In pursuit of true Anglican Womanhood in Victoria, 1880-1914

As colonial women sought to extend their sphere of moral influence they encountered opposition from the Churches, which saw themselves as the proper guardians of public morality. This paper examines the attitudes of the Anglican Church at the turn of the century in regard to the ‘woman question‘, and argues that the Church acted to contain the threat posed by women's expanding sphere while continuing to benefit from, and indeed depend upon, women's fund-raising and administrative activities.