Anti-Suffrage League
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Anti-Suffrage League was an organization that was opposed to women's suffrage. It was founded in 1908 by the writer Mary Ward, at the behest of Lord Curzon and William Cremer. The first meeting took place July 12, 1908 at the Westminster Palace Hotel.
The league proceeded to collect signatures to oppose the movement to grant women the right to vote, and by March 12, 1909 they had collected 250,000 signatures.
In 1900, thirty two prominent citizens established the Castlemaine (Victoria, Australia) Anti-Franchise League to oppose the Bill to allow women to vote. The League was open to anyone on payment of a shilling fee.
Local residents responded to the formation of the Anti-Franchise League by establishing the Harcourt Branch of the Women's Franchise League - the Castlemaine branch had been established in 1895.
Female suffrage was introduced into South Australia in 1894, followed by Western Australia in 1899, New South Wales in 1902 and Queensland in 1905. Victoria did not admit women to the voting polls until 1909.
However, all Australian women gained the right to vote in Federal elections in 1902.
In 1903, Vida Goldstein became first woman in British Empire to stand for election to a national parliament. She was unsuccessful in the Australian elections of December that year.
