The Impact Of Bessie Rischbieth On Women

From the earliest of times in society, females have had to consistently fight for equality in society. The mistreatment of women often included violence, abuse, financial inequalities, harassment, voting inequalities, and many more inequalities that men have not had to face compared to females. These unacceptable actions that are often seen as “normal” in society are a grim reminder of what women endured and still have to endure today. Many women never had a platform to fight for change and call out injustice in fear of their safety, shame from others, and the threat of breaking “social norms”. However, many influential women risked many things for the basic rights that men have been enjoying for centuries. Bessie Rischbieth is

The Prisoners Act, which was commonly known as the “Cat and Mouse Act”, was an Act of the British parliament that allowed the early release of prisoners who were wreaked while going on hunger strikes in efforts for women’s suffrage. The movement for women’s suffrage led to a wide variety of protests including strong throwing, firebombing, and hunger strikes (Millar, C.M 2003). Rischbieth was first exposed to this movement unexpectedly while accompanying her husband on a business trip to Europe. She and her husband traveled to London, England in 1908 where a suffrage demonstration sparked her interest in women’s rights. She was disgusted with the social, legal, and economic exploitation of women while visiting London. Rischbieth stated, “I forget how many girls they reckon are outraged every month. Some of our laws relating to our state children and mothers are far in advance of the laws here and I can see the influence of the Woman vote in Australia, but we ought to do much more, and could do it by educating ourselves on economic lines and doing away with the God of Party Politics” (Suffrage , M. W 2021). The eye-opening experience led to the demonstration of Australian women during the Great Suffrage Procession in June of 1911. During this movement, Australian women carried a banner instructing England to “trust the

To begin, I think it is very important to remember that Rischbeth was a native Australian feminist and social activist. Prior to her leadership, there hadn’t been many Australian-born feminists and activists like her. With her being a full-blood Australian, helped her become very impactful across the nation. Prior to her, many women and allies didn’t think feminist movements were as important because they were often coming from Europe or other parts of the world. However, with Rischbeth, she was able to connect and relay her messages to the people of Australia and abroad. This led to a very large feminist movement within Australia. Women now were looking to her as a leader to help fight for equality. Sadly, I don’t believe she would have been as influential if she came from a different nation or immigrant or aboriginal background. However, she used her platform to help fight for the basic rights of