SSR 2 - Braith Lane - Shameless scribblers : Australian women's journalism 1880 - 1995

 

Secondary Source Report  Shameless scribblers : Australian women's journalism 1880 - 1995

By Braith Lane

Complete citation:

Pearce, Sharyn (1998). Shameless scribblers : Australian women's journalism 1880-1995. Central Queensland University Press, Rockhampton, Qld DOI number: 305.43097, 070/.82/0994

If web access: url; date accessed:  https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/7896830 Date accessed: 21/09/2020 Image Credit:

 

 

Key Words:

Cultural identity, feminism, history, social conditions, women in Australia and gender equality

Brief Overview:

This book elaborates on the discussion of women rights in the year 1917, and how in past years (18880-1917) women were disadvantaged. It also outlines the role of the women in Australian journalism in the first half of the twentieth century, where they moved to higher paying positions, which was not possible pre 1917.

Summary of key points:

-        Pearce portrays the women’s right movement as powerful

 

-        Pearce elaborates on advancement

 

 

-        World War 2 has enabled chances due to both rights and men fighting in war

 

-        War reinforced anxieties about the disruption of normal gender divisions within the newspaper office

Important Quotations:

QUOTES PAGES 98-100

 

“In 1917, Justice Isaac Isaacs in the Commonwealth Court of conciliation and Arbitration decided the first federal award for journalists… Isaac noted that all provisions of the award applied equally to both sexes..”

 

“Until WW2, most Australian women were confined to work considered to be of lesser value.”

 

“Up to 1917, women were seen with a less of a chance of advancement in their rankings…”

 

Usefulness to our group topic or individual project:

 This reading/article would be helpful in the group or individual project as it outlines the affect of misogynistic and past behaviors which had major social and cultural affects on the community. With knowledge like this provided to the student, and group, we are able to elaborate on why the article was portrayed the way it was and the positive and negative affects it had. We can also see how promoting women to higher positions during WW2n did to the journalist salaries and conditions, and the possible harms of “cheap female labour”.