Books
Jacqueline Kent
Inconvenient Women
Looking back over the lives of women in Australian writing between the gaining of national suffrage in 1902 and the second wave of feminism in the 1970s, it’s surprising how many had successful careers at the time but also very public lives in organisations for writers and, by extension, in politics in general. It’s hardly remembered today.
Some names remain in the ether – Miles Franklin, Christina Stead, Ruth Park, Joan Lindsay, Dymphna Cusack, for example. Their works were occasionally kept in print but more often revived as post-’70s feminism looked for examples to introduce into curriculums. From there, they entered popular culture.
What’s not so surprising, given their lack of social, political and economic rights, is how many women were involved on the left of politics, often the far left. The century opened with Europe’s degeneration into World War I and our inevitable involvement, and many left-wing women looming large in writerly circles, for example, were also pacifists.
Inconvenient Women: Australian Radical Writers 1900-1970 by Jacqueline Kent, an undervalued nonfiction writer herself – perhaps precisely because of her mostly feminine subjects – traces this forgotten history. Its opening epigraph from the poet Henry Lawson – “ ’Tis notice she craves for her antics / And by her country is cursed … / All women are natural liars / But political women are worse” – sets an infuriating scene.
Many women fought censorship that not only banned books such as Lady Chatterley’s Lover and To Kill a Mockingbird in Australia after censorship had been lifted in their home countries but also kept Australian writer Jean Devanny’s “disgusting, immoral and communistic” The Butcher Shop, for example, out of print for almost 30 years.
Supporting Russia’s freshly minted regime and the communist parties springing up after 1922 was not just about agitating for the exploited working classes but also about those parties, including the Communist Party of Australia, supporting – in theory, at least – women’s rights. The CPA also supported the equal rights of Indigenous peoples, which is why Oodgeroo Noonuccal and Faith Bandler, to name just two prominent Indigenous writers, belonged to the party from the start of their careers.
Inconvenient Women is a fluent stream of fascinating detail. It brings to the fore names half-remembered now, their collaborations with activist men such as Guido Baracchi and Egon Kisch as well as other women, and the political environment they all operated in. Once begun, it is difficult to put down: you’ll finish with dozens of notes to follow up.
NewSouth, 320pp, $34.99This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on June 14, 2025 as "Inconvenient Women".
For almost a decade, The Saturday Paper has published Australia’s leading writers and thinkers. We have pursued stories that are ignored elsewhere, covering them with sensitivity and depth. We have done this on refugee policy, on government integrity, on robo-debt, on aged care, on climate change, on the pandemic.
All our journalism is fiercely independent. It relies on the support of readers. By subscribing to The Saturday Paper, you are ensuring that we can continue to produce essential, issue-defining coverage, to dig out stories that take time, to doggedly hold to account politicians and the political class.
There are very few titles that have the freedom and the space to produce journalism like this. In a country with a concentration of media ownership unlike anything else in the world, it is vitally important. Your subscription helps make it possible.
Purchase this book
Inconvenient Women
BUY NOW
When you purchase a book through this link, Schwartz Media earns a commission. This commission does not influence our criticism, which is entirely independent.
Subscriber exclusive
Send this article to a friend for free.
Share this subscriber exclusive article with a friend or family member using share credits.
