 A 1916 Hotel and Caterers' Union delegate to the Trades Hall Council and an early member of the Militant Propaganda League, she was an executive member of the Victorian Socialist Party from 1916 to 1917.An organiser of the Labor Women's Anti-Conscription Committee from its formation in September 1916, she was a political rival of Vida Goldstein and subsequently became vice-president of the Labor Women's Campaign Committee, a rival group.She was inaugural president of the re-formed Women's Central Organising Committee from 1918 to 1920 and supported pacifism and the industrial organisation of women.