SUBJECTS: History
YEARS: 9–10
Explore the attitudes of Australian men towards the rights of Australian women in the 1960s.
Could women's rights threaten those of men's or were such fears typical of gender discrimination?
This clip from 1965 investigates the reactions of Queensland men to the suggestion that women should be allowed to drink in public bars.
The clip is second in a series of three.
Things to think about
- 1.Most Australians regard their country as having an egalitarian society, one in which people have equal rights, freedoms and opportunities. But how could a society claim to be egalitarian when it discriminated against half of its population? Denial of the right to drink in public bars was just one way in which Australian women suffered discrimination in the 1960s.
- 2.Seven male drinkers are interviewed in this clip. What reason do the first two give for keeping women out of public bars? Why, according to the third drinker, should women be allowed in bars? How does the fourth drinker counter that argument? The fifth and sixth drinkers support women's rights to drink in bars. What point do they make about discrimination in the prices of drinks?
- 3.The seventh, and last, male drinker interviewed in the clip argues that public bars have always been for men and that women should not be allowed to 'infringe men's rights'. What do you think he means? Critically analyse this man's argument and identify his underlying assumptions about the roles of men and women in Australian society.
- 4.One of the points made by the fifth and sixth drinkers is that women suffered a further form of discrimination by only being served in hotel lounges. This was because the prices in lounges were higher than in bars, even though women's wages were lower than men's. Find out about the campaigns by trade unions in the 60s and 70s for equal wages for women.
Date of broadcast: 10 Apr 1965
Copyright
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