Dissertations / Theses: 'Women dramatists, Australian Australia'

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McLean, Kirsten Elizabeth 1972. "Identifying as bisexual : life stories of Australian bisexual men and women." Monash University, School of Political and Social Inquiry, 2003. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/5755.

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Cranwell, Caresse. "Women, environments and spirituality : a study of women in the Australian environment movement." Title page, contents and abstract only, 1991. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09ENV/09envc891.pdf.

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Birch, Elisa Rose. "The determinants of labour supply and fertility behaviour : a study of Australian women." UWA Business School, 2005. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2005.0061.

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There are many potential determinants of women?s labour supply including wages, unearned income, human capital endowments, demographic characteristics and family traits. Fertility behaviour, including the number of children and age of children, is also an important factor in women’s labour supply decisions. Many factors which affect women’s decisions on participating in the labour market and hours of work are also key influences on their decisions on starting a family and having a desired number of children. This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the determinants of labour supply and fertility behaviour of Australian women. Using cross-sectional data, labour supply models corrected for sample selection bias, and fertility models examining different aspects of family size, the thesis finds that women’s labour supply decisions are largely influenced by their wages and fertility behaviour. Their decisions on completed fertility, starting a family and having additional children are largely influenced by their actual or potential wages.

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Watters-Cowan, Ch??rie School of Music &amp Music Education UNSW. "Reconstructing the creative life of Australian composer Margaret Sutherland: the evidence of primary source documents." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Music and Music Education, 2006. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/24913.

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Margaret Ada Sutherland (1897-1984) is respected as one of the leading musicians in Australia in the twentieth century. She is widely recognised as having made significant contributions to the development of Australian musical composition and contemporary creative life. While a significant body of scholarly work has been completed on Sutherland and while it is varied in scope and purpose, to date, no study has been undertaken with a strong focus on the identification and examination of primary sources relating to Sutherland. Research on Sutherland and her creative life has been consistently hampered by problems such as numerous lacunae in the composer???s corpus of works and the transmission of errors from one study to the next. It is the thesis of this study that these problems can be addressed by a reevaluation of all previously-used primary documents as well as the study of newlyfound primary source material: returning to primary sources has uncovered a considerable amount of material, both by and about the composer, which has remained previously unexplored. In order to address omissions in Sutherland???s work list, the starting point for the current study is the compilation of a thorough catalogue of works which incorporates all known compositions by Sutherland. This catalogue is derived from the collation of comprehensive primary source material. Further to this, the close examination of extensive primary sources relating to Sutherland???s life and music provides insights into aspects of the contemporary musical network in which she worked and also into the particular problems she encountered as a female composer in a geographically isolated country. The diversity of her achievements is also illuminated. The resources used in this thesis provide the material which will enhance, augment, and sometimes offer new perspectives relating to the current understanding of Sutherland???s creative life. Thus, Sutherland???s contribution to Australian music can be more deeply understood.

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Tibe-Bonifacio, Glenda Lynna Anne. "Filipino women and their citizenship in Australia in search of political space /." Access electronically, 2003. http://www.library.uow.edu.au/adt-NWU/public/adt-NWU20041222.122054.

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Holubowycz, Oksana T. "An Australian study of alcohol dependence in women : the significance of sex role identity, life event stress, social support, and other factors." Title page, contents and summary only, 1988. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phh7585.pdf.

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Samani, Shamim Ekbal. "Muslim women responding to globalization: Australian and Kenyan narratives." Thesis, Curtin University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2567.

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The cultural determinism summoned in the discourse on the ‘war on terror’ embraces gender frames that invigorate the Islam and the West divide. In a vacuum of historical, geo-political and economic contexts, such frames conjure a Muslim woman archetype in opposition to Western conceptualizations of modernity. Ignoring the social milieu, as well as the current global transformations affecting people’s lives globally, conjectures in singular co-optations that isolate traits from religious dispositions have implications in how Muslim gender issues are perceived and addressed.This thesis intends to reconceptualize the Muslim woman image in an attempt to move beyond the gender polemics of cultural determinism and divide. Using narrative enquiry, the study makes a comparative analysis to discover how Muslim women in two disparate societies – Australia and Kenya are responding to the dynamics of change accelerated by globalization. Through primary research, it captures the narratives of 40 women along the axis of the two major influences on their lives - modernization and Islamization enhanced by globalization. In tracing the way global paradigms and policy changes at the macro-level have affected Muslim women and the responses produced, it provides an unconventional frame to view the lives of contemporary Muslim women.The study contends that in general, the issues facing Muslim women in the rapidly changing environment can be understood as challenges internal and external to faith orientation. On the one hand, the forces of a modern global culture offer opportunities and channels to redefine aspects of daily living and lifestyles. On the other, a resurgence of Islam manifests itself in an assertion of religious observance, cultural identity, values and morality that increasingly question these settings. The challenges are not confined to minorities in the West, but also borne by many in non-Western societies. Through its research findings, the study proposes that culture in itself is not immutable or a constant, but cultural expression is a vital part of utilizing opportunities availed by development and central to the process of development itself. As the means of comprehension without which life, lifestyles, objectives, aspirations and much more cannot be expressed, given meaning or be implemented, cultural expression is a vital aspect of human development. Accommodating these in the multicultural settings of contemporary environments is evermore salient in the globalized world.As the world becomes more interdependent, the challenges for a global society manifest in how societies organize themselves; how citizens participate and how decisions on collective issues can be more congruent to facilitate a more socially sustainable development. Through its schedule, the study attempts to provide an insight into the issues and challenges facing Muslim women in contemporary times and in the course of its findings makes a case for the value of diversity, cultural expression and a sustained representation of Muslim women within development issues.

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Ottley, Dianne. "Grace Crowley's contribution to Australian modernism and geometric abstraction." University of Sydney, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/2254.

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Master of Philosophy
Grace Crowley was one of the leading innovators of geometric abstraction in Australia. When she returned to Australia in 1930 she had thoroughly mastered the complex mathematics and geometry of the golden section and dynamic symmetry that had become one of the frameworks for modernism. Crowley, Anne Dangar and Dorrit Black all studied under the foremost teacher of modernism in Paris, André Lhote. Crowley not only taught the golden section and dynamic symmetry to Rah Fizelle, Ralph Balson and students of the Crowley-Fizelle Art School, but used it to develop her own abstract art during the 1940s and 1950s, well in advance of the arrival of colour-field painting to Australia in the 1960s. Through her teaching at the most progressive modern art school in Sydney in the 1930s Crowley taught the basic compositional techniques as she had learnt them from Lhote. When the art school closed in 1937 she worked in partnership with fellow artist, Ralph Balson as they developed their art into constructive, abstract paintings. Balson has been credited with being the most influential painter in the development of geometric abstraction in Australia for a younger generation of artists. This is largely due to Crowley’s insistence that Balson was the major innovator who led her into abstraction. She consistently refused to take credit for her own role in their artistic partnership. My research indicates that there were a number of factors that strongly influenced Crowley to support Balson and deny her own role. Her archives contain sensitive records of the breakup of her partnership with Rah Fizelle and the closure of the Crowley-Fizelle Art School. These, and other archival material, indicate that Fizelle’s inability to master and teach the golden section and dynamic symmetry, and Crowley’s greater popularity as a teacher, was the real cause of the closure of the School. Crowley left notes in her Archives that she still felt deeply distressed, even forty years after the events, and did not wish the circumstances of the closure known in her lifetime. With the closure of the Art School and her close friend Dangar living in France, her friendship with Balson offered a way forward. This thesis argues that Crowley chose to conceal her considerable mathematical and geometric ability, rather than risk losing another friend and artistic partner in a similar way to the breakup of the partnership with Fizelle. With the death of her father in this period, she needed to spend much time caring for her mother and that left her little time for painting. She later also said she felt that a man had a better chance of gaining acceptance as an artist, but it is equally true that, without Dangar, she had no-one to give her support or encourage her as an artist. By supporting Balson she was able to provide him with a place to work in her studio and had a friend with whom she could share her own passion for art, as she had done with Dangar. During her long friendship with Balson, she painted with him and gave him opportunities to develop his talents, which he could not have accessed without her. She taught him, by discreet practical demonstration the principles she had learnt from Lhote about composition. He had only attended the sketch club associated with the Crowley- Fizelle Art School. Together they discussed and planned their paintings from the late 1930s and worked together on abstract paintings until the mid-1950s when, in his retirement from house-painting, she provided him with a quiet, secluded place in which to paint and experiment with new techniques. With her own artistic contacts in France, she gained him international recognition as an abstract painter and his own solo exhibition in a leading Paris art gallery. After his death in 1964, she continued to promote his art to curators and researchers, recording his life and art for posterity. The artist with whom she studied modernism in Paris, Anne Dangar, also received her lifelong support and promotion. In the last decade of her life Crowley provided detailed information to curators and art historians on the lives of both her friends, Dangar and Balson, meticulously keeping accurate records of theirs and her own life devoted to art. In her latter years she arranged to deposit these records in public institutions, thus becoming a contributor to Australian art history. As a result of this foresight, the stories of both her friends, Balson and Dangar, have since become a record of Australian art history. (PLEASE NOTE: Some illustrations in this thesis have been removed due to copyright restrictions, but may be consulted in the print version held in the Fisher Library, University of Sydney. APPENDIX 1 gratefully supplied from the Grace Crowley Archives, Art Gallery of New South Wales Research Library)

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Pini, Barbara. "From the paddock to the boardroom: The gendered path to agricultural leadership in the Australian sugar industry." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2001. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/36642/1/36642_Digitised%20Thesis.pdf.

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The most recurrent theme in the early literature on women and farming is of women's invisibility. By the end of the 1990s, however, an important shift had occurred with farm women's increased visibility. Two international conferences had been held on women and agriculture, numerous rural women's groups had been formed across the world and a substantial literature had emerged documenting women's role and work on farms. However, despite the increased prominence given to the private lives of women farmers, they are still largely unrepresented in the public sphere of agriculture. In the Australian cane industry, for example, women hold none of the 181 elected positions of leadership in their agri-political group, CANEGROWERS. This anomaly between what we now know about women's important role in farming and their absence from decision-making positions in the sector, has shifted the focus of academic work on women and agriculture from examining family farming to studies of organisational culture and leadership. This thesis contributes to this shift in academic focus by reporting on an in-depth study of a single agri-political organisation, the Australian sugar industry's, CANEGROWERS. Its significance is that it makes important and critical links between the gendered processes and practices on the farm and the gendered processes and practices of the agri-political group. In both metaphorical and real terms it makes links between the 'paddock' and the 'board room'. This research derives its feminist perspective from a commitment to five key principles. These are focusing on women, valuing women's experiences and knowledge, rejecting the split between subject and object, emphasising consciousness raising and emphasising political change and emancipation. The research design includes both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. A case study of CANEGROWERS using in-depth interviews with fifteen elected members, participant observation and document analysis, provides contextual data on the organisation and its practices and processes. A survey of 234 women involved in the industry gives a quantitative perspective on the nature of women's farm work, the barriers to their participation in CANEGROWERS and possible strategies to facilitate greater participation. Two final case studies of the district locations of Mackay and the Herbert River are used to present a descriptive and localised understanding of the issues. Both case studies use a range of methods including focus groups with forty women, in-depth interviews with CANEGROWERS' staff members and women who have stood for election, participant observation and document analysis. The main finding that emerges from this thesis is that the path to leadership within the agri-political group CANEGROWERS is subjective, closed and distinctly gendered. This is in distinct contrast to the way it is represented by elected members and some CANEGROWERS' staff as a process which is objective, open and gender neutral. This gendered path to leadership begins with how the notion of farmer is constructed solely in terms of the on-farm physical work undertaken largely by men. Thus; importantly, women's work on sugar cane farms, what they do and what they do not do, is intricately connected with their level of participation in the organisation CANEGROWERS. The research provides evidence of the fact that women are actively involved on sugar cane farms performing a myriad of roles which contribute to the industry's sustainability. However, the roles they perform and the knowledge needed to conduct these roles are not valued. What work and knowledge is valued is that relating to on-farm physical labour. Despite the popular and mainstream rhetoric about the need for new types of farming and new types of farmers, there persists across the industry a view that the farmer is involved solely (or most importantly) in physical work and it is this which is given status. To be a farmer is to do physical work and to do physical work is to be a male. Furthermore, having legitimacy within the industry as an elected leader is equated with one's status as a farmer and the knowledge one has as a result of participation in on-farm physical work. Thus, while elected members cite the importance of having a diversity of knowledge to make up an effective agri-political board, the knowledge to which they refer is extremely narrow. The knowledge that women might have, for example, as a result of their high level of participation in financial management, is not afforded the same status and therefore does not entitle them to be a contender for industry leadership. Even on those few occasions in the sugar industry, where; because of their involvement in physical work, women have seen themselves as having a right to stand as an elected member, the gendered path to leadership continues to militate against their involvement. They are told to be visible in an industry where women are seldom seen, in an industry which rarely gives visibility to the work they do or the knowledge they have and in an industry where their contribution as partners in a farming enterprise does not necessarily entitle them to :franchise in the organisation. In addition, women do not have access to the same opportunities as men for demonstrating their visibility because the types of forums where visibility is judged (such as at industry meetings) are the very forums where women report their presence as being either denigrated or questioned. An understanding of rural culture provides further insight into the gendered nature of visibility and the way in which men's visibility is judged very differently from women's visibility. Within this culture, a woman who does demonstrate visibility may find herself censured by both women and men for operating against the status quo. The gendered path to leadership within CANEGROWERS culminates in both the definition and application of merit. While the term is purported by CANEGROWERS' elected members to be gender neutral an examination of the many extraneous factors which impact on the electoral process and the way in which they have differential meanings for women and men indicate that this is not the case. These factors include lack of options, longevity in office, grooming for office, the concept of tradition and family name, popularity, appointments outside of election, the conservatism of the constituency and protocol. Ultimately, within the organisation CANEGROWERS, merit has been equated with being a male. The research concludes that, while very few strategies have been initiated by CANEGROWERS to address the question of women's representation, there is some possibility for change in industry-based networks for women. These networks have the potential to challenge homogeneous and androcentric constructions of terms such as 'knowledge' and 'merit' and the potential to give women the confidence, space and opportunity to be 'visible'. Unfortunately, the findings indicate that there has been a high level of resistance to these networks. The resistance has characterised the involvement of women as a divisive force for families, communities and the broader industry. The potency of this discourse in terms of limiting women's involvement in networks is evident when one appreciates the way in which farm women so often subjugate their own needs to ensure that harmonious relationships are maintained. Overall, to be a successful force for positive change, sugar industry networks for women must be seen as legitimate forums for women to practice industry leadership, must be given unequivocal support from industry leaders and must be adequately resourced by the organisation. Most importantly, the formation of these networks must not be viewed as absolving the organisation from any need to make changes to its culture, processes and practices. The aim must be to make CANEGROWERS not just a 'men's organisation' as it was so often described in this research, with women's networks on the margins, but an organisation where both men and women can participate fully and equally. It would be unjust and inexcusable if CANEGROWERS' commitment to this research was used to suggest that impediments to women achieving leadership positions exist only in the sugar industry. The evidence that is available from the broader studies cited above is that this is not the case. What is different about CANEGROWERS is that they have commissioned research which has examined the nature of the culture and the construction of merit within the industry. That other agricultural industry groups have not cannot be used to suggest that CANEGROWERS or the sugar industry are particularly different from other agencies or industries. It is likely that very similar cultural constraints exist within their own agencies and industries. At the same time, knowing that women are likely to experience difficulties in participating in leadership in other agricultural agencies does not excuse or justify women's lack of inclusion in CANEGROWERS. This merely indicates that the entire agricultural sector needs to work harder to achieve greater diversity in representative decision-making positions.

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Gopalkrishnan, Caroline, and n/a. "The Colours of Diversity: Women Educators Turning the Gaze onto Australian Universities." University of Canberra. Education & Community Studies, 2006. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20081009.095141.

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The internationalisation of universities has attracted significant political and even media attention, as well as internal focus. Concurrently, global discourses evolving around the notion of borders, terrorism, security and identity have taken on a renewed significance. Today, the articulation of identities has significant and even dire consequences for many people living in different parts of the world. In Australia, too, the matter of what it means to be ethnic, indigenous, non-indigenous or mixed-race is highly contested, controversial and for some groups of people, in particular contexts, even dangerous. In Australian higher education, the term international is commonly used to refer to the other - citizens of other countries (including those who visit our educational institutions). They are seen as the global citizens and we are not. Cultural diversity is widely celebrated and legislated through the Commonwealth Government?s Living in Harmony policy. Yet there is a dearth of knowledge and/or discussion around members of staff who are different in our own universities. This raises questions about how we come to differentiate between us and them in an Australian socio-historical context, understanding how race and ethnic difference is made salient in identification, and the knowledge production process. This is a small-scale, in-depth qualitative study, which addresses a significant gap in the literature on higher education by focusing on the experiences of four women educators of colour, each of whom has brought with her a complex collage of diasporic experiences, histories, identities and ways of knowing. By employing a multi-race/ethnic dialogic methodology and a research conversation method, the study presents the women?s experiences in narrative form, integrating the autoethnographic writing of the researcher with the women?s stories about difference. The inquiry provides new insights into what race and ethnic identity mean to the women in an everyday, professional and ethical practice context. The women?s stories are not of the traditional career or romantic multicultural kind, but reach into the realms of the personal, political, philosophical and spiritual dimensions of human experience. As they traverse the political terrain of the Academy, the women have looked within and outside the university, navigating multiple identities to make sense of their work. By documenting four women?s experiences that have never been documented before, this small-scale study provides basic research for others to build on. This research affirms the salience of race and ethnicity in the university and the new higher education knowledge creation ethos. The study reveals there is little current evidence that Australian universities are capitalising on and applying opportunities provided by research on race, ethnicity and difference to higher education debate and reform. The women?s stories reveal that the issue of under-representation of women of colour is not unique to the university, but is reflective of the powerful and constitutive impact of discourses of race and difference in Australian society. By highlighting the issues of who has the power and authority in the university to determine what counts as a valid identity and how identity and knowledge boundaries are policed within the Australian university, this research raises questions about the wider implications of epistemological racism embedded in university practices in relation to governance, curriculum, policy, teaching and learning. Through its development and exploration of a multiple race and ethnic dialogic methodology, and the use of research conversations as a method, the study sheds new light on the complexities of Australian race politics in knowledge production and on women?s differentiated experiences in higher education.

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Delahunty, Susan. "Portraits of Middle Eastern Gulf female students in Australian universities." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2013. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/585.

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This research explores the experiences and insights of ten Middle Eastern Gulf women as they cross international borders to study in Australian universities. The literature indicates that international students in Australia establish their identity within the context of their overseas existence. This is particularly important as Muslims may feel they are being placed in a precarious situation due to, more often than not, terrorism being linked to Islam. Also, when Muslim women wear Islamic or traditional attire, the general public tends to look upon them with curiosity. With this in mind, the complex and changed contexts faced by ten Middle Eastern Gulf female post-graduate students are investigated using qualitative research methods. Utilising a grounded theory approach to interpret data and identify themes from two online questionnaires and personal interviews, individual portraits are created to illuminate their experiences. The research findings reveal new knowledge indicating that education is a structured mechanism for the participants, resulting in the creation of a new hybrid self as a key instrument for survival. This enables them to better understand cultural contexts and barriers arising from class, tradition, religion and learning. The participants indicate that a two-way agreement between educators and learners is paramount to a smooth transition into the Australian education system and a positive return to their home communities.

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Leslie, Lana. "Body perceptions of Western Australian female group fitness instructors and the influence of the workplace." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2002. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/712.

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Group fitness instructors work in an environment that promotes the often unattainable pursuit of an ideal body shape. The fitness centre often displays pictures of slim body shapes on the walls and sells goods and services that relate to weight loss and the improvement of the appearance. The instructors are part of this environment that promotes ideal body shapes, and they arc often seen as role models of health, fitness and slimness. It is possible that instructors arc under pressure to attain or maintain an ideal body shape, to be consistent with what their work environment represents. The purpose of this study was to explore workplace influences on the body perceptions of female group fitness instructors. This exploration gathered perceptions held by female group fitness instructors of their body perception and their work settings. Data were collected from female group fitness instructors working in and around Perth, Western Australia, using two methods. First, interviews with six female instructors explored body perception issues and workplace influence. Second, a survey based on interview results was conducted. to confirm the extent of instructors' views on workplace influences. Two hundred and nine questionnaires were distributed, with sixty-eight replies, a response rate of 32.5 percent. Most of the women had a positive body perception, and were satisfied with their body shapes and weight. Although satisfied. many stated they wished they could change certain body parts if they could, such as have a flatter abdominal area. There were several influences on body perception, the most interesting was the influence of the fitness industry. The women believed that their participants and their employers expected them to maintain a slim body shape in their role as an instructor. Although they felt that their employers did not mind overweight instructors. interestingly they also believed their employers favoured lean instructors. Some of the women stated that looking at and comparing themselves to other instructors also influenced their body perception, at times making them feel fat. The women stated that management practices did not largely influence their body perception. They believed that recruitment was not based on appearance, and that wearing uniforms of tight Lycra was beneficial to show their body movements efficiently. The selling of body improvement products at fitness centres did not appear to concern the women, most accepted their existence as a normal practice. The physical environment (large mirrors and pictures of slim body shapes) did not largely influence the body perception of the instructors. In fact, the majority of instructors liked the mirrors, as they were a teaching resource. The pictures of slim body shapes also inspired the instructors. Only a small number of instructors were negative towards the mirrors and pictures. The profile of the women in the study had results that indicated that the women engaged in large amounts of exercise. The average instructor taught over seven classes per week and also did an additional 6 to 7 hours of exercise per week in their own time. These figures indicate that instructors are exercising over 200 percent of the Australian recommended guidelines. This study suggests that the physical environment does not largely influence the body perception of female group fitness instructors. This study does suggest, however, that female instructors maintain or attain an ideal body shape in an effort to live up to expectations of others, such as employers, participants and other instructors. They do this by engaging in large amounts of exercise and attention to their diet regime.

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Reid, Helen M. J. "Age of transition : a study of South Australian private girls' schools 1875-1925 /." Title page, contents and abstract only, 1996. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phr3545.pdf.

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Ross-Smith, Anne. "Women who manage women's experience as managers in contemporary Australian organisations : implications for the discourse of management and organisation(s) /." Phd thesis, Australia : Macquarie University, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/26116.

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Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Graduate School of Management, 1999.
Bibliography: leaves 353-372.
Introduction and thesis overview -- A clarification of how common terms and key concepts within managerial and organisational discourse are interpreted within the thesis -- Theoretical and philosophical concerns: gender and the discourse of management and organisation(s) -- Contextualising the research: an overview of social, political, economic/business organisational conditions in contemporary Australia and review of literature germane to the empirical research studies -- Research methodology, judgement criteria and framework for analysis and representation -- Women managers: day to day managerial work and behaviour: ethnographic/participant observation studies -- Women's perceptions of their experience as managers: the interview studies -- Conclusions and thesis summary.
This thesis investigates the managerial experience of senior women in contemporary Australian public and private sector organisations and explores the implications this investigation has in relation to the discourse of management and organisation(s). -- The thesis proposes that although women have gained a presence in the ranks of senior management in the last twenty years, they continue to remain marginal to the discourse of management and organisation(s). The reason for this, it is argued, is because of the preoccupation this discourse has with conceptions of rationality and masculinity. This proposition is elaborated in the thesis by tracing the philosophical and sociological interpretations of reason and rationality from ancient Greek philosophy to its embodiment in the contemporary discourse of management and organisation(s). -- Whether for biological, social or psychological reasons, it can be argued that men and women are 'different'. A further proposition, therefore, is that they will have a 'different' experience as managers. On the basis of this proposal, the thesis evaluates contemporary theories of gender and sexual difference, but stops short of defining 'difference' specifically with regard to women's experience as managers. Instead, it allows the empirical research to determine what it is that constitutes 'difference' in such a context. -- The empirical component of the thesis seeks to develop an understanding of how senior women managers in contemporary Australian organisations both experience and interpret their experience in management. This is achieved by the use of two different, but complementary studies. Using an ethnographic/participant observation case study approach, the first of these investigates the day to day managerial activities, over time, of two senior women managers, one from the private and one from the public sector. The second component of the empirical research involves as series of in depth interviews with forty senior women managers in Australian public and private sector organisations, together with a small number of interviews with their immediate superiors and subordinates, and observation, by the researcher, of their workplaces. The location of the empirical research in the late 20th century, some twenty years or so after women started to enter the ranks of management in Australia, allows for a reflection on women's progress in management in this country during this period. It also allows for contemporary social and organisational conditions in Australia to be a consideration in evaluating the research participant's managerial experience. The thesis, therefore, links the empirical research findings to Australian literature and research on women and management, current social trends in this country, characteristics of the Australian business culture, Australian managementand the Australian manager.
The research framework utilised in the thesis is informed by critical, feminist and postmodern approaches to organisational analysis. For this reason the Deetz (1994) schema, which defines organisational reserch from the perspective of four differing discursive spaces - dialog, critical, interpretive and normative is utilised to locate the research orientation of the empirical studies. This schema recognises that overlap between the four discursive spaces is possible and thus can accommodate insights from each of the above mentioned approaches, as well as areas of overlap between them. -- The principal research findings suggest, in summary, that women in senior management in Australia largely conform to the traditional (masculine) norms that are deeply embedded in the discourse of management and organisation(s) and in managerial practice, yet at the same time, they consider themselves to be 'different'. A feminist interpretation of Social Contract theory, together with a feminist analysis of Foucault's (1988) notion of an 'ethics' of the self and the link between this notion and non essentialist feminist theory are used in the discussion of the empirical research findings to construct an interpretation of 'difference' as it applies to women's managerial experience. -- The contribution to knowledge in the field of organisational analysis that the thesis seeks to make includes: adding new grounded empirical research whcih uses alternative approaches to organisational understanding; providing a comprehensive analysis of the philosophical and sociological underpinnings of the relationship between management, rationality and masculinity; providing a platform for future policy development and organisational practice, and adding a perspective on contemporary managerial practice and organisation conditions against which to gauge classical studies of managerial work and behaviour. -- Finally, the thesis can also be seen to provide additional insights into recent critiques of essentialist feminsit theory and the 'feminisation of management'/female advantage literature.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
x, 376, [9] leaves

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Byrne, Margaret Mary, and University of Western Sydney. "Workplace meetings and the silencing of women : an investigation of women and men's different communication styles and how these influence perceptions of leadership capability within Australian organisations." THESIS_XXX_XXX_Byrne_M.xml, 2004. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/667.

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The aim of this thesis is to investigate how the distribution and function of talk in workplace meetings contributes to differential outcomes for women and men in Australian organisations. This study explores how patterns of male advantage and female disadvantage are reproduced in workplace meetings through the different communication styles which tend to be employed by men and women, and through the way that these different performances are judged. Workplace meetings emerge as a critical site where leadership potential is identified yet, it is argued, men and women do not meet as equals when they meet at work. The thesis includes an evaluation of the current literature on women's and men's communication styles, and the findings of the present study are discussed in terms of the extent to which they correlate with or diverge from existing views. The implications for social change are explored and recommendations provided for the consideration of organisations seeking to broaden the pool of talent from which future leaders are drawn.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Venn, Danielle. "Work timing arrangements in Australia in the 1990s : evidence from the Australian time use survey /." Connect to thesis, 2004. http://eprints.unimelb.edu.au/archive/00000812.

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Bates, Judy. "Understanding Gender in an Australian Trade Union. An Analysis Using Joan Ackers Theory of Gendered Organizations." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/17229.

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ABSTRACT: Profoundly impactful and enduring, Joan Acker’s framework of gendering processes is among the most influential and highly cited in feminist organization studies. Nonetheless, it has been rarely applied, only partially so in the majority of cases and never operationalised fully in a union. This thesis applies the framework, operating through all five dimensions, to one atypical Australian union, having women in three of the most senior elected positions. It seeks to understand the gendering assumptions and practices that construct, maintain and frame the underlying relations in its structures. Voice centred relational analysis was used to examine life history interviews with women and men and my own in-depth ethnographic account of organizational life. The analysis suggests that the union was infused with a particularly authoritarian hegemonic masculinity but that this was hidden from public view. In this context, having women in senior positions worked to disguise continuing inequalities. The major contribution of this study is the in-depth understanding of gender in the context of an Australian union, through what is a rare and insightful application of Joan Acker’s framework for analysing gendered organizations in its entirety.
The full text will be available at the end of the embargo, 17th July 2024

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Merkes, Monika, and monika@melbpc org au. "A longer working life for Australian women of the baby boom generation? � Women�s voices and the social policy implications of an ageing female workforce." La Trobe University. School of Public Health, 2003. http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au./thesis/public/adt-LTU20051103.104704.

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With an increasing proportion of older people in the Australian population and increasing health and longevity, paid work after the age of 65 years may become an option or a necessity in the future. The focus of this research is on Australian women of the baby boom generation, their working futures, and the work-retirement decision. This is explored both from the viewpoint of women and from a social policy perspective. The research draws on Considine�s model of public policy, futures studies, and Beck�s concept of risk society. The research comprises three studies. Using focus group research, Study 1 explored the views of Australian women of the baby boom generation on work after the age of 65 years. Study 2 aimed to explore current thinking on the research topic in Australia and overseas. Computer-mediated communication involving an Internet website and four scenarios for the year 2020 were used for this study. Study 3 consists of the analysis of quantitative data from the Healthy Retirement Project, focusing on attitudes towards retirement, retirement plans, and the preferred and expected age of retirement. The importance of choice and a work � life balance emerged throughout the research. Women in high-status occupations were found to be more likely to be open to the option of continuing paid work beyond age 65 than women in low-status jobs. However, the women were equally likely to embrace future volunteering. The research findings suggest that policies for an ageing female workforce should be based on the values of inclusiveness, fairness, self-determination, and social justice, and address issues of workplace flexibility, equality in the workplace, recognition for unpaid community and caring work, opportunities for life-long learning, complexity and inequities of the superannuation system, and planning for retirement. Further, providing a guaranteed minimum income for all Australians should be explored as a viable alternative to the current social security system.

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Austin, Nicole. "Vitamin D, neuromuscular control and falling episodes in Australian postmenopausal women." University of Western Australia. School of Medicine and Pharmacology, 2009. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2010.0009.

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Falls in the older population have devastating consequences on the psychological and physiological health of the individual. Due to the complexity of interacting factors associated with ageing, pathology and falling episodes, determination of a primary cause or set of causes has been difficult to establish. Deficits in components of neuromuscular control have been widely studied with the coordinated interaction of sensory and motor system components being presented as a fundamental factor in the reduction of falling episodes. A causal relationship between deficits in vitamin D status and falling episodes has also been suggested. Furthermore, a relationship between poor vitamin D status, falling episodes and poor neuromuscular performance has been reported. The aims of the current study were designed to advance understanding in three aspects of the problem of falls prevention. Firstly an examination of the reliability of testing procedures commonly used in assessment of falls risk was undertaken. The Physiological Profile Assessment (PPA) testing procedure was selected as a commonly used tool and the reliability of its various components (sensory, motor and balance) was undertaken as an independent assessment of this approach to assessing falls propensity. Secondly, a case control study of fallers and non fallers was undertaken in which the neuromuscular tests evaluated in the reliability study were used to assess differences in neuromuscular control. The influence of vitamin D status on these measures was also considered. Thirdly, a 12-month randomised controlled trial of vitamin D/calcium supplementation or placebo/calcium was undertaken to identify the effect on falls outcome and individual measures of neuromuscular control.

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Tormey, Anne. "The beatification of Mary MacKillop: What it reveals of experiences of women in the contemporary Australian Catholic Church." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1998. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/982.

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The Christian faith in its Catholic expression continues to give meaning and direction to the lives of many contemporary Australian women. Nevertheless, for many women conscientised to the reality of patriarchal sexism the experience of belonging in the church is one of recurring struggle, Mary MacKillop in the nineteenth century cofounded the Sisters of St Joseph to address the educational needs of poor children in isolated areas of Australia. Her tenacity in maintaining a degree of autonomy for her institute led to her excommunication a11d to subsequent painful experiences of opposition from male ecclesiastics. In her lifetime she was regarded us a saint. Her beatification in Sydney by Pope John Paul II in January 1995 was a national, as well as a civic and religious event. My thesis is that her beatification mirrors even as it appears to contest the marginalised place of women in the Australian Catholic Church. This study approaches the beatification of Mary MacKillop through the interpretive lens of feminist philosophy and Christian feminist theology. In exploring the ways in which the event reveals both subtle and overt forms of patriarchal sexism operative within the contemporary Australian Catholic Church it utilises qualitative research methods. An analysis of the interview data of Catholic women selected from varied backgrounds, from different parts of Australia is central to the study, because the experience of these women constitutes a key theological resource. Written and visual documentary accounts of the event arc also analysed. This research identifies some of the major sites of struggle for women in the church. It also signals that there is a gap between papal conceptions of Christian womanhood and women's actual experience of what has been and what continues to be influential for them. The evidence reveals that this national, civic and religious event was primarily due to the agency of the Sisters of St Joseph. It raised awareness within their institute of the difficulties and challenges for women in the church and of the wide concern with spiritual issues within Australian society. The public liturgy to celebrate the beatification of Mary MacKillop conveyed powerful but conflicting messages for many women. Women interviewed in this study vary in their interpretation of the beatification. Many have major difficulty with the whole concept of sainthood, the processes of canonisation, the publicity and commercialisation associated with the beatification and the role of the Pope within it, given his theology in relation to women. Their resistance however was restrained by the desire not to diminish in any way Mary MacKillop in the past, nor the Sisters of St Joseph in the present. Most of them concur that overall the promotion of this woman was for the good. For most of the women in this study, their role models are not saints, but contemporary women, or women they have known through mutual relationship. Their awareness that patriarchal sexism constitutes a major distortion of the gospel of Jesus Christ leads some women to question their own forms r collusion. Many women seek new ways to express their faith and to deepen their spiritual search, while continuing to claim their Catholic identity.

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Zevallos, Zuleyka, and zzevallos@swin edu au. "'You have to be Anglo and not look like me' : identity constructions of second generation migrant-Australian women." Swinburne University of Technology, 2004. http://adt.lib.swin.edu.au./public/adt-VSWT20050323.142704.

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My thesis explores the social construction of identity of 50 second generation migrant-Australian women aged 17 to 28 years using a qualitative methodology. I conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 25 women from Latin American backgrounds and 25 women from Turkish backgrounds. My study investigated the intersections of ethnicity, gender, sexuality and nationality. I found that the Latin women constructed their ethnic culture in reference to their country-of-origin traditions, and that they also identified with a pan-ethnic Latin culture that included migrants from other South and Central America countries. I found that the Turkish women constructed Turkish culture in reference to their religious practices, and they saw themselves as �Muslim-Turks� who identified with an Islamic pan-ethnic culture that included Muslim migrants from different national backgrounds. The women in both groups drew upon Anglo-Australian culture when it came to their gender and sexuality constructions. The Latin and Turkish women did not see themselves as �typical� women from their migrant communities. Instead, their sense of femininity was informed by what they saw as Australian egalitarianism. The women in both groups saw Anglo-Australians� gender relationships as an ideal, and as one woman said of Anglo-Australians, �how much more equal can you can get?� The women�s social construction of the nation was equally influenced by multiculturalism and an Anglo-Australian identity. They highly valued their Australian citizenship and felt positive about their lives in Australia. At the same time, they had faced ongoing racism and they reported that other people judged their Australian identities through racial characteristics. One woman said that in order for people to be accepted as Australian, �you have to be Anglo and not look like me�. Despite this sense of social exclusion, the majority of my sample held hybrid migrant-Australian identities. I develop a threefold typology of the women�s identities, and I found that 13 women did not see themselves as Australian, 36 women saw themselves as partly-Australian, and one woman held an exclusively Australian identity. I argue that narratives of multiculturalism and Anglo-Australian identity influenced the women�s social construction of identity. Their belief that Australian identity was multicultural was at odds with their experiences of racism and their own self identities, and so I examine the women�s beliefs in reference to an �ideology of multiculturalism�. This ideology supported the women�s contribution to the nation as second generation migrants, and ultimately, they expressed an unwavering support for Australian multiculturalism.

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Coulehan, Kerin Maureen. "Sitting down in Darwin: Yolngu women from northeast Arnhem Land and family life in the city." Phd thesis, Northern Territory University, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/268621.

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Lien, Debbie A. "The prediction of antenatal and postnatal depression in a sample of Western Australian women." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2007. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1558.

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In Australia, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS; Cox, Holden & Sagovsky, 1987) has been increasingly used to screen for antenatal depression prior to its evaluation on a sample of Australian pregnant women. Also, the identification of predictors associated with antenatal depression has been neglected relative to the research focus on postpartum depression. An aim of the study was to evaluate the antenatal screening properties of the EPDS against diagnoses of major depression with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI; Sheehan eta!., 1998). The aims were also to develop predictive models of risk factors associated with antenatal depression as measured by: (a) diagnosis of major depression (MINI); (b) depressive symptoms (EPDS 2: 9); (c) depression false positive results (EPDS 2:9, but no MINI diagnosis of major depression); and (d) depression level (EPDS total score) in the antenatal and early postnatal period. The study was prospective in design, with 200 women enrolled from Western Australia's largest public maternity hospital. An EPDS 2: 12 was identified to be optimum for the clinical screening of major depression at 32 weeks of pregnancy. The results from the different regression analyses showed that the strongest predictors of antenatal depression were: depression earlier in pregnancy, anxiety, stress, daily hassles, expectations of support, personality traits, and history variables. The findings were in support of routine screening for depression and anxiety during pregnancy, the effects of stress on mood, and the lesser importance of antenatal compared to postnatal variables in accounting for postpartum depression level.

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Ben, Harush Orit Rivka. "Communicating friendships : a case study of women in an Australian 'seachange' town." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2011. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/41494/1/Orit_Ben_Harush_Thesis.pdf.

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This thesis proposes =friendworks‘ as an important sub-group of social networks, comprised of networks of friends. It investigates friendworks of a particular group of adult Australian women as a way of understanding neglected aspects of social networking practices. Friendworks are contextualised to highlight two main themes of interest: population mobility and communication practices. The impact of relocation on individuals, local communities and the wider society is explored through a case study of female friendworks in a seachange community. Research findings point to the importance of friendworks in building and cohering social and emotional support, well-being, belonging and senses of place and community. Different types of communication methods were used by research participants for mediating different kinds of social ties within the friendworks considered here. Communication patterns were influenced by geographical proximity to friends, and the type of social support required of them (emotional, instrumental or companionship). Most findings were consistent with broader social patterns of communication. For example, face-to-face interactions were the dominant and most favoured communication method between local friends, regardless of whether they were weak or strong ties. The fixed-telephone and the internet were commonly in use to maintain old and geographically distant social ties, while mobile phones were used the least among friends in comparison with other communication methods. The key finding of this thesis is that friendworks are an extremely important solid network in contemporary society, providing mooring relations in a mobile world. Paradoxically, however, for women in this study, the mobile phone, which is popularly perceived as a flexible, multi-purpose communication technology for people on the move, was the least versatile of all technologies for maintaining friendworks. The cost of services was the main inhibitor here. The internet was found to be the most versatile communication technology and was used to support various types of social ties: strong, weak, local and distant. This thesis also highlights the value of the concept of friendworks as well as networks for communication research and policy investigating individuals‘ motivations and practices.

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Li, Ying Qi Winnie. "Evaluation of a modified food frequency questionnaire to measure lignans in Australian men and women." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2015. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1665.

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Phytoestrogens are plant compounds that possess estrogenic and biological properties that have been postulated to protect against chronic diseases. Isoflavonoids and lignans are two main classes of phytoestrogen that have been investigated for their estrogenic efficacy and occurrence in the human diet. Isoflavonoids are found in soy and related products, whereas lignans are found in a wider range of plant-based foods, such as cereals, vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and seeds; and in beverages such as tea, coffee and wine. In Western populations with low dietary intake of soy products, compared to the Asian counterparts, lignans could be a more important and consistent source of phytoestrogens from the diet. Data for the phytoestrogen content in foods are now available, as more recent research has been conducted to quantify content in commonly consumed food choices in Western populations. The collation of these published values has led to the desire to adequately assess lignan intake. The aims of the research were to evaluate the validity and reliability of a phytoestrogen food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) tool, with a reference method, the weighed food record (WFR), and urinary biomarkers, to measure phytoestrogen intake in the Australian context. The phytoestrogen FFQ was updated and refined to align with food groups and dietary patterns in the current Australian Dietary Guidelines, in particular to optimise measurement of lignans from the FFQ, and utilise current databases of lignan content available from direct measurement of lignans in foods. Intake level and contributing food sources of each class of phytoestrogen, and the associations between social and lifestyle characteristics and phytoestrogen intake and urinary biomarker were also explored. This was a cross-sectional study that recruited 59 Australian men and women aged 18 to 67 years at Joondalup campus, Edith Cowan University. Intake of lignans, isoflavonoids and enterolignans from foods was assessed using the 277-item phytoestrogen FFQ and 3-day WFR, and excretion was assessed with urinary biomarkers. Published values of phytoestrogen content in foods were utilised to measure the intakes. Subjects collected three 24-hour urine samples and phytoestrogen concentration was analysed using a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) technique for four lignan subclasses, five isoflavonoids and two enterolignans. Statistical analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS for Windows (SPSS Inc., Version 22 Chicago, IL). Median intake comparisons were assessed with the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Associations between the intake and excretion measurements of two dietary assessment methods were assessed using Spearman’s Rho correlations. Level of agreement between methods was assessed with cross-classification analysis and Bland Altman plots. A triangular comparison between the three methods was conducted with the Method of Triads (MOT) using the software R. The Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA were used to compare the median intakes and excretion across categories of social and lifestyle factors. The FFQ had acceptable convergent validity for intake of total lignans and enterolignans when compared to a WFR, in terms of median intakes (lignans: 3914 versus 4302 μg/day, p=0.09; enterolignans: 54 versus 65 μg/day, p=0.81, respectively); and associations between the two methods (lignans ρ=0.42, p Top contributing food sources of lignans were from the nuts and seeds group (30%), nonalcoholic beverages (19%), and breads and cereals (19%); for enterolignans, from dairy products (86%) followed by nonalcoholic beverages (11%). Soy and related food products were the major contributors (78%) to total isoflavones, followed by breads and cereal products (17%). Female subjects who were Caucasian, were at, or had achieved university education level and took regular commercial dietary supplements, were more likely to have a higher lignan and enterolignan intake and excretion level than subjects with different characteristics. Based on these findings, we conclude that the modified phytoestrogen FFQ is highly reliable. It would be a useful assessment tool for example to rank usual intake of phytoestrogen classes for individuals within a group, or quantify mean intakes between different population groups. It is not acceptably valid or accurate for estimation of individual phytoestrogen status, for example for use in experimental studies or to investigate associations with chronic diseases. The lack of associations between measurement of the FFQ and biomarkers could partly be due to limitations of the FFQ tool, such as recall bias or inaccuracies in the estimation of frequency of intake or portion sizes. They also suggest that urinary biomarkers alone are not sufficient for estimation of phytoestrogen status and that additional biomarkers obtained from faecal and plasma samples should be considered for a more complete picture of phytoestrogen status.

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Gaujers, Regina D. "The impact of the expectations of significant others in the school setting on female leadership in physical education in Western Australian government secondary schools." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1996. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/944.

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This study investigated the impact of the expectations of significant others in the school setting on the promotional aspirations of female physical education teachers in government secondary schools in Western Australia. It explored the ways in which meanings and expectations in the school environment are constructed in relation to wider societal values and ideologies, and how they are negotiated in social settings that are characterised by both constraints and opportunities for action. Despite the equitable proportion of females and males teaching the subject, and the absence of Education Department policy constraints on female promotion since 1972, females remain significantly underrepresented at Head of Department level. In 1995, women held only two (2.7%) of the 73 substantive appointments. The critical paradigm adopted for the study and the research methodology was qualitative. The research design comprised five interrelated and sequential phases. During phase 1, preliminary data was gathered on the perceived essential skills and qualities required by Heads of Department in physical education. Phase 2 involved in-depth interviews in order to document government school female teachers' own accounts of their lives, career aspirations and the expectations of significant others in the context of the school and wider social world; and the accounts of female teachers' significant others with regard to their perceptions and expectations concerning female leadership. During Phase 3, interviews were conducted with female Heads of Department in nongovernment schools to ascertain system differences which may have led to the greater number of these women in the leadership role. Follow-up interviews with the government school female teachers were conducted during phase 4 of the study, and served to clarify and validate findings. Female physical education teachers considering applying for promotion also emerged as a sample group during the course of the study, and these women participated in a group discussion forum. The sample comprised government school female and male physical education teachers and Heads of Department of physical education and nongovernment school female Heads of Department of physical education. The study aimed to build on the findings of my previous, exploratory research regarding factors contributing to the underrepresentation of females at Head of Department level in physical education (Bloat, 1992); to sensitise the participants to the nature, construction and impact of expectations regarding female leadership; and to develop recommendations to redress the imbalance of female Heads of Department in physical education in government schools. The findings of the study confirmed that the expectations of significant others in the school setting have a powerful impact on the promotional aspirations of female physical educators. Expectations regarding the appropriateness of female leadership in physical education were constructed on the basis of individuals' interactions with the social system, characterised by a male paradigm, male dominance and male power. These expectations were communicated to female teachers by means of chauvinism; exclusion; the lower status accorded women in Physical Education Departments; the lack of both encouragement towards promotion, and female role models to demonstrate the opportunities for women; and the fact that the leadership role is more difficult for females. They impacted on the carter development of female physical educators by constraining the women's promotional aspirations. Finally, recommendations based on the findings are made primarily to the Education Department, but also to teacher education institutions and female physical educators. The suggested measures to address the problem focus on the need to move beyond mere policy change. The recognition and valuing of feminine leadership; the establishment of targets for increasing female representation; the identification and sponsorship of potential female candidates; and the introduction of a five year contract for Heads of Department are among the essential strategies needed to stimulate and nurture the promotional aspirations of female physical educators.

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Haines, Helen. "‘No worries’ : A longitudinal study of fear, attitudes and beliefs about childbirth from a cohort of Australian and Swedish women." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Obstetrik & gynekologi, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-185081.

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Much is known about childbirth fear in Sweden including its relationship to caesarean birth. Less is understood about this in Australia. Sweden has half the rate of caesarean birth compared to Australia. Little has been reported about women’s beliefs and attitudes to birth in either country. The contribution of psychosocial factors such as fear, attitudes and beliefs about childbirth to the global escalation of caesarean birth in high-income countries is an important topic of debate. The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate the prevalence and impact of fear on birthing outcomes in two cohorts of pregnant women from Australia and Sweden and to explore the birth attitudes and beliefs of these women. A prospective longitudinal cohort study from two towns in Australia and Sweden (N=509) was undertaken in the years 2007-2009. Pregnant women completed self-report questionnaires at mid-pregnancy, late pregnancy and two months after birth. Fear of birth was measured in mid-pregnancy with a tool developed in this study: the Fear of Birth Scale (FOBS). The FOBS showed promise as a clinically practical way to identify women with significant fear. A similar prevalence of fear of birth (30 percent) was found in the Australian and Swedish cohorts (Paper I). The Swedish women had attitudes indicating a greater concern for the personal impacts of birth and a belief system that situated birth as a natural event when compared to the Australian women (Paper II). Finally, when women’s attitudes and levels of fear were combined, three profiles were identified: Self determiners, Take it as it comes and Fearful (Paper III). Belonging to the Fearful profile had the most negative outcomes for women including higher rates of elective caesarean, more negative feelings in pregnancy and post birth and poorer perceptions of the quality of their antenatal and intra-partum care (Paper IV).

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Taylor, Anthea School of English UNSW. "Stones, ripples, waves: refiguring The first stone media event." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of English, 2005. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/22506.

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This interdisciplinary study critically revisits the Australian print media???s engagement with Helen Garner???s controversial work of ???non-fiction???, The First Stone (1995). Print news media engagement with the book, marked by intense discursive contestation over feminism, has been constituted both by feminists and other critics as a significant cultural signpost. However, the highly visible print media event following the book???s publication raised a plethora of critical questions and dilemmas that remain unsatisfactorily addressed. Building upon John Fiske???s work on media events as sites of maximum visibility and discursive turbulence (Fiske: 1996), this study re-theorises the public dialogue following The First Stone???s publication in terms of four constitutive elements: narrative, celebrity, audience, and history and conflict. Through an analysis of these four diverse yet interconnected aspects of the media event, I create a critical space not only for its limitations to emerge but also the frequently overlooked possibilities it offers in terms of the wider feminism and print media culture relationship. As part of its central aim to refigure The First Stone media event, this thesis argues against prior characterisations of the debate as constitutive of either a monologic articulation of conservative, antifeminist voices or an unmitigated attack on its author by a homogenous feminism. In particular, I use this media event as indicative of the sophistication and complexity of media engagement with contemporary feminism, despite both continued derision and overly simplistic celebration of this relationship. Texts subject to analysis here include: The First Stone, various ???mainstream??? media representations and self-representations of three ???celebrity feminists??? (Helen Garner, Anne Summers and Jenna Mead), letters to the editor of newspapers and magazines, ???popular??? feminist books by Kathy Bail and Virginia Trioli, and a number of media texts in which those claiming a feminist subject position and those sympathetic to feminism act as either news sources or columnists/commentators. Although Garner???s narrative is throughout identified to be deeply problematic, I argue that the media event it precipitated provides valuable insights into both the opportunities and the constraints of the print media-feminism nexus in 1990s Australia.

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Lalor, Jennifer Ann. "“Helping girls and young women grow into confident, self-respecting, responsible community members” : a case study of Girl Guides Australia." Thesis, Curtin University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2633.

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The public perception of Girl Guides is often one of a staid and conservative organisation of ‘good’ girls, who perform community service and tie knots, and adult members who are straight-laced and slightly boring, but willing helpers. This study examined whether these perceptions are justified or whether the programs of Girl Guides Australia follow the principles of non-formal education, as claimed by the organisation, and provide its members with opportunities that are useful in today’s world. Specifically, this research explored the perceptions of: the Australian Guide Program by youth members (N=437) and their parents (N=434); the Australian Adult Leadership Program for Leaders of those youth members (N=438); and the Australian Trainers’ Training Program for Trainers of those Leaders (N=67).Quantitative data were collected from four groups – youth members, their parents, Leaders and Trainers – through the use of questionnaires which were structured to gather similar information for each program using age-appropriate language. Three adult-member focus-group discussions were also held to provide background information regarding the motivation of participants holding a leadership position in Guides. Using the statistical package PASW Statistics (also known as SPSS), data for each group were analysed separately, and comparisons were made of the perceptions of different youth member age groups. Differences between the four participant groups were also examined where appropriate. The qualitative focusgroup data were analysed manually.Results showed that all groups identified the use of non-formal education principles, such as learning by doing, mentoring, shared decision-making, having well-trained leaders, being voluntary in nature, providing a personal challenge and practical skill based learning, being self-paced, involving age-appropriate non-competitive activities, facilitating teamwork and providing leadership skill development. The groups also recognised the educational nature of the programs and reported a wide range of practical and personal skills that had been learned. Youth members and parents reported that participation in the program had helped Guides to become more self-confident, self-respecting and responsible. All groups perceived that participation in the programs had helped with school / study, socially and in the workforce. Parents appreciated the non-competitive, safe and girl-only environment where their daughters could have fun. Data showed that Leaders delivered the youth program in a developmentally-appropriate way in which increasing autonomy was given to Guides as they got older. Trainers and Leaders agreed that participation in their respective programs had extended their skills and prepared them for their roles in Guiding. The focus groups identified the intangible ‘Guiding Spirit’ as binding everyone together and helping to reinforce the willingness to volunteer time and effort for the benefit of all Guide members.In summary, the study has shown that the programs provided by Girl Guides Australia were considered to follow the principles of non-formal education for the benefit of youth and adult members in terms of practical skill development, leadership opportunities, fun, friendship and personal development. Participation in the programs provided by Girl Guides Australia satisfies the organisation’s mission of: ... helping girls and [young] women grow into confident, self-respecting, responsible community members.

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Booth, Sharron. "Venturing into silences:The silence of water (novel) - and - Convicts, women and Western Australian stories (essay)." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2020. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2312.

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This thesis examines the harsh impact of convict transportation on Western Australian life and literary production with a novel, “The Silence of Water”, and an accompanying essay. The Swan River Colony (Western Australia) was established in 1829 with the express intention never to accept convicts; however, almost 10,000 men were transported there from Britain between 1850 and 1868. “The Silence of Water” depicts the life of one convict, Customs and Excise officer and former tailor Edwin Thomas Salt, who was convicted of the murder of his wife, Mary Ann, in Edinburgh in 1860. The case attracted attention in newspapers across Britain partly due to the “extreme provocation” Edwin was said to have suffered because of Mary Ann’s drinking. Edwin’s death sentence was commuted and he was transported to Western Australia in 1862. Edwin later received a conditional pardon that allowed him to live as a free man. In Western Australia he married twice, had more children and worked sporadically as a tailor. He died in Fremantle in 1910. A literate man with no prior convictions, sometimes a drunk and a bully, Edwin Salt differs from the convicts usually depicted in Western Australian fiction. Through the characters of Edwin Salt, his Australian daughter and granddaughter, “The Silence of Water” explores themes of exile, incarceration, family dislocation, secrets and intergenerational silences. The accompanying essay claims complex convict characters are largely missing from Western Australia’s literature and suggests how “The Silence of Water” claims a place for convicts and the women associated with them in Western Australia’s founding colonial narrative. It also discusses key research frameworks, methods and literary strategies. Chapter one examines how the convict figure functions across a range of novels from 1880 to 2015 and finds that Western Australia’s convict figure differs markedly from that seen in novels from other Australian states. Chapter two examines two research methods used to write the novel: engagement with the archives and engagement with place. It demonstrates how exploration of Edwin Thomas Salt broadened to focus on the women associated with him, driven by a feminist theoretical framework. Chapter three discusses some literary strategies selected for “The Silence of Water” and their rationale, drawing on the work of contemporary Western Australian fiction writers. Overall, the thesis illuminates an under-explored area of Western Australian cultural production and contributes new knowledge about Western Australia’s convict era, the consequences of which are still visible today.

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Redpath, Adrienne Kay, and n/a. "Graduate Rural Women: Perceptions of the Impact and Import of a University Education." Griffith University. School of Vocational, Technology and Arts Education, 2004. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20041208.104942.

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While there is abundant literature about Australian rural women including references to those who have had or wish to have some form of tertiary education, little attention is given to those who are the subject of the present study, graduate rural women, in this case of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The significance of the research emerged from its focus on the experiences of such women, with the purpose of the study being to present an exploration of their previously unrecorded perceptions of themselves as graduates occupying a place in their rural communities - to articulate the impact and import of graduate status for rural women. As understanding the articulations rather than explaining the data was deemed to be more appropriate to the exploration, a qualitative-interpretivist approach was adopted, recognising that a grounded constructivist epistemology would assist in viewing the experiences through the eyes of the participants. Data were collected in the form of written narrative - correspondence via e-mail - which allowed both the participants and myself to revisit and reflect upon each other's comments. The graduate women's comments were wide-ranging, from matters of concern to all country people, to those which were particularly relevant to graduate rural women, such as the perceived value of their own expertise and their experiences in taking up either professional or other roles in the rural context. The depth of thought, the powers of perception, the identification of lines of reasoning, the development of interwoven themes in rural life, and the manner of expression through the articulation of common occurrences, revealed far more than was originally envisaged. From the resultant collation of data it was possible to identify, examine and associate important perceptions which permeated the lives of graduate rural women. An exploration of the term rural and being a rural person in that environment was an important pre-cursor to interpreting subsequent articulations as the meaning of rurality extended the accepted geographical definitions and comparative urban-rural economic and social relationships. With this understanding, remembered experiences embraced the stages of becoming and being graduate rural women in professional practice and in everyday life, evidencing the participants' introspective, positive appreciation of the impact and import of their university education in the fulfilling and rewarding application of their professional skills. The concluding stage involved the graduates' relationship with the members of their rural communities as they attempted to pursue their lives at the level of their confidence and belief in themselves and in the value of their education. Challenging situations were recounted, indicating a schism to be overcome in that association, with male culture and traditional attitudes, the feminist movement and the rural crisis being included in the considerations. The core concepts, upon which the findings of the research were structured, emerged from the participants' articulations to illustrate the stages of becoming and being graduate rural women, both from the introspective and contextual viewpoints. The written narrative articulations of graduate rural women defined their reflective views of self-empowerment through education, countered by the challenges and constraints of social reality in the application of that ability in the rural context of their professional and everyday lives. The previously unrecorded perceptions of this significant section of society have added to the store of knowledge by giving graduate women a voice, a basis for further expression and a collective presence and identity in the rural situation. The future value of this research lies in its dissemination to raise awareness of identified issues and in its invitation to explore a wider sphere of knowledge enrichment beyond its central focus.

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au, a. meerwald@yahoo com, and Agnes May Lin Meerwald. "Chineseness at the crossroads : negotiations of Chineseness and the politics of liminality in diasporic Chinese women's lives in Australia." Murdoch University, 2002. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20080116.113947.

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Chineseness at the crossroads examines how Chineseness is negotiated by diasporic Chinese women in Australia. I question the essentialist notions of Chineseness by deploying Homi Bhabha's theory of liminality. This concept of being neither here nor there helped me examine the women's ambiguous experiences of acceptance and rejection, within and across marginal and dominant Australian circles. My position disrupts the binaric frames that divide the old from the new, and the eastern from the western practices for cultural appropriation. It recognises instead the past and the present in the creation of new but familiar versions of Chineseness. I argue that essentialist norms are commuilicated through cultural semantics to inform how Chineseness is rehearsed. I assert that liminality exposes the power structures that inform these cultural semantics by disrupting the naturalised norms. I posit that the diasporic women's awareness of these interdependent processes enables them to question their practices and ideologies. I used an autoethnographic technique to collapse the divide between the researcher and the researched. It created a liminal space between the researcher and the researched. This subverted norms of the researcher as the archaeologist of knowledge by enabling the other women's narratives to tell their stories alongside mine. This methodological frame also serves as a prism to examine the intersections of gender, sexuality, family, relationships, language, education, class, age, and religion with Chineseness in the lives of the 39 Malaysian and Singaporean women interviewed. My results indicate that Chineseness is precarious and indeterminate, and specific to the particular moments of articulation at the crossroads of geopolitical and socioeconomic factors. The versions of Chineseness rehearsed are complexly influenced by the various cultural semantics that impact on the women's negotiations of who they are as diasporic Chinese women in Australia. I conclude with a discussion of how these results challenge current curriculum and pedagogical practices in English classrooms. I argue that a re-examination of these practices will contribute to a more inclusive Australia.

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Clarke, Patricia, and n/a. "Life Lines to Life Stories: Some Publications About Women in Nineteenth-Century Australia." Griffith University. School of Arts, Media and Culture, 2004. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20040719.150756.

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This thesis consists of an introduction and six of my books, published between 1985 and 1999, on aspects of the history of women in nineteenth-century Australia. The books are The Governesses: Letters from the Colonies 1862-1882 (1985); A Colonial Woman: The Life and Times of Mary Braidwood Mowle 1827-1857 (1986); Pen Portraits: Women Writers and Journalists in Nineteenth Century Australia (1988); Pioneer Writer: The Life of Louisa Atkinson, Novelist, Journalist, Naturalist (1990); Tasma: The Life of Jessie Couvreur (1994); and Rosa! Rosa! A Life of Rosa Praed, Novelist and Spiritualist (1999). At the time they were published each of these books either dealt with a new subject or presented a new approach to a subject. Collectively they represent a body of work that has expanded knowledge of women's lives and writing in nineteenth-century Australia. Although not consciously planned as a sequence at the outset, these books developed as a result of the influence on my thinking of the themes that emerged in Australian social and cultural historical writing during this period. The books also represent a development in my own work from the earlier more documentary-based books on letters and diaries to the interpretive challenge of biographical writing and the weaving of private lives with public achievements. These books make up a cohesive, cumulative body of work. Individually and as a whole, they make an original contribution to knowledge of the lives and achievements of women in nineteenth-century Australia. They received critical praise at the time of publication and have led to renewed interest and further research on the subjects they cover. My own knowledge and expertise has developed as a result of researching and writing them. The Governesses was not only the first full-length study of a particular group of letters but it also documented aspects of the lives of governesses in Australia, a little researched subject to that time. A Colonial Woman, based on a previously unpublished and virtually unknown diary, pointed to the importance of 'ordinary' lives in presenting an enriched view of the past. Pen Portraits documented the early history of women journalists in Australia, a previously neglected subject. Three of the women I included in Pen Portraits, Louisa Atkinson, Tasma and Rosa Praed, the first two of whom were pioneer women journalists as well as novelists, became the subjects of my full-length biographies. In my biographies of women writers, Pioneer Writer, Tasma, and Rosa! Rosa!, I recorded and interpreted the lives of these important writers placing them in the context of Australian cultural history as women who negotiated gender barriers and recorded this world in their fiction. My books on Louisa Atkinson and Tasma were the first full-length biographies of these significant but largely forgotten nineteenth-century women writers, while my biography of Rosa Praed was the first for more than fifty years. Each introduced original research that changed perceptions of the women's lives and consequently of attitudes to their creative work. Each provided information essential for further research on their historical significance and literary achievements. Each involved extensive research that led to informed interpretation allowing insightful surmises essential to quality biography.

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Ransom, Miriam Anna 1972. "Representing sexualised otherness : Asian woman as sign in the discourse of the Australian press." Monash University, School of Literary, Visual and Performance Studies, 2001. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/9260.

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Anderson, Emma Kate School of English UNSW. "Representations of female sexuality in chick-lit texts and reading Anais Nin on the train." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of English, 2006. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/27319.

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My critical essay uses Foucault???s theory of discursive formation to chart the emergence of the figure of the single modern woman as she is created by the various discourses surrounding her. It argues that representations of the single modern woman continue a tradition of perceiving the female body as a source of social anxiety. The project explores ???chick-lit??? as a site within the discursive formation from which the single modern woman emerges as a paradoxical figure; the paradoxes fundamentally linked to her sexuality. This essay, then, essentially seeks to investigate representations of female sexuality within chick-lit, exposing for scrutiny the paradoxes inherent in and around the figure of the single modern woman. My fictional piece is a work of erotica. It is divided into four sections: The Reader, The Writer, The Muse and The Critic. Essentially it explores the relationships between female sexuality and literature; between female sexuality and feminist, post-feminist and patriarchal values and between literature and issues of truth, perspective and representation. The two works complement each other to illuminate the paradox of female sexuality: one from a theoretical perspective and the other from a fictional perspective. The critical work focuses on female sexuality and its relationship to, and development within, the current social context. Chick-lit, as a new and immensely popular genre of fiction which holistically explores the lives of single modern women was useful for examining the relationship between the sexual persona of the single modern woman and society. The fiction is concerned with a narrower focus: specifically the sexual life of the single modern woman. Through the creative process, it became apparent that working within the genre of ???erotica??? would be not only more useful than working within chick-lit, but more powerful in exploring the themes I was interested in. The creative work draws on numerous points of interest raised in the critical work from, for example, the grander notions of the relationship between object and discourse ??? in this case female sexuality and literature ??? and the female body as a source of social fascination and anxiety to finer observations such as what it means to have sex ???like a man.??? In essence, the creative work seeks to examine the many faces of the single modern woman as a sexual being and to illuminate, on an intimate level, the many conflicts between and surrounding those faces and to suggest that while paradox remains in female sexual ideology, the single modern woman will remain suspended in a kind of sexual paralysis.

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Hutchinson, Jacquie. "The effect of equal employment opportunity policies on the promotion of women to the position of school principal in the Western Australian government school system (1985-1991)." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1992. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1136.

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The purpose of this study was to analyse and explain the effect of the introduction of equal employment opportunity policy on the Ministry of Education with reference to the promotion of women teachers to the position of principal during the period 1985 to 1991. This research represents a case study of the Western Australian government primary and secondary school system conducted through a review of relevant government and Ministry of Education policies, analysis of employment statistics and interviews with key policy actors. Four questions which directed the research sought a conceptual framework through which to analyse and explain events, policies and outcomes. The study claims that while there existed an expectation amongst women teachers that equal employment opportunity would increase the number of women principals by removing both the direct and indirect barriers that prevented their promotion, there is no evidence that this was ever the intention of either the Ministry of Education or the Western Australian State Labor government. The evidence from this study suggests that equal employment opportunity policies have continued the subordination of women in the State government school system by the subsuming of their interests by more powerful forces of an economic, administrative and political kind both internal and external to the State government school system. Whilst in the past the barriers to promotion for women were formal, direct and visible, the application of equal employment opportunity has created a cloak of invisibility to the forces that operate against the promotion of women within the State government school system. The implications of this study are firstly that unless there is some external intervention the numbers of women principals will continue to decline. Secondly until women teachers achieve political power, the likelihood of changing the current culture of the Western Australian government school system to ensure that women are promoted to the position of principal, is remote .

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Brien, Donna Lee. "The case of Mary Dean : sex, poisoning and gender relations in Australia." Queensland University of Technology, 2003. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16340/.

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The genre of biography is, by nature, imprecise and limited. Real lives are lived synchronously and diversely; they do not divide spontaneously into chapters, subjects or themes. All biographers construct stories, in the process forcing the disordered complexity of an actual life into a neat literary form. This doctoral submission comprises a book length creative work, Poisoned: The Trials of Mary Dean, and a reflective written component on that creative work, Writing Fictionalised Biography. Poisoned is a biography of Mary Dean, who, although repeatedly poisoned by her husband at the end of the nineteenth century, did not die. This biography, presented in the form of a first-person memoir, is based closely on historical evidence and is supported with discursive notes and a select bibliography. The reflective written component, Writing Fictionalised Biography, outlines the process and challenges of writing a biography when the source material available is inadequate and unreliable. In writing Poisoned my genre solution has been fictionalised biography - biography which is historically diligent while utilising fictional writing strategies and incorporating fictional passages. This written component reflectively discusses how I arrived at that solution. It includes discussion of the sources I utilised in writing Poisoned, including the limitations of trial transcripts and other court records as biographical evidence; useful precursors to the form; the process wherein I located both a form for my fictionalised biography and a voice for my biographical subject; possible models I considered; how I distinguished established fact from speculative supposition in the text; as well as some of the ambivalences and ethical concerns such a narrative process implies.

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Brooklyn, Bridget. "Something old, something new : divorce and divorce law in South Australia, 1859-1918." Title page, contents and summary only, 1988. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phb872.pdf.

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Wilson, Erica Christine, and n/a. "A 'Journey Of Her Own'?: The Impact Of Constraints On Women's Solo Travel." Griffith University. Department of Tourism, Leisure, Hotel and Sport Management, 2004. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20050209.110742.

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Women are increasingly active in the participation and consumption of travel, and are now recognised as a growing force within the tourism industry. This trend is linked to changing social and political circumstances for Western women around the world. Within Australia specifically, women's opportunities for education and for earning equitable incomes through employment have improved. Furthermore, traditional ideologies of the family have shifted, so that social expectations of marriage and the production of children do not yield as much power as they once did. As a result of these shifts, women living in contemporary Australia have a wider range of resources and opportunities with which to access an ever-increasing array of leisure/travel choices. It appears that one of the many ways in which women have been exercising their relatively recent financial and social autonomy is through independent travel. The solo woman traveller represents a growing market segment, with research showing that increasing numbers of females are choosing to travel alone, without the assistance or company of partners, husbands or packaged tour groups. However, little empirical research has explored the touristic experiences of solo women travellers, or examined the constraints and challenges they may face when journeying alone. 'Constraints' have been described variously as factors which hinder one's ability to participate in desired leisure activities, to spend more time in those activities, or to attain anticipated levels of satisfaction and benefit. While the investigation of constraints has contributed to the leisure studies discipline for a number of decades, the exploration of their influence on tourist behaviour and the tourist experience has been virtually overlooked. Research has shown that despite the choices and opportunities women have today, the freedom they have to consume those choices, and to access satisfying leisure and travel experiences, may be constrained by their social and gendered location as females. Although theorisations of constraint have remained largely in the field of leisure studies, it is argued and demonstrated in this thesis that there is potential in extending constraints theory to the inquiry of the tourist experience. Grounded in theoretical frameworks offered by gender studies, feminist geography, sociology and leisure, this qualitative study set out to explore the impact of constraints on women's solo travel experiences. Forty in-depth interviews were held with Australian women who had travelled solo at some stage of their adult lives. Adopting an interpretive and feminist-influenced research paradigm, it was important to allow the women to speak of their lives, constraints and experiences in their own voices and on their own terms. In line with qualitative methodologies, it is these women's words which form the data for this study. Based on a 'grounded' approach to data analysis, the results reveal that constraints do exist and exert influence on these women's lives and travel experiences in a myriad of ways. Four inter-linking categories of constraint were identified, namely socio-cultural, personal, practical and spatial. Further definition of these categories evolved, depending on where the women were situated in their stage of the solo travel experience (that is, pre-travel or during-travel). The results of this study show that there are identifiable and very real constraints facing solo women travellers. These constraints could stem from the contexts of their home environments, or from the socio-cultural structures of the destinations through which they travelled. However, these constraints were not immutable, insurmountable or even necessarily consciously recognised by many of the women interviewed. In fact, it became increasingly evident that women were findings ways and means to 'negotiate' their constraints, challenges and limitations. Three dominant negotiation responses to constraint could be identified; the women could choose to seek access to solo travel when faced with pre-travel constraints: they could withdraw from solo travel because of those same constraints, or they could decide to continue their journeys as a result of their in-situ constraints. Evidence of women negotiating suggests that constraints are not insurmountable barriers, and confirms that constraints do not necessarily foreclose access to travel. Furthermore, a focus on negotiation re-positions women as active agents in determining the course of their lives and the enjoyment of their solo travel experiences, rather than as passive acceptors of circumstance and constraint. Linking with the concept of negotiation, solo travel was also shown to be a site of resistance, freedom and empowerment for these forty women. Through solo travel, it was apparent that the women could transgress the structures and roles which influenced and governed their lives. This thesis shows that, through solo travel, the women interviewed found an autonomous and self-determining 'journey of their own'. At the same time, the extent to which this really was a journey of their own was questioned and revealed to be problematic under a feminist/gendered lens. Thus a more appropriate concept of women's solo travel is that it is a 'relative escape'. That is, their journeys, escapes and experiences were always situated relative to the societal expectations and perceptions of home; relative to the gendered perceptions and ideologies of the destination, and relative to the limited spatial freedoms as a result of a socially constructed geography of fear.

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Fernandez, Eva. "Collaboration, demystification, Rea-historiography : the reclamation of the black body by contemporary indigenous female photo-media artists." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2002. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/741.

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This thesis examines the reclamation of the 'Blak' body by Indigenous female photo-media artists. The discussion will begin with an examination of photographic representatiors of Indigenous people by the colonising culture and their construction of 'Aboriginality'. The thesis will look at the introduction of Aboriginal artists to the medium of photography and their chronological movement through the decades This will begin with a documentary style approach in the 1960s to an intimate exploration of identity that came into prominence in the 1980s with an explosion of young urban photomedia artists, continuing into the 1990s and beyond. I will be examining the works of four contemporary female artists and the impetus behind their work. The three main artists whose works will be examined are Brenda L. Croft, Destiny Deacon and Rea all of whom have dealt with issues of representation of the 'Blak female body, gender and reclamation of identity. The thesis will examine the works of these artists in relation to the history of representation by the dominant culture. Chapter 6 will look at a new emerging artist, Dianne Jones, who is looking at similar issues as the artists mentioned. This continuing critique of representation by Jones is testimony of the prevailing issues concerning Aboriginal representation

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McDonald, Michelle. "Selling Utopia marketing the art of the women of Utopia /." Master's thesis, Australia : Macquarie University, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/15101.

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Thesis (MA)--Macquarie University, Institute of Early Childhood.
Includes bibliographical references.
Introduction -- Literature review -- A brief history of Utopia's art production; its place in the indigenous art movement -- The role of the wholesaler -- The retail sector -- Report on survey of the buyers of indigenous art -- Emily Kame Kngwarreye -- Authenticity -- Conclusion.
Summary: The thesis focuses on marketing art from the Aboriginal community, Utopia, where the majority of artists, and the best known artists, are women. It documents methods by which the art moves from the community to retail art outlets; it includes detailed documentation of marketing in the retail sector and also includes research into the buying of indigenous art by private buyers. -- Emily Kame Kngwarreye is the best known of the Utopia painters. The study proposes reasons for her success and points to further questions beyond the scope of this study. Problems inherent in criticism and editing of her work are raised and interpreted in the context of the marketplace. -- The original thesis plan did not include detailed discussion about authorship. However, in 1997 the media reported controversy about authorship of a prize-winning work. As such controversy must affect marketing, this topic (as it relates to this artist), was included. -- Although possibilities for improvement in marketing methods have become apparent as a result of this research, areas where further research would be beneficial have also become apparent.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
265, [48] p

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Kato, Megumi Humanities &amp Social Sciences Australian Defence Force Academy UNSW. "Representations of Japan and Japanese people in Australian literature." Awarded by:University of New South Wales - Australian Defence Force Academy. School of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2005. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/38718.

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This thesis is a broadly chronological study of representations of Japan and the Japanese in Australian novels, stories and memoirs from the late nineteenth century to the twenty-first century. Adopting Edward Said???s Orientalist notion of the `Other???, it attempts to elaborate patterns in which Australian authors describe and evaluate the Japanese. As well as examining these patterns of representation, this thesis outlines the course of their development and change over the years, how they relate to the context in which they occur, and how they contribute to the formation of wider Australian views on Japan and the Japanese. The thesis considers the role of certain Australian authors in formulating images and ideas of the Japanese ???Other???. These authors, ranging from fiction writers to journalists, scholars and war memoirists, act as observers, interpreters, translators, and sometimes ???traitors??? in their cross-cultural interactions. The thesis includes work from within and outside ???mainstream??? writings, thus expanding the contexts of Australian literary history. The major ???periods??? of Australian literature discussed in this thesis include: the 1880s to World War II; the Pacific War; the post-war period; and the multicultural period (1980s to 2000). While a comprehensive examination of available literature reveals the powerful and continuing influence of the Pacific War, images of ???the stranger???, ???the enemy??? and later ???the ally??? or ???partner??? are shown to vary according to authors, situations and wider international relations. This thesis also examines gender issues, which are often brought into sharp relief in cross-cultural representations. While typical East-West power-relationships are reflected in gender relations, more complex approaches are also taken by some authors. This thesis argues that, while certain patterns recur, such as versions of the ???Cho-Cho-San??? or ???Madame Butterfly??? story, Japan-related works have given some Australian authors, especially women, opportunities to reveal more ???liberated??? viewpoints than seemed possible in their own cultural context. As the first extensive study of Japan in Australian literary consciousness, this thesis brings to the surface many neglected texts. It shows a pattern of changing interests and interactions between two nations whose economic interactions have usually been explored more deeply than their literary and cultural relations.

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Currie, Marian Judith. "Postnatal dysphoria in a sample of ACT women." Phd thesis, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/150617.

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Berry, Kathleen Margaret. "The changing size and shape of Australian women." Thesis, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/61954.

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This study investigates body size and shape of present-day Australian women. The need for such investigations results from the fact that secular trends in body size and shape change these characteristics every few decades. As body size and shape change, there is a need to update metric data used for clothing design. Morphometric photographs and measurements of 38 anthropometric characteristics were taken of 163 women aged from 18 to 82 years coming from various socio-economic circumstances. Their average body height and weight matched Australian Bureau of Statistics data for South Australian women. The anthropometric characteristics were selected for their usefulness in the clothing industry. In comparison with earlier studies of adult Australian women, especially the one conducted in 1926-28 by Berlei, the participants of the present study were only slightly taller (about 11 mm), but much heavier (about 6 kg); this produced an average Body Mass Index of 24.7. Participants also differed from British and American women. These findings indicate a need for an anthropometric survey of Australian women to provide current data for industrial purposes. As a pilot study to this end averages and standard deviations of all 36 anthropometric dimensions and weight were tabulated. Furthermore, based on standard morphometric photographs of anterior, posterior and the lateral aspect of standing women, five body types were identified. They resemble the letters off the alphabet I, A, H, X and XH. For each figure type basic anthropometric dimensions were tabulated. This study can be considered a pilot study for a larger, fully representative anthropometric survey but its results already show an occurrence of a significant trend towards overweight.
Thesis (M.Med.Sc.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Anatomical Sciences, 2001

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Ali, Lutfiye. "Australian Muslim women : diverse experiences, diverse identities." Thesis, 2015. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/26241/.

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Despite the diversity among Muslim women, in Australia and elsewhere, they have been constructed as homogenous and bound to a religious identity and the veil. The aim of this thesis was to explore the diverse ways in which Muslim women negotiate their identity in the context of Australian multicultural social relations, informed by current and historical colonial discourses.

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Shadbolt, Bruce. "Health, social roles and the life course : a study of Australian women born between 1926 and 1966." Phd thesis, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/130333.

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This study investigated the relationships between Aush-alian women's social-role and health careers. Most previous studies have used current-status measures of role participation. It is a premise of this stiidy that these current-statiis indicators are unsatisfactory because they poorly reflect social-role careers. As an alternative, this study adopted a life-course approach where early-adulthood social-role structures are thought to govern \he rest of the life course by conditioning the types of experience that people are likely to encounter, suggesting that there is a sti-ong emphasis on widespread patterns of maintenance and equilibrium that continuously convert circumstances from early to later life-course phases. The analysis primarily used Australian Family Project (AFP) data collected in 1986-87 combined with follow-up data gathered in 1990 from women who were living in Sydney at the time of the first survey (n=291). Where possible a supporting analysis was carried out using AFP data for metropolitan Australia (n=1678). Respondents were aged between 20 and 59 years at the baseline. The health indicators of the study include histories of self-reported serious chronic disease, psychological distress (GHQ) and self-rated health. Social-role careers were reconstructed from recalled event-history data starting at exact age 20 years. The main results indicate that early-adulthood social-role careers are significantly related to subsequent social and health statuses. Regardless of cohort, women who experienced varied role combinations between the ages 20 and 29 years, in particular those spending most of this time not employed, tended to have a lower risk of chronic disease over the subsequent course of their lives than women who followed more uniform careers, especially those who spent most of their 20s employed while rearing children. Variability in women's social careers after age 30 years had little effect on chronic disease risk for the majority of early-adulthood groups, although women who delayed marriage and a 'traditional' career (not employed, married with children) until late in early adulthood substantially increased their risk of disease. In relation to psychological distress and self-rated health, women bom between 1946 and 1956 who followed a traditional career during most of their 20s tended to have higher levels of psychological distress and to rate their health worse at the time of the Follow-up Survey than their non-traditional counterparts. On the other hand, older women who spent most of their 20s in a traditional career tended to have the best mental health, while those who had three or more children rated their health the best. It was also found that chronic disease significantly affects role participation. Respondents who developed a long-standing chronic condition early in life were more likely to have had fewer children, and to have been separated, divorced or widowed With regard to employment, the effects are more complex: for older women (born 1926-46), the influence of chronic disease changes over the life course. At young ages those with a childhood chronic disease were more likely to have been continually employed while 'healthy' women were selected out of the work force to start a family. In contrast, middle age saw those with chronic disease more likely either to remain out of the labour force or leave it. The younger cohort (bom 1946-66) showed a 'healthy worker' effect much earlier than the older cohort: those who had a chronic disease were more likely to have remained out of the work force or experienced multiple employment-status transitions. In conclusion, the present study has offered an innovative approach to examining the relationships between social-role and health careers. The findings have provided support for the notion that early-adulthood social-role careers for women are important determinants of their subsequent health status; and that social selection occurs at most stages of the life course and is probably influenced by social and economic changes. Such findings have far-reaching implications in terms of government policies, suggesting that governments look beyond the socio-economically disadvantaged to broader indicators of women's social careers. In relation to research, advancing technology, and larger and more comprehensive longitudinal data sets will enable other life-course studies to bring us closer to understanding why and how social forces are associated with the health status of people.

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Joyce, Robin Rosemary. "Women's labour : women's power? : women in the Western Australian labour movement from the early 1900s to the Depression." Master's thesis, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/147157.

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Phillips, Dimity. "Impressions of distance : a study of women printmakers practising in regional Australia 1993-2003." Phd thesis, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/150792.

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Gall, Jennifer. "Redefining the tradition : the role of women in the evolution and transmission of Australian folk music." Phd thesis, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/109562.

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This dissertation undertakes an examination of the truth of the assertion that Australian folk music represents a predominantly masculine, working class genre - the view expressed in the official Commonwealth Government description of Australian folk music, the publications of the academy and promoted by the media. In this thesis, the women who have played a key role in the history of Australian folk music are restored from obscurity, highlighting the need for a root - and - branch revision of the history of Australian folk music. I argue that the evidence of primary sources confirms the role of women as integral to the evolution and transmission of Australian folk music. The way in which oral and written traditions interact in the music of Australian women is explained; traditional boundaries of class which have been used in the past to delineate who owns folk music are challenged; and it is argued that the piano must be admitted into the category of bush instrument, thus expanding the range of the accepted Australian folk music repertoire. Australian women's folk music, as distinct from Australian indigenous women's music, has its origins in the social, political and economic upheavals of the eighteenth century. It embodies the dislocation experienced by pioneering women who travelled to Australia from the British Isles and other European countries, either as convicts or free settlers. Emergence of new post-industrial forms of folk music is also prominent. Songs and tunes preserved through oral transmission and the development of homegrown Australian songs represent the dichotomy of old world and new world cultural values. Published broadside ballad sheets and piano arrangements of folk songs and dance tunes were embraced by Australian women and shared widely through oral and hand-written transmission. Diaries, letters, newspaper accounts, archival music collections and field recordings provide evidence that women from a broad range of economic, educational and social backgrounds performed folk music from the earliest days of settlement in a way that was unique to Australia. Analysis in this thesis is structured by the chronological sequence of case studies spanning the 1840s to the present. Case studies covering this extended period demonstrate the diversity of women musician's lives, their place in the evolution of Australian folk music from early settlement to contemporary times and the changing manifestations of transmission affecting each generation. Both the items in the repertoires of the women studied and aspects of their identity (indicated in their choice of songs) are regenerated by performance of their music. Investigation of this process concludes with examination of the contemporary operation of transmission in the case study of my own participation in the evolving tradition of Australian women's folk music.

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Watson, Christine. "Kuruwarri, the generative force : Balgo women's contemporary paintings and their relationship to traditional media." Master's thesis, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/144360.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Women dramatists, Australian Australia'

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