Harwood's poem was published in 1961, a time of shifting social and cultural dynamics in Australia. For most of Australia's history, women were denied political rights and were restricted in many areas of life. In 1894, the South Australian Parliament passed the Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Act, which gave women the right to vote. South Australia was actually the first electorate in the modern world to give equal political rights to both men and women. ("Women's Suffrage," National Museum Australia). Despite this major milestone in the political realm, economically women were still largely restricted to the home. In 1954, only one in three women were employed in Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics). Women who did work were expected to stop after they married and had children. Social stigma existed against women who were unmarried or divorced (Martin 446).
Through a confluence of factors, including expanded access to education and birth control, the demand for a larger workforce following World War II, and the work of activists who advocated for women's rights, the cultural perception that women must marry and have children eroded in the latter half of the twentieth century. Harwood's poem is situated in this context and reflects the increasingly vocal dissatisfaction of many in Australian society about women's limited role outside of the home. It unflinchingly depicts a woman who is unhappy with society's proscribed role for her and compares her life to that of a man's, implicitly recognizing the opportunities that have been denied to her. At the same time, the poem's subject matter—especially the last line, which openly critiqued motherhood—was seen as shocking and even offensive. Notably, these critiques only emerged after it was revealed that the poem was actually written by a woman, not by the male pseudonym that Harwood adopted (Sheridan 148). Thus, the author's real-life experience echoed the same issues of sexism against women, and opposition to women describing or publicizing their own life experiences, that she described in "In the Park." The poem, and the reactions to it, demonstrate the struggle for women's rights that continues today.
