Kate Jennings grew up on a farm near Griffith, New South Wales. She attended Sydney University in the late 1960s, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors. She was active in feminist and left wing-movements, in particular gaining notoriety for an incendiary speech given before a Vietnam Moratorium march in 1970 -- a speech that is credited as signaling the beginning of the second wave of feminism in Australia.

She also edited Mother I'm Rooted, a pioneer anthology of women poets which was the object of much controversy.