Australia in 1901 Comparision 2008

Life in Australia in 1901 and now

There are many ways in which Australian life in 1901 was different to life in Australia today. Some of the areas differences include: politics, families and their structure, gender inequality, education and health. These are some of the social, political and cultural areas that have developed significantly in the last 100 years.

1901 was a year of great reform in Australian politics, with the introduction of the federal government system. Many acts of parliament in the last hundred years have caused huge changes to life now compared with life in 1901 especially in the areas of Industrial Relations, Indigenous People and Occupational Health & Safety. However, since that time some things have not changed, there are still 2 houses of parliament, they hold sessions in Canberra and the parties have the same basic make up that they did in 1901. We now have a much more developed set of laws created from acts of Parliament than existed 100 years ago.

There were no women in parliament at federation, but this was soon to change as changes to women’s rights started to happen. 1902 was the year that women were awarded the right to vote in federal elections. However, there were no women in parliament at state or federal levels until 1925. According to the Office for Women, in 2001 there were 55 women in federal parliament with similar proportional numbers in state and local governments.

As in politics, gender inequality was common in all walks of life in 1901, but despite the changes that have occured since then it is still a major issue of concern in today’s society. In 1901, it was considered the women’s role in the family to stay at home and tend to the children while the males went out to work. As much as our society today believes that women and men should be equal, this is sadly not the case. Men still fill certain roles fitting with a stereotype, and women are subject to sexism in the workplace. However, 57.5% of women now work while maintaining a family on the side1. In 1901 very few women would have had paid work outside the home.

Families and their structure have changed a lot since 1901. At the turn of the century most families were of the nuclear (mother, father and children) variety. The average number of children per woman in 1901 was 3.9 compared to 1.7 on average today3. Families in 1901 did a lot together as a whole, visiting local events; dances and church every week were common amongst middle-class citizens. Now, only 12% of Anglican’s attend church on a regular basis2. Divorce was very uncommon in 1901. Now 42% of all marriages end in divorce4. The median age of marriage in 1901 was around 18 years, now it is 285.

Education has changed drastically since 1901. Corporal punishment was a common means of punishing naughty children in 1901, but since then, the introduction of child protection laws means corporal punishment is no longer used in schools. In 1901, boys studied more academic subjects including English and maths while girls received separate education learning about sewing and housework. At that time, only 31% of all 14-15 year olds still attended school and now (2007) around 75% of all school students complete year 126.

Health is another area with huge changes in the last 100 years. In 1901, the average life expectancy7 was 55.2 years for males and 58.8 years for females. Compared with today’s figures (78.5 males and 83.3 females) these were rather low. In 1901, surgery was a dangerous, often deadly, procedure as hygiene standards were lower than today and equipment was not sterilised. Surgery was often used as a last resort if other treatments weren’t effective. Many diseases