Women's Electoral Lobby vinyl record

This vinyl record is a compilation of five Glen Tomasetti songs, produced by the Women's Electoral Lobby (WEL).

A black vinyl record with a yellow label that reads 'WEL: labels for ladies'.

Women's Electoral Lobby (WEL) album.

A cream cover over a vinyl record. The yellow record label shows through a hole in the cover's centre. Label text reads 'WEL: labels for ladies'.

The Women's Electoral Lobby was first established in Melbourne in 1972. In 1978, groups around Australia combined into the Women's Electoral Lobby Australia with a national office in Canberra.

The group, which is still active today, aims to influence politicians and business leaders to ensure equality for women. WEL initially campaigned for six things: equal pay; equal employment opportunity; equal access to education; free contraception; abortion on demand; and free 24-hour childcare.

WEL has prepared research, surveys, pamphlets and press releases on many issues faced by women in Australian society. These issues include finance, gendered violence, divorce, social security, industrial relations, media representation and marital property. WEL has also jointly and solely sponsored events such as the National Women's Tax Summit and the National Agenda for Women Conference, and conferences relating to the UN Decade for Women.

WEL created action groups to focus on priority issues of public policy. Action groups developed and implemented campaigns, including meeting local political representatives and other decision-makers and sometimes voters, to influence their positions on that issue. This vinyl was created by a media action group to share WEL's message with the public in a creative way.

A key song on the album is Don't be Too Polite, Girls. In 1969, Australian singer-songwriter Glen Tomasetti adapted the lyrics of the shearing ballad All Among the Wool, Boys to create this song in support of the case for equal pay being heard by the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission. The song took off and was sung enthusiastically by protesters marching during International Women's Day in Melbourne in 1972.

This vinyl likely had multiple purposes – to raise money for WEL and spread their message through catchy songs. Songs can speak to social, political, and democratic issues, critiquing the way things are, fostering solidarity and rejoicing in identity. Owners and listeners of this record may have felt stirred to action, comfort in communion with other women, or proud to be part of WEL.

What else is Glen Tomasetti known for?

Glen Tomasetti (1929–2003) was a singer-songwriter, author and activist from Melbourne, who was well known on the Australian folk music circuit. She recorded 11 albums and regularly appeared on Channel 7 performing topical political songs in a weekly current affairs television program, as well as publishing novels, poems, short stories and essays. In 1967, Tomasetti garnered media attention when she was prosecuted for withholding one-sixth of her income tax, on the grounds that this was the proportion used to finance Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War.

What was the outcome of the 1969 case for equal pay?

In 1969, the Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union and other workers' groups brought a case to the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission about equal pay for equal work. The Commission ruled that when women were doing the exact same work as men, they would be paid equally. However, it did not address the gap between the pay for different jobs, many of which were split along gendered lines. As such, only 18% of women were assessed as doing the same job as men.