Reaching for Health: The Australian Women's Health Movement and Public Policy

410 Pages·2012·3.435 MB·English

by  Gwendolyn Gray Jamieson

Reaching Health
for
The Australian women’s health movement and public policy

Reaching Health
for
The Australian women’s health movement and public policy
Gwendolyn Gray Jamieson
Published by ANU E Press
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
Email: [email protected]
This title is also available online at http://epress.anu.edu.au
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author: Gray Jamieson, Gwendolyn.
Title: Reaching for health [electronic resource] : the Australian women’s health
movement and public policy / Gwendolyn Gray Jamieson.
ISBN: 9781921862687 (ebook) 9781921862670 (pbk.)
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Subjects: Birth control--Australia--History.
Contraception--Australia--History.
Sex discrimination against women--Australia--History.
Women’s health services--Australia--History.
Women--Health and hygiene--Australia--History.
Women--Social conditions--History.
Dewey Number: 362.1982
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
Cover design and layout by ANU E Press
Printed by Griffin Press
This edition © 2012 ANU E Press
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1 . Concepts, Concerns, Critiques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2 . With Only Their Bare Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3 . Infrastructure Expansion: 1980s onwards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4 . Group Proliferation and Formal Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5 . Working Together for Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
6 . Women’s Reproductive Rights: Confronting power . . . . . . . 179
7 . Policy Responses: States and Territories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
8 . Commonwealth Policy Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
9 . Explaining Australia’s Policy Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
10 . A Glass Half Full… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Appendix 1: Time line of key events, 1960–2011 . . . . . . . . . . 327
Appendix 2: Women interviewed for this book . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
v

Preface
In sifting through boxes and filing cabinets of material collected for this book,
I am struck by how much attitudes towards women, and attitudes of women
themselves, have changed since the 1970s. The argument that women are not
genetically equipped to participate in public-sector life is not often heard
today, for example. Where possible, therefore, I attempt to create a sense of
the atmosphere in which the women’s health movement emerged by including
selected anecdotes and quotations. The passion and commitment of early
Australian women’s health movement activists and the extraordinary efforts
they made to improve the circumstances of women’s lives and to fill gaps in
service provision can only be understood, I believe, in the context of the times.
The intensity of the critiques they developed was a product of their inferior
position, the scarcity of health information, the insensitivity of some health
professionals and the gaps in available health services, leaving many needs
unmet.
It is impossible within the pages of a single volume to document more than a
fraction of the work done by members of the movement. Similarly, only a brief
outline can be given of the influence of the movement on public policy in nine
jurisdictions over 40 years. Moreover, although I have interviewed scores of
women and collected mountains of documents, there is a wealth of experience
that I have been unable to record and there are parts of the story about which
little is now known.
Space also prevents me from naming the women and the handful of men who
have played important roles. The text necessarily contains reference to a few
women who carried out crucial work or held key positions. Such a mention
should not, however, suggest a more important role or a greater contribution
than women not mentioned at all. Indeed, so many women have been involved in
so many arenas that it would be impossible to calculate individual contribution.
All the women who were interviewed for this book either formally or informally
are listed in Appendix 2. Where no reference is provided, the information
presented derives from interviews or from personal involvement in the events
described.
One of the difficult decisions I have had to make in writing is whether to use
the past or the present tense when discussing the movement’s ideas and the
criticisms that developed. None of the problems that feminists identified in the
early 1970s has disappeared, although some are less pressing than they were.
For example, information about women’s bodies and women’s health is far
more readily available now and medical attitudes are less patronising. Serious
concerns remain, however, and the social health perspective that the movement
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Reaching for Health
has promoted since the early days is not yet central in mainstream debate. The
past tense, therefore, is often inappropriate. Mixed time frames are therefore
used but, try as I might to achieve stylistic elegance, even the casual reader will
notice an ungainly ‘wobbling’ between tenses.
At the outset, my involvement in the Australian women’s health movement
must be declared. Since the mid-1980s, I have been an active member, first, of
the ACT Women’s Health Network and then of the Australian Women’s Health
Network (AWHN). I represented the ACT Women’s Health Network on the
Australian Capital Territory’s Women’s Health Advisory Committee (WHAC)
from 1989 until 1996. From the early 1990s until 2008, I was a member of the
Board and sometime President of Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT and
represented the Australian Capital Territory on the Board of Sexual Health and
Family Planning Australia (SH&FPA) from 2002 until 2008. I was a member
of the interim management committee of AWHN in the early 1990s when the
constitution was written and the organisation was incorporated, Convenor from
1995 to 1998, Deputy Convenor from 1998 until 2008 and Convenor again from
2008 onwards.
viii
Acknowledgments
There are many people to thank for their assistance, support and encouragement
during the production of this book—so many that I am afraid some will be
overlooked. First and foremost, I thank the scores of women in the Australian
women’s health movement and in political parties, trade unions and bureaucracies
who so generously gave their time to talk with me, formally and informally.
Those interviewed are listed in Appendix 2. Women supported my research in
many other ways as well. They provided me with contacts, made appointments
for me with key policymakers and activists in their regions, gathered local
women together to facilitate group discussion and, in some cases, even offered
me a bed for the night. As well as agreeing to be interviewed, women gave me
access to written materials and pointed me in the direction of relevant sources.
Many have been willing to talk to me on the telephone, and answer follow-
up questions sent by email. These women include Esther Alvares, Morven
Andrews, Moira Carmody, Karin Cheyne, Cathy Crawford, Denele Crozier,
Glynis Flower, Vig Geddes, Robyn Gregory, Jocelyn Hanson, Maree Hawken,
Lekkie Hopkins, Judith Ion, Libby Lloyd, Toni Makkai, Lynnley McGrath,
Roxanne McMurray, Heather Nancarrow, Cathy North, Anne O’Byrne, Andrea
Shoebridge, Mandy Stringer, Tammy Vu, Veronica Wensing, Karen Willis and
Faye Worner. Researching the history of the movement has been a socially
rewarding experience. I have been privileged to meet many wonderful women
and make new friends.
Dorothy Broom, Helen Keleher and Marian Sawer read the full draft manuscript
and I thank all three for their invaluable comments and suggestions and for
their friendship and support. Marian Sawer has been a wellspring of ideas,
support and encouragement throughout the writing process. People who gave
me excellent feedback on parts of the manuscript include Morven Andrews,
Marilyn Beaumont, Justine Cairns, Denele Crozier, David Denham, Carolyn
Frohmader, Peter Howe, Lynnley McGrath, Adele Murdolo, Anne O’Byrne
and Kerreen Reiger. Kerreen Reiger gave me great assistance with the first
half of Chapter 6, including providing documents, some of which were still
in press at the time of writing. Marilyn Beaumont generously gave me a copy
of her extensive notes on the four-year process through which abortion was
decriminalised in Victoria.
My thanks go to those who helped me with photographs, including Tony
Adams, Dorothy Broom, Peter Howe, Gail Radford and Romaine Rutnam. Tracey
Wing, photographer extraordinaire, combed through her files, freely sharing
her women’s health collection with me. Ann Pettigrew, Genevieve Ebeck and
Bridget Gilmour-Walsh volunteered to edit the manuscript—acts of generosity
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Reaching for Health
well beyond the bounds of friendship and filial duty. Peter Howe fixed leaky
taps, regained control of errant formatting and supplied me with relevant press
clippings.
Staff at the Australian National Library cheerfully and efficiently helped me
find sources and locate obscure references. I thank Duncan Beard and the staff
of ANU E Press for their assistance and cooperation and the ANU Publications
Subsidy Committee for its grant. The book was written during my time as an
Adjunct Fellow in the School of Politics and International Relations, Research
School of Social Sciences, College of Arts and Social Sciences, at The Australian
National University. I thank the University for supporting my work and
providing congenial surroundings in which to write.
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