The Australian Women's Register

The goals of the Panhellenic Women’s Movement were as follows:

1. To advance the social and mental development of its members, the cultivation of friendly relations and solidarity amongst the members of the organisation,
2. The accomplishment of women’s equality in society; professional, social and political,
3. The cultivation of friendly relations between Greek women and the Australian people, as well as other women’s organisations of the other nationalities and with all Greek organisations, clubs and brotherhoods,
4. To make claims for working rights,
5. To support every effort for maintaining world peace

Organisations such as the Panhellenic Women’s Movement were extremely active in their attempts to network with other women’s organisations. The fact that we know of their existence is proof of this – they corresponded with the Union of Australian Women (UAW) quite regularly and their letters can be found in the UAW archives.

Evidence that they (and no doubt other migrant women’s organisations) had an impact on the thinking of established women’s organisations can also be found in this correspondence. A note in the UAW records, with the Panhellenic Women’s Movement correspondence, notes the following:

‘Our work is two-fold – on the one hand to become cognisant of the problems of migrant women and to assist them with regard to language, job opportunities, conditions etc. and by takin up the various issues contained in the Charter for Women Workers Rights, on the other hand, by extending solidarity to women in their homelands – for example, protesting at the closure of the Progressive Women’s Organisation’s office in Turkey, protesting about the atrocities against women in Chile and Uruguay.’