'Vida Goldstein was an advocate for women's rights, a campaigner for peace, fought for the distribution of wealth, and a trail-blazer who provided leadership and inspiration to innumerable people.
'Blazing her trail at the dawn of the twentieth century, Vida Goldstein remains Australia’s most celebrated crusader for the rights of women. Her life – as a campaigner for the suffrage in Australia, Britain and America, an advocate for peace, a fighter for social equality and a shrewd political commentator – marks her as one of Australia’s foremost women of courage and principle.
'Vida first came to national prominence as the first woman in the Western world to stand for a national Parliament, in Victoria, for the Senate, in 1903. As a fighter for equal rights for women, and as a champion of social justice, she quickly established a pattern of working quietly against men’s control of Australian society. Her work for the peace movement and against conscription during the heightened emotions of the First World War showed her determination to defy governments in the name of fairness and equity.
'Vida came to adulthood when Australia was in the process of inventing itself as a new nation, one in which women might have opportunities equal to those of men. Her work for her own sex, especially her battles for equality in politics, illuminated issues that persist to this day.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
(Introduction)
'Remembered in Australia mainly for her relationship with Vida Goldstein, Cecilia John’s story took a different course after the first world war'
'Miles Franklin used to delight in relating an anecdote about a librarian friend who, when asked why a less competent colleague was paid more, replied succinctly: ‘He has the genital organs of the male; they’re not used in library work, but men are paid more for having them.’' (Introduction)
'In this new biography Jacqueline Kent chronicles the life of political trail-blazer Vida Goldstein and finds parallels with politics today.'
'Hot on the heels of last year’s memoir, Beyond Words: A Life with Kenneth Cook, journalist and author Jacqueline Kent focuses her gaze on the indefatigable women’s rights campaigner Vida Goldstein. Kent has written biographies of pianist and social activist Hephzibah Menuhin – sister of Yehudi – as well as Australia’s first full-time book editor, Beatrice Davis, and, perhaps most notably, two books analysing the life and work of Julia Gillard. Like Clare Wright, her research highlights the lives of women who have made an impact in small or big, but often forgotten, ways.' (Introduction)
'Miles Franklin used to delight in relating an anecdote about a librarian friend who, when asked why a less competent colleague was paid more, replied succinctly: ‘He has the genital organs of the male; they’re not used in library work, but men are paid more for having them.’' (Introduction)
(Introduction)
'Remembered in Australia mainly for her relationship with Vida Goldstein, Cecilia John’s story took a different course after the first world war'
