‘Summer Address’, The newsletter of the International Federation for Research in Women’s History

Sharon Crozier-De Rosa, ‘Newsletter Address’, The newsletter of the International Federation for Research in Women’s History, Summer 2022, Issue 71, pp. 1-4.

In Australia, as in many other countries, the humanities have come under attack. In 2020, the then Liberal-National coalition government introduced its Job-Ready Graduates and Supporting Regional and Remote Students legislation. Generally speaking, the legislation was aimed at provoking universities to strategize engaging with industry more by changing Australian Government funding allocations for Commonwealth supported places (federal government funding for student places) in subsidised higher education courses. In effect, this has meant a 113% increase in student fees for many humanities subjects, including History. Not surprisingly, organisations such as the Australian Historical Association (AHA) have condemned this move as short-sighted. It demonstrates a lack of understanding of the crucial role that History as a discipline plays in creating workers and citizens skilled in critical inquiry and thinking, among other esteemed attributes.

Such an anti-humanities agenda has generated criticism, but it has also spurred other activities. In June this year, for example, the AHA published the report of a History graduates survey that it had recently commissioned. Entitled ‘History “Opened Many Doors”’[https://theaha.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/History-Opened-Many-Doors-AHA-History-Graduates-Survey-Report..pdf], the project surveyed 791 graduates and found that while a reassuring diversity of employers hired History graduates, the employment value of History degrees needed to be better communicated to students, their families, employers, and governments. Additionally, it affirmed that the value of studying History went well beyond employability, preparing ‘graduates to navigate complex social and ethical issues both in and beyond the workplace’. To better articulate the worth of History, the AHA committee members responsible for the project, Nancy Cushing and Emily O’Gorman, prepared valuable information resources for distribution to students and employers. While humanities subjects continue to be exorbitantly priced—a fee hike merited by nothing other than politics—it remains to be seen how in demand such communications will be.

Still, we have hope. In May this year, we had a welcome change of federal government. We wait in optimistic anticipation for the new Labor government to reset university fees to be more equitable for humanities students.

While fees have not yet been readjusted, the change in government has already had a transformative effect in terms of airing women’s voices and increasing their political representation. Immediately after news of the election, commentators reflected on the outgoing Liberal Party’s failure to engage with, and represent the interests of, women. The prime minister’s and the party’s unempathetic response to the uncovering of sexual assault in parliament had not instilled confidence in anyone concerned about gender equality.

On the other side of the divide, in his victory speech, incoming prime minister, Anthony Albanese, shone a spotlight on women. ‘Together’, he said, ‘we can make full and equal opportunity for women a national economic and social priority.’ He also acknowledged Australia’s next Indigenous Affairs minister, Linda Burney, who was present on the night. Burney was the first Indigenous woman to be elected into the House of Representatives in July 2016. And, in a dramatic departure from the lack of dedication exhibited by the previous government, in his election victory speech, Albanese pledged commitment to implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart which calls for the establishment of a First Nations Voice to Parliament enshrined in the Australian Constitution, as well as the establishment of a Makarrata Commission for the purpose of treaty making and truth-telling.

Change seems on the cards for Australia. Yet, obstacles prevail. For example, as with women around the world, Australian women looked on—and continue to look on—with alternating anxiety and hope as rights such as abortion are eroded and violence against women continues, but also as protesters take to the streets en masse to demand the protection and expansion of gender rights, in Australia and well beyond.  

What about research into women’s and gender history in Australia, in the face of national and international anti-humanities crusades and anti-feminist agendas? Well, it proves to be reassuringly and invigoratingly alive.

Alongside my fabulous colleagues, Catherine Kevin and Samantha Owen, I recently chaired the 2022 Australian Women’s History Network’s Mary Bennett prize committee, awarded biannually to an early career historian (ECR) for the best article or chapter in any field of women’s history. So overwhelming was the quality of the submissions that we were compelled to award two winners, and two commendations: Gleadhill and Heath (Women’s History Review) and Twigg (Environment and History), and Donaghy (Social History of Science) and Laing and Davies (Women’s History Review), respectively. Together this ECR research: pushed the boundaries of transnational and Indigenous mobility historiographies; explored a range of complex gendered relationships including friendly, courtly and intergenerational; adopted a unique and innovative blend of environmental, technological, scientific, regional and gender history to re-imagine regional women’s experiences; and, unsettled current moral and biological interpretations of the body while contributing new historical knowledge about the affective dimensions of loss. And these were only the winning projects.

While assuming this privileged role allowed me to imagine the wealth and abundance of the future of feminist research, it also highlighted the urgent need to reform academia—to desperately seek ways of creating spaces within our profession to accommodate exciting and innovative intellectual talent, while fighting precarity and casualisation.

To finish, in thinking about the state of the field in 2022, I was reminded of a tweet that appeared at the outset of the current global Covid pandemic (referring to the US gender pay gap) which stated: ‘This quarantine is affecting everyone in the workforce, but it especially sucks for men. We’re losing $1 for every $.79 women are losing.’ This was humour and pathos in a sea of historical continuities and regressions, wins and losses. Given recent moves to reverse historical gains in gender rights, knowing our history and setting the agenda for our present and future seems so much more urgent than ever.

In solidarity,

Sharon

Assoc. Professor Sharon Crozier-De Rosa, University of Wollongong (UOW), Australia

*My thanks, and those of my colleagues, go to the tireless, enthusiastic and often precariously employed early career research volunteers who keep the Australian Women’s History Network vibrant and connected: National Convenors of the Australian Women’s History Network (AWHN), Iva Glisic and Samantha Owen, and Postgraduate and ECR Representatives, Michelle Bootcov, Kirra Minton, Jessica Murray, and Parisa Shams; Managing Editor of the AWHN journal, Lilith: A Feminist History Journal, Alana Jayne Piper, and the ECR Editorial Collective, Rachel Caines, Alexandra Ciaffaglione, Kate Davison, Brydie Kosmina, Lauren Samuelsson, and Michelle Staff; and finally, Managing Editors and Founders of the AWHN Blog VIDA, Ana Stevenson and Alana Piper.

**UOW: acknowledges the Dharawal, Yuin and Wadi Wadi peoples as the Traditional Custodians of Country in the Illawarra; the Custodianship of the Aboriginal peoples of this place and space that has kept alive the relationships between all living things; and, the devastating impact of colonisation on our campuses’ footprint and commit ourselves to truth-telling, healing and education.