Brazen Hussies

A documentary can only give us a small glimpse into the enormously significant and protracted movement that was women's liberation, but this film about the Australian scene in the 1960s and 1970s is snappily edited with some articulate women who were participants in bringing change about.

I got a good sense of just how conservative and intransigent Australian society was - when even the Prime Minister Billy McMahon laughed off serious questions about women's issues as something to ask his wife.

He would have lost his grin when the women's movement pushed for politicians to be accountable for sexist and ignorant policies and attitudes and rudely helped toss him out of government.

While some women were content to keep things the way they were and stay home, these intelligent women put themselves in the firing line and were willing to speak out and even physically place themselves in danger - demanding to drink in the men's bar at the pub, for example - to push for equality.

We've come a long way, but we've still got a long way to go.