The year is 1961 and there are two women duking it out on national television to debate a topical issue of the day: Is education a waste of time for married women?

In the left corner is Jean Inkster, a wife, mother, and qualified pharmaceutical chemist.

On the right, wife, mother and kindergarten teacher Tony Tompson.

The ABC's Jean Battersby oversaw the 10-minute-long verbal sparring match on Women's World — a daytime, magazine-style program that aired in the late 1950s to the early 1960s.

"You should really stay home all day, you should be contented to stay home," Ms Tompson said.

"If you have too much education your mind's stimulated too much [and] you're not happy to stay home all the time."

She argued good television and reading widely was good enough.

Ms Inkster disagreed: "Oh no Tony, no. I think having higher education helps you considerably, it makes you organise your life. It organises your mind. It makes you think more deeply."

Both women maintained their points of view no matter the onslaught of opinion from their opponent.

Inkster and Tompson's descendants weigh in

But the fierce debate may not have been quite what it seemed, according to Ms Tompson's daughter, Loraine Lamont.

"Those three were old, very good friends who loved arguing and teasing each other," Ms Lamont said in a YouTube comment.

The pair had been friends since their days at Melbourne's Presbyterian Ladies College.

"Some of mum's closest friends had left school early and she often said she thought they were as 'educated' — if not more — through reading and varied experience, as some of the academics she knew," Ms Lamont said.

"She worried that my sister and I were missing out on 'the experience of real life' by studying too much."

Ms Lamont said her mother did everything she could to "lure us into watching TV with her, which she loved".

Ms Lamont said her mother had a university education and worked as a kindergarten teacher during the depression, helped look after "shell-shocked" returned servicemen, and was, "brave enough to voice the dilemma facing women then".

"Now in my seventies, I agree with her more and more. I think wide reading, good television, and knowing and understanding as many others as possible, either in person or on social media, is as good as any arts degree [sic]," Ms Lamont said.

Ms Tompson's two daughters both went to university and worked part-time post children, with their mother's support, Ms Lamont said.

Naomi Peters, who identified herself as Ms Tompson's great niece, said there were a number of women in her extended family that attained university-level educations.

"Isn't it crazy the amount of attention this video is getting, but fantastic that it's prompting a lot of terrific discussion and sharing of stories by women around Australia and further afield," Ms Peters said.