The idea of forming a women lawyers group developed out of the environment created by the Women and the Law Legal Research Foundation which was established in 1977.
The Foundation ran successfully for a number of years as a lobbying and pressure group.
The June 1985 AWLA newsletter recorded:
“In 1977 there was a great deal of legislation going through Parliament which affected women. This was mainly as a result of the political pressures exerted on the National and Labour Governments by the women’s movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Legislation on which submissions were made included the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Bill, the Equal Pay Act, and amendments to the Electoral Act.”