The Rise and Fall of the Australian Women's Bureau

• Published in: The Australian journal of politics and history Vol. 45; no. 3; pp. 362 - 377
• Main Authors: Russell, Lani, Sawer, Marian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK and Boston, USA Blackwell Publishers Ltd 01-09-1999; University of Queensland Press
• Subjects: Australia; Australia: History; Australia: Politics and government; Australian Federation of Women Voters (AFWV); Central government; Community involvement; FEMALE SEX; Feminism; Government; Government Agencies; Government departments; INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS; International women's organisations (WINGOs); Lobbying; NATIONAL GOVERNMENT; Organization; Policymaking; Political Participation; Political Representation; Public administration; Sex equality; Sexual Inequality; Trade unions; United Nations; Women; Women's organizations; Women's rights; Womens Groups; Womens Rights
• ISSN: 0004-9522; 1467-8497
• DOI: 10.1111/1467-8497.00070

Policy textbooks often overlook the importance of international borrowing in their accounts of the policy process. Analysis of feminist policy influence also tends to neglect the international dimension of the opportunity structure and the leverage provided by international agendas. In this article we tell the story of how the Women's Bureau, the first women’s unit in Australian government, came into being in the 1960s. This story encompasses the overseas modelling of such bureaux and the promotion of such models through international women’s organisations and their national affiliates. The international dimension has been inseparable from the development of women’s policy machinery in Australian government; the current disengagement from international standard setting coincides with the dismantling of domestic machinery, including the Women’s Bureau.