It has long been claimed that women were the backbone of the pre-World War II Australian Liberal Parties and a crucial strengthening agent for the new Liberal Party that Robert Menzies formed in 1945. Labor supporters said this was because women were conservative, easily led by their husbands, and didn’t understand much of the world outside the home. Liberals argued that it was just because they did understand the importance of domestic life that they supported the party best able to protect it. Margaret Fitzherbert has written the story of these Liberal women and, in so doing, has added to our knowledge both of the history of the Liberal party and of Australian women’s political activism.
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