[1] Influenced by the ideas of John Stuart Mill, trips to the East End of London and to the United States, Gerstenberg became interested in feminism and issues around poverty.

[1] In 1888, Gerstenberg married John Wynford Philipps, who had just won the Mid Lanarkshire by-election for the Liberal Party.

[1] In 1891, the WLF split over attitudes to women's suffrage, and Philipps was a vocal support of the majority, pro-suffrage view.

In 1892, she was elected as president of the Welsh Union of Women's Liberal Associations, and was a co-founder of the Pioneer Club in London.

When a national pageant was held in Cardiff in 1909, Nora was one of the main organisers,[1] and in 1913 she presided over a concert at the Abergavenny Eisteddfod.