The Australian Women's Register

1 hour 32 minutes Kathleen Margaret Forte, nee Johnston, was born in London, England. Her widowed mother emigrated to Wellington, New Zealand when Margaret was seven and supported her three children working as a teacher. Margaret’s education included three years boarding at a Friends’ School. Margaret worked as a journalist in Sydney and Vancouver before settling and marrying in Adelaide. She gave up working with the News in 1950 after the birth of her second child. Margaret quickly became involved in many voluntary activities, including the South Australian Peace Council. Seeking an organisation with a commitment to total pacifism, she became Secretary of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in the early 1960s. She describes their energetic opposition to the Vietnam War and the suspicion with which WILPF was viewed at the time. She also discusses WILPF’s changing role from being the women’s voice in the peace movement to the peace voice in the women’s movement.