Minister 4 Women 4 Eva

Loud, Angry & Not Sorry

Have you ever wondered what the Minister for Women does? Did you also have the fever dream that Tony Abbott was the Minister for Women? Well! Fasten your seatbelt because we’re taking you on a 35 year ride through the history of the Office for Women.

In this episode we bring you a run down of what each of our Ministers for Women have done as the representative for women’s issues/status/interests.

Leah also does a profile on Aileen Moreton-Robertson as part of our new intro where we talk about a feminist who’s doing great work. Definitely check out her book Talkin’ Up to the White Woman (https://www.readings.com.au/products/32823550/talkin-up-to-the-white-woman-20th-anniversary-edition) and remember to use your local libraries, they take recommendations for books they should buy that aren’t in stock!

CORRECTION: We quote an article by Sara Dowse (called The Prime Minister’s Women, printed in Australian Feminist Studies in 2015) and said we didn’t quite understand what she was saying when she said “At the beginning of 1977 the branch was upgraded again and became the Office of Women’s Affairs. It looked like a promotion, and it was for me, but what it actually signified was the removal of the office at the year’s end to a new, low-ranking department of home affairs.” THEN we are shocked later to learn that the position of Minister for Women disappeared in 1977 and reappeared in 1983. Sara Dowse is literally referring to this. Apologies, we had read too much and our brains were not computing. What happened in 1977 in the shift to home affairs meant that this office no longer reported directly to the Prime Minister.

Resources:

Join & support Renters And Housing Union. For details on upcoming eviction defence training and know your renters rights workshops go to https://rahu.org.au/

To support ALL workers rights, support the rights of the unemployed at Australian Unemployed Workers Union https://unemployedworkersunion.com/