History of women and crime

Published: March 11, 2021, 9:05 a.m.

“Convicted for offences against good order” – that was the fate of many women in the early 20th century in Australia. Their crime was not so much being drunk in public or selling their bodies, but to fail social expectations. Regardless of the circumstances leading them down this path. Women simply don’t behave like that. Historian Leigh Straw analyses this past battle for gender equality.