Her husband, who she had married in Yorkshire, twelve years before was a partner in cotton mills in the Sydney suburb of Camperdown.

The business had been started by her husband, Albert William Keighley, and his brother, Frank, and it was called Bradford Cotton Mills Ltd. Albert had other business interests including Westminster Carpets Pty Ltd.[1] The United Associations of Women (UAW) had been formed in 1929 by radical feminists who were disappointed by the progress made by similar organisations.

Its founders included Linda Littlejohn, Ruby Rich, Adela Pankhurst Walsh and Jessie Street.

Women were taking up jobs that had previously been done by just men and the UAW wanted the government to pass legislation to prevent lower wages being offered.

[5] Keighley also became involved in trying to establish the rights and nationality of women and their children after an Australian woman married an American soldier.

Street had arranged for the "Australian Women's Register" to be distributed in the Americas and Keighley negotiated a similar deal for the UK with the stationers W.H.Smith.