The Women Authoring Theology conference was organised by the Movement for the Ordination of Women (Australia), Women and the Australian Church (WATAC), Women-Church, and the Feminist Uniting Network, and was held in Strathfield from 24 to 26 May 1991.[1] A newspaper report in the week prior to the conference stated that the organisers had hit out at the Australian Catholic Bishops' lack of serious response to the "oft-stated concerns of women with regard to sexism in the church and the role of women".[2] The conference was the second national ecumenical feminist theology conference ever held in Australia. The first conference, titled Towards a Feminist Theology, had been held at the Collaroy Centre in Sydney in 1989. A unanimous decision from the floor had resolved that they meet again in two years.[1][3] A third conference was held in Melbourne and a fourth conference, Dangerous Memory, was held in Canberra in 1995.[4]
The publication associated with the Women Authoring Theology conference was edited by Elaine Lindsay, with cartoons by Graham English.[1] The conference and proceedings included contributions from Patricia Brennan, Barbara Thiering and Elizabeth Evatt. Evatt had been appointed as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1984, remained a member until 1992, and was Chair of the CEDAW Committee from 1989 to 1991.[5]
International guest speakers included Gloria Durka and Canadian-born English theologian and philosopher Janet Soskice.[6] Gloria Durka had been the President of Association of Professors and Researchers in Religious Education (APRRE) (later the Religious Education Association) in 1989–1990. A paper by German feminist theologian Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendal was included in the proceedings even though she had been unable to travel to the conference due to ill health.[1]
In a section of the program titled Australians Authoring Theology, contributions were made by Margaret Curtis, Bernice Moore, Erin White, Patricia Harrison, Therese Curtis, Gail Vincent, Janet Wood, and Rita Baptista.[1]
Mannix Library, in East Melbourne has digitised Women Authoring Theology and made it available on the University of Divinity's Digital Collections website[7] and on JSTOR Open Community Collections, along with other publications related to the Movement for the Ordination of Women.[8]