Presented in partnership with the National Archives of Australia.

Introduced by the Minister for Finance, Women and the Public Service,Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher,and moderated by Virginia Haussegger AM,  the discussion will feature Dr Elizabeth Reid, the ANU's Professor Margaret Jolly, First Nations advocate Cathy Eatock, journalist and podcaster Professor Mark Kenny and feminist historian Dr Sharon Crozier-De RosaP

Event Description

On April 8, 1973 Prime Minister Gough Whitlam appointed Elizabeth Reid as his Adviser on matters relating to the welfare of women and children. It was an historic appointment, the first of its kind in the world. Reid took on the monumental task of identifying and advocating issues that mattered most to Australian women and working for changes from within the new Whitlam Labor government.  

In this new Whitlam legacy paper, Revolution and Reform: The Women’s Liberation Movement and the Whitlam Years, Elizabeth Reid revisits the feminist revolution of the Whitlam years and her place at the nexus of the Women’s Liberation Movement and the Whitlam Government.  

As Reid recounts, her appointment as women’s adviser opened a floodgate and she received thousands of letters from women all over Australia who felt they finally had someone within government who would listen to their issues. And listen she did, travelling around the country to hear first-hand from women about their struggles and what they most wanted the new government to change. But from her early days as an activist in the Women’s Liberation Movement Reid understood that unless reform measures were accompanied by changes to the attitudes that disadvantaged women, progress would only be temporary. 

Describing herself as ‘a revolutionary in a reformist job,’ Reid’s account of her journey through the corridors of power in government is remarkable. Her early involvement in the Women’s Liberation Movement, and the ideas and principles of a social movement that wanted things done differently, highlights the transformation possible when a radical feminist movement works with a progressive government. 

About the Author

Dr Elizabeth Reid (AO FASSA FAIIA) is a feminist development worker, academic and writer. She taught philosophy at the Australian National University before being appointed as an adviser to Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1973 on matters relating to the welfare of women and children. Her development work since then has taken her to Africa, Papua New Guinea, the Pacific, Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Central America, and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Elizabeth has worked as a national and international public servant with the United Nations, UN specialised agencies and UN regional commissions, and national governments. She has also worked with local and international non-government organisations and with faith-based organisations. She retired from field work in 2015 and now lives and works in Canberra.