Book Review

Book Editors' Note:
We invited two reviews of Marilyn Lake's book, one from a veteran of the feminist movement, the other from a young feminist just embarking on her academic career. Marilyn Lake declined an invitation to reply to this discussion of her work.

I write this in the week that a novice parliamentarian, Kirstie Marshall, was expelled from the Victorian House of Assembly whilst breastfeeding her newborn daughter, on the grounds that her 11-day old baby was 'a stranger in the house'. There could be no finer example to demonstrate the huge advances women have made in the public domain in this country since female suffrage, for Ms Marshall, a retired Olympic skier, had campaigned for and won her ALP seat whilst pregnant. However her expulsion, as she attempted to attend the first Question Time of her new career, shows how far women have yet to go to be accepted in the public domain as women, with maternal and familial responsibilities.	1
I'm a young mother too, and despite raising myself feminist, with Reclaim the Night marches and courses in Women's Studies, I was unprepared for the disappointment and stress of finding out for myself that Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity, Anti-Discrimination and 'family-friendly' policies do not yet create a space for women to both work and mother. As I grow older and wiser, I have also begun to see the female communities for whom these laws mean nothing at all. These are women for whom 'feminism' seems a joke, given their experiences of racism, multi-generational unemployment, social isolation and sexual, physical and emotional violence. These are women who have not experienced the education necessary to encounter a course of Women's Studies, and do not have time to philosophise because they are too busy dealing with landlords, welfare, police and gaolers.	2
For me, an ongoing problem with the 'movement' is the women it fails to reach, and the uncomfortable sense I have that the empowerment of women through feminism has, thus far, served mainly to empower those who were quite powerful anyway — white women, privileged, verbally confident, politically astute, capable of addressing men in suits because those men were their husbands and fathers. Worse, I know that some 'feminist' interventions into the lives of particular women highlight the arrogance of privilege, and show disregard for those on the margins of our society, past and present.	3
Marilyn Lake does go some way towards acknowledging this problem in Getting Equal. She notes the (usually) privileged backgrounds of the feminists she describes, and the tendency of white women to speak for black and migrant women. She also lists structural and economic issues, which make it difficult to envisage equality for women any time soon, and outlines possible areas of reform. This is a work designed to encourage a new generation of feminists to abandon their 'DIY feminism' and rejoin the movement. As such, it is highly readable, with smooth, steady prose leading to clearly articulated conclusions, although I do wonder why more attention is not given to the suffrage movement, or to identifying Colonial proto-feminists, when this is supposed to be a history of Australian feminism. Nevertheless, it is a useful reference work for those who need an outline of the major players in twentieth-century organised feminism (and in that sense it's a terrible shame that there are no photos or images in this otherwise nicely-designed book, nor a list of further reading). Lake strives to rejoice in the successes of feminism, to remove the myth of women's inactivity between suffrage and the 1970s, to name women's achievements in promoting the rights of women, Aborigines and the disadvantaged and to inspire young women to continue the fight for lasting social change.	4
Lake does not, therefore, spend much time reflecting on difficulties within feminism, or on its failures. That is a problem. The book carries a grand sub-title, 'The History of Australian Feminism', but it seems that an opportunity has been lost here. Lake's historical understanding, her critical ability and her own experience of the 1970s and contemporary feminism could have been used to write a truly instructive analysis of feminist theory and practice. However, Getting Equal glosses over much that might show why feminism is not more widely espoused by women today. In her desire to catalogue women's achievements, Lake sometimes forgets to consider what some of 'achievements' really meant — for instance, the creation of female gaolers. Although women police do provide valuable services to female victims of crime, and sexual harassment is probably reduced in jails, the fact is, enforcers in skirts are still enforcers. I am sure that women experiencing these extreme forms of state control still feel oppressed, particularly if one is a black woman facing a white woman in uniform.	5
I question Lake's notion that the achievement of the post-suffrage feminists was to develop a 'maternalist welfare state'. Lake does not explain how 'maternalism' differs from paternalism. Neither does she consider the dark side of the 'mother-hearted' post-suffrage feminists, who frequently insisted that the state should control the activities and modes of living of lower-class women and their children. In Tasmania crusaders such as Edith Waterworth (whom Lake mentions) saved lives with campaigns for pure milk and baby clinics. However, Waterworth also asked that clinics have the power to force inspections of mothers' homes if babies failed to thrive. When confronted by women and children suffering venereal disease she could be vicious, and her target was not the men who had infected them, but the women and children themselves. Waterworth and women's organisations on the left and right of politics also supported Tasmania's Mental Deficiency Act 1920, which segregated certain 'mental' and 'moral' defectives to prevent their reproduction, including promiscuous young girls who were permanently institutionalised. If the 'maternalist welfare state' has ever existed, it only offered protection to particular types of women and children — those who could assert their respectability, moral virtue and sound minds.	6
Neither does the book consider the small daily battles won by women everywhere as they fought to improve their own lives. It is strictly a history of organised feminism, and particularly of organisations on the left. Lake does briefly mention the Australian Women's National League and the Country Women's Association, but it seems a shame not to acknowledge the empowerment experienced by women in the latter movement. Finally, the context of many developments is rarely explained. Not all the victories claimed in this book were entirely due to feminist agitation. For instance, Lake's claim — that infant mortality rates were lowered due to the advent of baby clinics — is implausible when public health initiatives did much to improve living standards. It must also be said that some feminist victories were of doubtful benefit, such as early closing legislation, which gave feminists a bad name as wowsers, and established the socially deleterious Six O'Clock Swill.	7
I admire feminism's courage, its resilience, its commitment and am grateful for the example feminists have set me. Lake illustrates these well. But if we refuse to acknowledge the failings of feminism, to speak ill of the dead, then feminism is dead. I need it to be inquiring and alive, to recognise its mistakes and its exclusions, so there can be a useful and inclusive future. This is a history of Australian feminism, but the History/Herstory has yet to be written.	8
University of New South Wales NAOMI PARRY

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