Cirrus@Austlit

'Throughout the 1930s May Holman was a household name and an inspiration to the women of her generation. She made history in 1925 when, at age thirty-one, she became Australia’s first female Labor parliamentarian, holding the seat of Forrest until her untimely death on the eve of the 1939 elections. A woman who fought tirelessly for the rights of those in her electorate, her accidental death received national coverage with thousands of Western Australian mourners lining the streets to pay tribute.

May Holman charted new territory for women, but the barriers she encountered and her methods of overcoming them still resonate today.'  (Publication summary)

'Pat Giles was dedicated to improving the lives of the disadvantaged. As an ALP Senator in the Hawke and Keating governments, she entered Parliament, not as a raw recruit, but as an experienced trade unionist, policy maker, feminist campaigner and grassroots activist.

This is the story of a woman whose determination never faltered, whose work ethic never flagged, the story of an activist working from within the established order to effect social change.' (From the publisher's website.)