From the beginning a group with feminist intentions and outlook, it was contemporaneous with, and part of, the Women's Liberation Movement in Sydney in the 1970s.
This was influenced by the wide-reaching and radical women's liberation critique of individualistic and hierarchical practices which were regarded as contributing to "famous men" notions of history.
Although the name originated to describe a production entity, subsequently the activities of the group centred on distribution, exhibition, workshops and discussions, and political lobbying.
Several participants in the workshop subsequently went on to careers in various aspects of the developing Australian film and television industries, and to foundational teaching roles in newly created media courses within tertiary institutions.
Of the less tangible influence of the work undertaken by the SWFG, film and television producer Jan Chapman had this to say on reflection in 2002: Without the influence and political lobbying of these women I don't believe I would have had the subconscious conviction ... that I could make films, and that what I wanted to say, even if intimate, domestic and personal in scale, was just as interesting as the mythic male legends.