldton and Hobart. Increasingly, the aim was to involve women more in the union’s activities, which had previously been largely restricted to “serving tea and making sandwiches” (Beasley 1996, p. 159), despite the crucial roles that women actually played in the success of trade unions. 

The first Federation Conference of Women was held in 1954. The resolutions of the 1956 conference gave an idea of the variety of issues taken up by the women’s committee and included the following: a pledge to defeat the Stevedoring Industry Act; support of the Australian Peace Assembly, industry pensions campaign and Aboriginal rights; requests for space for the women’s committee in the union’s journal and payments for expenses associated with attending conferences; and demand for equal pay for women (Beasley 1996, p. 160).  

The SUA Women’s Committees fulfilled a similar role. They may have provided tea and sandwiches and organised functions, but they also undertook investigation of social justice issues and participated in demonstrations and other advocacy work.

Trade union women’s committees were at their peak in the 1950s but began to decline in subsequent years, with changing demographics, lifestyles and decentralisation of branches making organisation more challenging.    

References

Fitzpatrick, B & Cahill, R 1981, The Seamen’s Union of Australia 1872-1972, Seamen’s Union of Australia, Sydney.

Kirkby, D 2008, Voices from the Ships, UNSW Press, Sydney. 

Waterside Workers' Federation Sydney Branch Women's Committee n.d., A History of the Women's Committee Sydney Branch WWF: Women Join the Struggle (Z248-119).