“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”- Margaret Mead

Margaret Mead, a cultural anthropologist, had a big influence on the women’s movement of the 1960s and 70s in Melbourne and indeed Victoria.

“Mead was an advocate for awareness and action” said former Melbourne Lord Mayor Winsome McCaughey who was part of the women’s movement in the 1970s and beyond.

“Her research was ground-breaking at the time. What Margaret Mead’s work was showing us was that children have been made in communities, not in isolation.”

The idiom ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ wove into the thinking and planning.

The women’s movement was led by a strong current for change. Some, like Winsome, saw it as being about helping women retain their sanity, confidence and wellbeing during their children’s early years; and ensuring that children in their vital early years had great experiences.

There were economic factors contributing to the cause for change and women were also seeking justice, balance, fairness and opportunity.

“Serious social justice issues came out of post-second world war, when suburbs spreading outwards were creating urban sprawl, leaving many women without a car, bus lines, libraries, services. There were high levels of isolation in the suburbs and in high-rise flats, with many women with children no longer living near extended families. It was very, very tough.”

Winsome and many others researched, lobbied and created a Case for Change. It was grassroots, led by young women who wanted, and needed, societal change to catch up with their lives, their goals, their ideas, their futures and families. More senior women were also involved in the early days, sharing wisdom and giving support.

Winsome said they often met in each other’s loungerooms to discuss changes required. In March 1972, twenty plus women jammed into Winsome’s Parkville home to hear Germaine Greer speak about feminism, shortly after she published her inspiring book, The Female Eunuch.

Then they set to work, making strides towards altering the status quo, all the while, gathering evidence and insight to support the women’s movement at the time.

Broadly, the young women were keen to understand how, in such a rapidly fragmenting society, children could be cared for well and be supported in this by the community. A focus was childcare because statistics revealed a quarter of women with under-school aged children were in the paid workforce, yet there was virtually no care whatsoever. Other services also were needed: neighborhood houses (which incorporated community-based childcare, after school and holiday care, toy libraries, maternal child health centres and playgroups). These services required funding, planning and facilities, and in many cases these other services grew out of groups of women who had got together to form playgroups. Services required advocates who prevailed when the going got tough.

One such person was Winsome, who with a group of others, had an instrumental role in revolutionising the early years landscape for parents, carers and families in Australia.

As part of Playgroup Victoria’s 50-year anniversary, we spoke with Winsome to learn more about the women’s movement, which transformed parts of Australia henceforth.

How did people become involved in the women’s movement?
It was all word of mouth, letters to the paper and creating opportunities for media stories back then. There were no emails, social media etc.

What were the motivating factors that compelled you to determinedly work for reform in this space?
I believe it was the experience of growing up in a country community where everyone knew and helped one another and children spent a lot of their time visiting or staying with extended family members. Then the shock of finding myself with a baby and toddler and living in a two-room Manhattan apartment with my student husband in a tiny apartment on 6th floor walkup building. I thought to myself: ‘This is no way for kids to live and grow up!’

How much time did you and your fellow change makers commit to the cause?
Probably the equivalent of a couple of days a week at least – and a lot of it done at night after children were in bed.

How did you gather evidence and research to build a Case for Change?
Firstly, Gough Whitlam established the Women’s Bureau in Canberra, a research unit to investigate changing roles of women and how this was impacting on them and society. The Bureau gathered shocking statistics on the hundreds of thousands of Australian women who had no choice but to work away from home, yet had neither a place to leave children nor access to extended families. The Social Welfare Commission was established and Barbara Spading and I were engaged by the Commonwealth to spend three days a week in Canberra working with the Commission and Women’s Bureau, drafting the National Children’s Services Policy. Whitlam announced this; then when the Fraser Government came in, thanks to Senator Dame Margaret Guilfoyle, Liberal government supported the policy and expanded into a full Child Care Program. It was the era when politicians in government and opposition cooperated on matters obviously good for society!

What fond memories do you have from this time?
The friendship, optimism, intellectual stimulation and fun of working with many wonderful women around Victoria and Australia; plus, the relief expressed by women who had been isolated and unsupported, but assumed it must have been “just their problem.”

Significant Milestones:

What are your memories of the Victorian Playgroup Association when it first began?
The sense of palpable excitement and optimism in the hall of the old St Marks Church Fitzroy where we convened the first public meeting on ‘How to start a playgroup’. We expected about 20 but at least 100 turned up from everywhere. From then on, women were ringing us in our one-room office lent to Community Childcare by the Brotherhood of St Laurence, either to seek further information on how to get going – or to tell us excitedly that they were running a group and helping other playgroups get going as well. That’s how the movement spread – women who had set up any of the services mentioned previously became the catalysts and advisors to assist others to do likewise, because it had changed their lives for the better!

What void did playgroups fill? How did playgroups work with other services to support families?
Playgroups were critical in supporting hundreds of thousands of women and their children’s development in a couple of main ways:

Firstly, playgroups gave children of women not in paid employment, vital development and socialization experiences. And it gave their mothers opportunities to meet and develop friendships with neighbours and overcome isolation and loneliness.

Secondly, playgroups helped many thousands of women who needed to be in paid employment, to meet women they trusted to provide care for their children on a fee basis while they worked. Lots of children of working women were cared for at home by other women or grandparents, and they then brought the children along to playgroup.

Thirdly, the networks and skills women developed though participating in playgroups, gave them the confidence to go on to start other community services, including establishing Neighborhood Children’s Centres (NCCs). This was especially so in the 1980s and 1990s, where scores of NCCs were established that provided a whole range of services including day care, playgroups and out-of-school-care services, often with the volunteer involvement of grandparents or retired people as well.

We thank Winsome and her fellow trailblazers for their dedication and enthusiasm, paving the way for women and families to come. Winsome will be a special guest at our upcoming 50-year playgroup celebration.

Article by Sinead Halliday