One hundred years ago this week, Melbourne's feminist Woman Voter was keeping up the fight begun by Eve for equality of the sexes.
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"WOMEN ARE NOT PERSONS."
"The old grievance of married women, that they are not persons, but merely appendages to their husbands, has again been demonstrated, and this time by a Labor government, which professes to believe in the equality of men and women.
"Under the new regulation of the War Precautions Act, requiring persons of enemy origin to transfer their shares in Australian companies to a public trustee, the Acting Attorney-General (Mr Mahon) says that, under British law, a married woman is deemed to be a subject of the country of which her husband is a subject. Therefore, the wife of a naturalised person, even though she might be a natural-born British subject, is required to obtain exemption from the provisions of the regulations before she can dispose of her shares.
"Why does Mr Mahon quote the iniquitous British law on the status of a married woman? Australia is supposed to be a self-governing country . . .
"We refuse to accept the authority of the Imperial Parliament over Australian women . . . it is particularly offensive to women. It is outrageous to say that because British women are married to Germans or Austrians, they are a danger to their country. What if we [Woman Voter] argued that a British man married to a German woman is a danger to the community, and should be deprived of his property?"
