Women and Whitlam: Michelle Arrow and Margaret Reynolds in conversation with Lara Giddings
The Whitlam government transformed Australia. And yet the scope and scale of the reforms for Australian women are often overlooked.
That government of 1972–75 appointed a women’s advisor to national government — a world first — and reopened the equal pay case. It extended the minimum wage for women, introduced the single mother’s benefit and paid maternity leave in the public service, ensured cheap and accessible contraception, funded women’s refuges and women’s health centres, introduced accessible, no-fault divorce and the Family Court, and much more.
Women and Whitlam brings together three generations — including Elizabeth Evatt, Eva Cox, Patricia Amphlett, Elizabeth Reid, Tanya Plibersek, Margaret Reynolds, Heidi Norman, Blair Williams and Ranuka Tandan — to revisit the Whitlam revolution and to build on it for the future.
Michelle Arrow is professor in Modern History at Macquarie University. She is the author of three books, including Friday on Our Minds: Popular Culture in Australia Since 1945 (2009) and The Seventies: The Personal, the Political and the Making of Modern Australia (2019), which was awarded the 2020 Ernest Scott Prize for history.
The Hon Margaret Reynolds AC was a Labor Senator and Minister in the Hawke and Keating Government Governments, working on a range of social policy reforms with a particular focus on the rights of women, First Australians and people living with disability. Margaret combined her teaching and parliamentary skills to promote civics education in Australian schools and the community, and working with UNIFEM to engage women globally in parliamentary procedures. Since retiring from parliament, she has lectured in international relations and human rights at the University of Queensland, chaired the Australian Centre for Excellence in Local Government Board (University of Technology, Sydney), was CEO of National Disability Services 2004-2012, and was appointed to State and Federal advisory committees to assist the introduction of the NDIS. Currently, Margaret is National President of ABC Friends, and chair of the Salamanca Arts Centre Board.
After completing high school, Lara Giddings studied Arts and Law at the University of Tasmania while also campaigning for her first State election. In 1996, she became the youngest women ever elected to an Australian Parliament, serving as a Shadow Minister, losing her seat in 1998. After being re-elected in the seat of Franklin, she experienced numerous ministerial portfolios, including the Attorney-General, Health and Treasury, before becoming Tasmania’s first female Premier, a role she held from 2011 to 2014. Lara retired from parliament in 2018; she now walks in the footsteps of another former premier as CEO of AMA Tasmania.
Join Michelle, Margaret and Lara at the RACV Hotel Hobart.
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