Housewives' Association (Vic.).

Also known as
Housewives Association of Victoria. (1915-)
Function
Membership organisation, Women's Rights Organisation and Lobby group
Libraries Australia
http://nla.gov.au/anbd.aut-an35492207
NLA Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-526014

Biographies

The Housewives Co-operative Association (later the Housewives Association of Victoria) was formed in mid-1915 and soon became one of the largest women’s organisations in the state. The movement, reacting to the spiralling cost of living during World War I, initially aimed mainly at ‘bringing the producer and consumer into direct contact’ and providing discounted goods to members. In 1921, however, it also adopted a clear political objective: ‘To advocate the equal status of women and adequate representation on all boards and tribunals dealing with the home and the cost of living.’ From the 1930s the Association focussed more on the provision of training and information relating to household management and also became more involved in broader activism to improve the civil and political status of women and with other social reform causes.

Inspired by the English Women's Co-operative Guild (founded in 1883), the Association was led at first by broadly left–liberal women—President Ivy Brookes from the women's section of the Liberal Party, others from the Women's Political Association and Sisterhood of International Peace and some conservative women. The group struggled in its first few years, and by 1919 its executive was dominated by conservative women from organisations such as the Australian Women's National League and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, particularly Eleanor Glencross and Cecilia Downing. In the 1920s the organisation adopted a more overtly political agenda and they also campaigned for the Victorian Electoral Act to be amended to allow women to stand for parliament. A serous split in the organisation in 1930, over the issue of prohibition (which was supported by most members of the executive but not by the then president Delia Russell) saw the movement decline substantially again, but it recovered by the later in the decade. In the 1930s the Association opposed tariffs and bounties and there was a new emphasis on information and training – with demonstration of domestic aids, lobbying for domestic science in schools and colleges, the establishment of a Resident Aid Home Service for the training of young women in housework (designed at least in part to encourage girls into domestic service) and numerous advice lectures and articles in the Housewife to do with housework, nutrition, mothercraft and other topics. From this point, the association also became more involved in broader activism to improve the civil and political status of women. During World War II the Associations functioned as a branch of the Australian Comforts Fund and formed war savings groups. In the immediate post-years, a breakaway organisation formed the nucleus of the New Housewives Association (founded in 1946 in New South Wales and 1928 in Victoria), a far more left-wing organisation which was later to become the Union of Australian Women. Although its fortunes fluctuated, the Association was certainly a large and influential group with a membership of over 20,000 in the 1920s, rising to 77,000 in 1938 (of a national total of 115,000). National membership peaked at about 175,000 in the late 1960s before an irreversible decline set in in the 1970s as the roles of women and the meanings attached to housework were reinvented or reformulated.

View the full record at Australian Women's Register

Related people and organisations

Resources for Housewives' Association (Vic.).

Selected resources (16)

Australian Women's Register

  1. Calling all Housewives
    [1965-1978]
    Published: Housewives' Association of Victoria
  2. Homefires and Housewives: Women, war and the politics of consumptionVictorian Historical Journal 75 1 96-109 : Homefires and Housewives: Women, war and the politics of consumption
    Smart, Judith
    [2004]
  3. Calling all housewives / Housewives Association
    [1965-1978]
    Published: Housewives' Association Vic.
  4. Modernity and mother-heartedness : spirituality and religious meaning in Australian women's suffrage and citizenship movements, 1890s-1920sWomen's Suffrage in the British Empire: Citizenship, Nation, and Race Fletcher, Ian Christopher, Laura E. Nym Mayhall and Philippa Levine 51-97 : Modernity and mother-heartedness : spirituality and religious meaning in Australian women's suffrage and citizenship movements, 1890s-1920s
    Smart, Judith
    [2000]
    Published: Routledge
  5. 'For the good that we can do': Cecilia Downing and feminist Christian citizenshipAustralian Feminist Studies 19 39-60 : 'For the good that we can do': Cecilia Downing and feminist Christian citizenship
    Smart, Judith
    [1994]
  6. A Mission to the Home: The Housewives Association, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Protestant Christianity, 1920-1940Australian Feminist Studies 13 no. 28 October 1998 215-234 : A Mission to the Home: The Housewives Association, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Protestant Christianity, 1920-1940
    Smart, Judith
    [1998]
  7. The Women's Movement in the New South Wales and Victoria, 1918-1938
    Foley, Meredith
    [1986]
    Published: University of Sydney
  8. The Housewife: Official organ of the Housewives' Association
    Housewives' Association
    [1929 -1948]
    Published: Housewives' Association Vic.
  9. Winning essays in thrifty meals competition : comprising full menus, recipes, and purchase lists carried out by the Housewives' Association, Temple Court, Collins Street, Melbourne
    Housewives' Association Vic.
    Published: Housewives' Association Vic.
  10. Annual report (Housewives' Association Vic.)
    Housewives' Association Vic.
    [1915-]
    Published: Housewives' Association Vic.
  11. The Early years of the Housewives Association of Victoria, 1915-1930
    Oldfield, Robert
    [1989]
    Published: Monash University
  12. A sacred trust: Cecilia Downing, Baptist faith and feminist citizenshipOur Yesterdays 3 21-50 : A sacred trust: Cecilia Downing, Baptist faith and feminist citizenship
    Smart, Judith
    [1995]
  13. Christian women and changing concepts of citizenship rights and responsibilities in interwar AustraliaCitizenship, women and social justice: International historical perspectives Damousi, Joy and Ellinghaus, Katherine : Christian women and changing concepts of citizenship rights and responsibilities in interwar Australia
    Smart, Judith
    [1999]
    Published: Deptartment of History, University of Melbourne and Australian Network for Research in Women's History
  14. The University of Melbourne Archives: Edith Harrison Moore Papers (1898 - 1960)
    Personal correspondence, including letters from brother Gilbert a'Beckett, Sir Thomas a'Beckett and her husband, 1902-1960; Companies' and Societies' material (circulars, advertisements, information notes, minutes, reports) 1917-1951; Newspaper cuttings, invitations etc., 1929- 1954; accounts, tax assessment; Diaries, 1901-1958; engagement books, 1938-1961; papers given by Lady Moore to various societies; pattern books, architect's drawing, etc.
    63/9
  15. State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection: Housewives Association of Victoria Records (1915 - 1985)
    Collection includes: Minutes 1915-1916 and 1930-1981; issues of "Calling all housewives"; accounts; records of the Geelong branch 1964-1974; assorted records for the Castlemaine (1937-1981), Manifold Heights, Essendon, St. Kilda and East Melbourne (1972-1974) branches; records of the Federated Association of Australian Housewives including minutes (1926-27 and 1938-1955) and conferences (1932, 1934, 1938).
    MS 13340
  16. National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection: Papers of Herbert and Ivy Brookes (1869 - 1970)
    Consists of correspondence, notes, diaries, minute books, photographs and cuttings covering every phase of the careers of Herbert and Ivy Brookes. There are papers on the Liberal Party, the People's Liberal Party, the Commonwealth Liberal Party, the Brown Society (1907-1921), the Australian Protective League (1918), the National Union (1917), the Loyalist League (1918), the Board of Trade (1918-1928), the Tariff Board (1922-1928), the Australian Broadcasting Commission (1932-1940), the University of Melbourne (1933-1947), the National Council of Women (1921-1970), the Women's Hospital (1912-1970), the International Club (1932-1958) and the Lady Northcote Permanent Trust Fund (1908-1969). The main correspondents are: Sir Kenneth Bailey, Sir James Barrett, Sir Norman Brookes, S.M. Bruce, W.J. Cleary, Sir Joseph Cook, Bishop Philip Crick, Alfred and Pattie Deakin, Sir Frederic Eggleston, Sir Littleton Groom, Sir Bernard Heinze, W.M. Hughes, Arthur Woodward, Sir Richard Jebb, H. Price, Ina Fisher, Timothy Littleton, J.S. Crow, Philip Kennedy, Sir Walter Leitch, A.H.S. Lucas, Jane McMillan, Professor G.W.L. Marshall-Hall, Sir Walter Massey-Green, Sir Walter Murdoch, George Nicholas, Sir George Pearce, Sir Claude Reading, Staniforth Ricketson, Sir David Rivett, Rohan Rivett, T.E. Ruth, Rev. Charles Strong and Mary Allen.
    MS 1924

Resources by Housewives' Association (Vic.). (5)

  1. Housewife (Housewives' Association (Vic.))
    Housewives' Association (Vic.)
    [ Periodical : 1937-1940 ]
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 30.515)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 30.515)

  2. Annual report / Housewives' Association
    Housewives' Association (Vic.)
    [ Article : 1900 ]
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 21.431)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 21.431)

  3. Calling all housewives / Housewives Association
    Housewives' Association (Vic.)
    [ Periodical : 1965-2011 ]
    At 3 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 21.375)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 21.375)

  4. Winning essays in thrifty meals competition : comprising full menus, recipes, and purchase lists carried out by the Housewives' Association, Temple Court, Collins Street, Melbourne
    Housewives' Association (Vic.)
    [ Book : 1930-1939 ]
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.725)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.725)

  5. Compressed yeast : housewives bake your own bread / J. C. Aitken
    Aitken, J. C
    [ Book ]
    At Deakin Uni Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.504)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.504)

Resources about Housewives' Association (Vic.). (6)

  1. Annual report / Housewives' Association
    Housewives' Association (Vic.)
    [ Article : 1900 ]
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 20.203)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 20.203)

  2. Homemaker (Adelaide, S. Aust.)
    Housewives Association (Australia). South Australian Division
    [ Periodical : 1900 ]
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 12.798)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 12.798)

  3. The Housewives' Associations 1915-1950: Australia's first consumer organisations
    Smart, Judith
    Consumer Australia: Historical Perspectives
    [ Article : 2010 ]
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 2.285)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 2.285)

  4. A mission to the home: the Housewives Association, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Protestant Christianity, 1920-1940
    Smart, Judith
    Australian Feminist Studies
    [ Article : 1998 ]
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 2.264)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 2.264)

  5. Christian women and changing concepts of citizenship rights and responsibilities in interwar Australia [Paper presented at the International Federation for Research in Women's History. Conference (1998: Melbourne)]
    Smart, Judith
    Citizenship, Women and Social Justice: International Historical Perspectives
    [ Article : 1999 ]
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 1.763)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 1.763)

  6. A sacred trust: Cecilia Downing, Baptist faith and feminist citizenship. -Paper presented to the Victorian Baptist Historical Society, 10 March 1994-
    Smart, Judith
    Our Yesterdays
    [ Article : 1995 ]
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 1.52)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 1.52)

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  1. GROWING NECESSITIES
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  2. HOUSEWIVES AVOID POLITICAL DIFFERENCES
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  3. Parties Of Housewives To Attend Coronation MELBOURNE, May 6.
    The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954) Thursday 7 May 1936 p 17 Article
    ... Parties Of Housewives To Attend Coronation MELBOURNE, May 6. The Housewives' Association of Victoria *> toria will send two parties to England for the Coronation of King Edward next year. The first party will leave on February 22. and the second on March 27. Each party will be limited to 50, and ... 60 words
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