I can remember a time when it was almost impossible to get contraception, and impossible to get an abortion.
I can remember a time when girls didn't go to University.
I can remember a time when it was not so appropriate for women to work and certainly not to have a career.
The Women's Electoral Lobby put a 
name to a pathway for feminist action.
The lobby group that would be fearless...
but would be based on sound information.
Most of us until that stage had been defined by our fathers, mothers, families, postcode, partners.
We learnt to be women as we met with our own definition of ourselves.
It was as though whole world was ours, and all we had to do was reshape it.
And within a year or so, we had more members than the National Party, core Country Party then and the conservatives put together.
I remember a time when a lot of Asian migrant women workers were being exploited in restaurants and factories and in their own houses.
At the time there was this assumption that because women have work, then everything is okay because they're earning money.
That's not the case really because when you are in the workplace, and you are a migrant worker, there are so many barriers.
English is a big barrier. You know you don't know your rights at work.
This often leads them to not speak out about bad things in the workplace.
It's very good to know that WEL is there, supporting us in bringing the concerns and wishes of...
... migrant women workers.
I do remember the time when if you became pregnant you would have to leave your job.
And there were women who had children, left them at home and raced back into the workforce...
many of them had not changed their names because they were afraid of
losing their position because they had married.
The anti-discrimination legislation
applies to us just as much today as it did 35 and 40 years ago.
I certainly remember time when women were seen as unreliable witnesses.
There was a huge amount of doubt that husbands or spouses could assault their wives.
They were victimised by the police...
...they were vilified by the community.
WEL's been a constant voice for eliminating violence against women.
We will always speak out loudly around these issues.
I remember a time when women were largely absent from corporate leadership, from large businesses, from politics.
Even though we've had a female Governor-General, our first female Prime Minister...
there is so much more to be done for women to take their rightful place at the table.
Julia Gillard's voice plays: "I will not be lectured by sexism and misogyny by this man..."
"I will not."
I remember a time when it was illegal to have an abortion in New South Wales, because that time is now.
It is almost impossible to get an abortion through the public health system.
One in three Australian women will have an abortion in their lifetime.
That makes a third of all women in New South Wales a criminal.
With increasing pressure in New South Wales...
... to decriminalise abortion, it is becoming a more pertinent issue.
There is pressure building and WEL is at the forefront.
I want a world where my life is in my hands.
Where I can follow my dreams and not be held back by old expectations.
A world in which women are not just told their equal to men, but are treated that way.
I want a world where my talents are used and my voice matters.
For 45 years the Women's Electoral Lobby  has put women at the centre of politics.
We are experts, influencers, people from all walks of life creating a more equal Australia one step at a time.
Join us.
