Between Charity and Neoliberalism: The Campaign for Funding Women's Refuges in Australia, 1974–1985

Abstract: Australia's first women's refuge was established in 1974, marking a crucial outgrowth of women's liberation activism that placed domestic violence on the public agenda. To maintain refuges, feminists seized opportunities presented by the progressive Gough Whitlam Labor government. This convergence between a reforming government and the women's movement meant that Australian feminist refuges were among the first in the world to receive state support, in 1975. Maintaining this support required feminist activists to engage with the Australian state. They framed their claims in two ways: they foregrounded women's traumatic narratives of experiences of domestic violence, and they asserted that refuges were a distinctive feminist service. Adapting to a constantly changing political context, however, advocates found it difficult to distinguish their activities from charitable refuges. Their emphasis on women's trauma foregrounded a victimized political subject while the movement's emphasis on fostering "self-help" was co-opted by advocates of neoliberal governance.