Book Review

The title of this book suggests that it is about women's experience of citizenship in Australia. But its subtitle is a more accurate reflection, I feel, of the book's contents and purpose overall. While certainly exploring the themes and issues of the former, much of the book is devoted to a broader historical context which the editors clearly see as fundamental to an appreciation of it. So, apart from a very short opening chapter on Federation, the following three chapters are devoted to a wonderfully rich and fascinating discussion on the origins of the normative citizen in the middle ages to an equally rich historical survey of women's citizenship in Europe and Britain. The Australian context is dealt with in the last three chapters. The editors reasoning for this is made clear in their concluding comments: 'at Federation, ancient and modern themes of European citizenship combined to produce an often anomalous and contested citizenship for twentieth century Australian women'.	1
However, underlying history remains integral to an exploration of women as Australian citizens. Whether discussing women in colonial Australia, feminism and racism in twentieth century Australia or implications of Australian citizenship for migrant women, we are given a potted history of women, Aborigines and immigration along the way. Indeed, the editors seem driven by an underlying quest of their own to redefine citizenship, not just for women, but in order to create a more open, tolerant and diverse society overall. This is despite Crawford's conclusion that differences between women have proved to be one of the most difficult issues to engage with at the end of the twentieth century. Still, one finds sympathy with their conclusion that constructions of citizenship based on governing or 'protecting other less-than-complete citizens has long outstayed its welcome'.	2
Apart from the last chapter, which dealt with the citizenship experiences of migrant women and in particular those from Italy, the former Yugoslavia and Vietnam, I found much of the Australian material moved over well-worn territory. To be fair, the collection was aimed at the general reader. One of the benefits of the book is that he/she will understand Australian women's citizenship in a much broader historical and geo-political context. While these chapters enabled the reader to understand the idiosyncratic patterns of citizenship in Australia, the first half of the book provided solid foundations for one of its central themes: the dominance of both masculine and Anglo-Celtic privilege in discourses of citizenship from Aristotle on.	3
Nevertheless, in moving from the European backdrop to the national picture I felt that some momentum was lost. Of central importance in this section was the dominance of Anglo-centrism to concepts of Australian citizenship. However, the contributors were also concerned to chart colonial responses and modifications, most notably in the suffrage itself. Much of the emphasis here seemed to focus on the ways in which women's citizenship was defined/confined by the State. The exploration of the dual concepts of freedom and protection was particularly strong. However, there seemed to be less emphasis in the Australian material on the ways women informally challenged their exclusion from certain rights by enacting a different form of citizenship. This had been a central theme in the earlier chapters.	4
Aboriginal women's contestations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were certainly a colourful example of this and one of the strengths of these chapters. However, given the emphasis on the Anglo legacy, I wondered whether some consideration could have been given to how or whether what was happening to women in Britain, in terms of the way they were mobilising, impacted on Australian women's conceptions about or responses to their own citizenship. Women's philanthropic and religious activity seemed to offer possibilities here. Yet, in what seems like a fairly blanket assessment, we are told that female philanthropy was an attempt to perpetuate the hierarchical class distinctions which existed in British society, not to promote female solidarity.	5
Two other issues which had a strong impact on women's mobilisations in Britain were the anti-slavery campaigns and the passing of the Contagious Diseases Acts. Did any of this discourse have any relevance in Australia, either in the nineteenth or twentieth century? While we learn about both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal campaigns for Aboriginal citizenship, we weren't told how non-Aboriginal women conceived of Aboriginal women's citizenship, particularly in the light of this Imperial legacy.	6
One of the important issues raised in the book is how we can develop new ways of thinking and talking about citizenship which allow all women equal access to power and authority. In their thought-provoking conclusions one of the fascinating points raised by the editors relates to what they term citizenship as practice. They argue that despite their exclusions, women have consistently performed their own alternative versions of citizenship. There are numerous examples throughout the book. However, Crawford and Maddern argue that this 'informal' citizenship is crucial to the history of citizenship, that women's challenges offer an alternative praxis in terms of what constitutes the 'good citizen'.	7
The strong European backdrop and broader overview of the Australian picture presented here makes this book a worthwhile compendium to the special edition of Studies in Western Australian History, published in 1999, which was much narrower in regional and thematic focus: the granting of the vote to White women in Western Australia one hundred years ago. For the general reader, perhaps less familiar with this work, the canvas presented here certainly provides much invaluable background as to why women are less than fully involved as citizens in Australia today. In their preface, the editors inform us that this book is the first stage in an exploration of woman as Australian citizens. I look forward to further instalments.	8
Macquarie University ALISON HOLLAND

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