One of the first four Australian women to stand for parliament
Vida Jane Mary Goldstein (pron. /ˈvaɪdəˈɡoʊldstaɪn/) (13 April 1869 – 15 August 1949) was an Australian suffragist and social reformer.[1][2] She was one of four female candidates at the 1903 federal election, the first at which women were eligible to stand.
Goldstein was born in Portland, Victoria. Her family moved to Melbourne in 1877 when she was around eight years old,[3] where she would attend Presbyterian Ladies' College. Goldstein followed her mother into the women's suffrage movement and soon became one of its leaders, becoming known both for her public speaking and as an editor of pro-suffrage publications. Despite her efforts, Victoria was the last Australian state to implement equal voting rights, with women not granted the right to vote until 1908.
In 1903, Goldstein unsuccessfully contested the Senate as an independent, winning 16.8 percent of the vote.[a] She was one of the first four women to stand for federal parliament, along with Selina Anderson, Nellie Martel, and Mary Moore-Bentley. Goldstein ran for parliament a further four times, and despite never winning an election won back her deposit on all but one occasion. She stood on left-wing platforms, and some of her more radical views alienated both the general public and some of her associates in the women's movement.
After women's suffrage was achieved, Goldstein remained prominent as a campaigner for women's rights and various other social reforms. She was an ardent pacifist during World War I, and helped found the Women's Peace Army, an anti-war organisation. Goldstein maintained a lower profile in later life, devoting most of her time to the Christian Science movement. Her death passed largely unnoticed, and it was not until the late 20th century that her contributions were brought to the attention of the general public.
^Wright, Author's Note, "...the terms suffragist and suffragette are not interchangeable. Suffragists are people who advocate for votes for women. Men can be suffragists, and they were. The term is a generic description of a political position, akin to the terms socialist, capitalist or environmentalist. Suffragettes, by contrast, were a specific group of (mostly) women defined by their membership of certain suffrage organisations at a certain time in British history."
^Wright, Clare (2019). You daughters of freedom: The Australians who won the vote and inspired the world. Melbourne: Text Publishing. ISBN 9781922268181.
^Cite error: The named reference and was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^1903 – SENATE – VICTORIA Archived 3 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Psephos.
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Vida Jane Mary Goldstein (pron. /ˈvaɪdəˈɡoʊldstaɪn/) (13 April 1869 – 15 August 1949) was an Australian suffragist and social reformer. She was one of...
divisions of a state are malapportioned. The division is named after VidaGoldstein, an early parliamentary candidate who contested five separate elections...
("Monster petition") to the Victorian state parliament and the mother of VidaGoldstein. Isabella Hawkins was born on the family's property "Cashmere" in Portland...
Lake Vida, Victoria Valley, Antarctica U.S. settled places: Vida, Montana Vida, Oregon Vida, Missouri Vida TV, a television channel in Venezuela Vida (TV...
London that was unveiled in 2018. In 1903, the Australian suffragist VidaGoldstein adopted the WSPU colours for her campaign for the Senate in 1910 but...
was given £20, a ticket to Australia and a letter introducing her to VidaGoldstein. Pankhurst was among the first group of suffragettes to go on hunger...
Jolt Forward of the World", Dora Montefiore (1912) The Woman Voter, VidaGoldstein (1912) Two Suffrage Movements, Martha Gruening (1912) "Womanhood Suffrage"...
own hand in the autograph book of Australian suffragette VidaGoldstein: Dear Miss Goldstein:– Seven years ago I wrote you that I'd rather be ashes than...
Archbishop of Melbourne Daniel Mannix, Queensland Labor Premier Thomas Ryan, VidaGoldstein and the Women's Peace Army. Most trade unions actively opposed conscription...
author of The Female Eunuch; Julia Gillard, former prime minister; VidaGoldstein, suffragist; and Edith Cowan, the first woman to be elected to an Australian...
peace issues from a young age and served as the campaign secretary of VidaGoldstein, the first woman to stand for election to federal parliament in Australia...
wife. The speeches of Tom Barker, VidaGoldstein, and Eva Hughes were widely reported in newspapers. VidaGoldstein also published many opinion pieces...
three female candidates for the Senate at the 1903 federal election (VidaGoldstein, Nellie Martel, and Mary Moore-Bentley). However, it was not until Dorothy...
in June 1909 by Lucy Morice in conjunction with Victorian activist VidaGoldstein. Catherine Helen Spence became the first president, while Leonora Polkinghorne...
from Chile, Hungary, Russia, Turkey and Switzerland also attended. VidaGoldstein of Australia, Florence Fenwick Miller of England, and Catt together...
of Victoria', 'Eureka University', 'Robert Menzies University' or 'VidaGoldstein University'. The former Ballarat Gaol, a maximum security prison that...
one of her sisters was the author Sumner Locke. She was a friend of VidaGoldstein, having worked with her since the suffrage campaigns of the 1890s. A...
Tribunal (Vic) Elizabeth Moulton Eggleston – Academic lawyer and activist VidaGoldstein – Suffragette and first woman to stand for election to the Federal Parliament...
Einfeld, New South Wales Minister for Consumer Affairs (1976–1981) VidaGoldstein, suffragette Jennifer Huppert, Labor member of the Victorian Legislative...
Melbourne Daniel Mannix, the Queensland Labor Premier Thomas Ryan, VidaGoldstein and the Women's Peace Army. Most labor unions actively opposed conscription...
sisters may bring into the political arena. In 1909, at the suggestion of VidaGoldstein, Morice and Spence founded the Women's Non-Party Association of South...
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