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Women working for Australia WOMEN WITH A MISSION Women in diplomacy from the 1960s to contemporary times Document study for secondary students (PDF 2.8mb) Here you will find: • • • an introduction a set of records ideas for study WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: Introduction Women have been involved in Australia’s diplomatic life since the early days of nationhood but the careers of talented individuals were hampered, and in many cases cut short, by both legislative and attitudinal barriers. Until 1966, married women could not be employed in the Australian Public Service. The removal of the ‘marriage bar’ was a turning point. By the mid 1970s, commitments to improved gender equality made on the international stage were reflected also at the national level with increased representation by women in all spheres of public life and more equitable conditions of service. Australia’s first female heads of mission were appointed in the 1970s and by the mid1980s annual intakes of women graduates recruited by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs began to equal, or exceed, those of men. The demographic of Australia’s public and private sector workforces has changed beyond recognition in the past 30 years, but at the most senior levels, women are still under-represented. For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia Records In the content list below, document titles link to enlargements. Click title bar to return to this page. 1. Newspaper article: “How to succeed as a diplomat”. The Age, 9 May 1981 2. Photograph of the Committee of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Vienna, 1987 3. Excerpt from interview with Brenda Kruckow, stenographer, Australian Embassy, Saigon, 1968-69 4. Excerpt from interview with Shirley Walker, Communicator, Australian Embassy, Tel Aviv, 1990-91 5. Excerpt from interview with Penny Wensley, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to United Nations, New York, 1997-2001 6. Photograph of Sue Boyd, Australian High Commissioner, Bangladesh, 1988 7. Photograph of Heidi Venamore, Deputy Head, Australian Representative office, Iraq, 2004 8. Photograph of Ruth Pearce, Australian High Commissioner to the Solomon Islands, 1992 9. Photograph of Margaret Adamson, Ambassador to Poland, 1998-2002 10. Photograph of Karina Campbell, Australian Ambassador to Laos, 1997-2000 11. Photograph of Tracey Haines, member of the Multinational Peace Monitoring Group, Bougainville 1998-1999 12. Excerpt from interview with Tracey Haines, member of the Multinational Peace Monitoring Group, Bougainville 1998-1999 13. Photograph of Dr Tamara Somers, Third Secretary, Australian High Commission, Ghana, 2004 14. Photograph of the Australian delegation to the International Women’s Suffrage Alliance Congress, Rome, 1923 WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia Study Investigation Read document 1. Ruth Dobson was Australia’s first female career ambassador. • • • What are the advantages and disadvantages she identifies for women in her position? Describe her opinions on feminism and gender discrimination. What distinction does she draw between her experiences and those of other Australian women employed as diplomats? WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: Examine document 2. The women comprising the Committee of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) came from all over the world, including Ethiopia, Egypt, the former Yugoslavia, Italy, and Australia. • • • What might be some of the different issues that were important to these women? What might be some of the concerns these women shared? List the similarities and differences of the two experiences decsribed by these women. What criticisms are raised against the media? How could the media better represent women in senior positions? What does the diversity of countries represented in these images suggest about the government’s practice regarding the appointment of women to diplomatic posts? Are there any countries or situations to which you think it would be inappropriate to send a woman? Compare documents 3 and 4. Examine document 5. • Examine documents 6-10. • • For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia Examine documents 11 and 12. • • • Outline some of the changes to the Indigenous community which have occurred over the last 40 years. How have these changes been felt by Tracey and her community? What do you think are the particular contributions that the department’s Indigenous officers bring to Australia’s diplomatic representation? List some ways the role and representation of women have changed since 1923. What would the women in document 14 think of these changes? Do you think more changes are needed? What challenges might an Australian woman living in 2080 face? WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: Compare documents 13 and 14. • • • • Reflection: 1. Despite legislation and better working conditions, fewer women than men occupy senior management positions in many government departments, and the private sector. • • Why do you think this is? How might this issue be resolved? 2. What have women diplomats contributed to (a) Australia and (b) the world? Extension: 1. If you were working for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which country would you like to be posted to? • • • • Why are you interested in this country? What are Australia’s interests in this country? What would make it enjoyable to live there? What would be hard about living there? 2. What do you think the work of diplomats involves? For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: The Committee of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, Vienna, 1987. (Photograph courtesy of Elizabeth Evatt, Member, CEDAW Committee 1984-92. Chair, 1989-91) For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia EXCERPT FROM INTERVIEW WITH BRENDA KRUCKOW I arrived in Vietnam a few weeks after the Tet Offensive of 1968. A number of staff residences were nearly over-run at that time and the Embassy decided to house female staff in apartments in the downtown area to improve their security. During the next dry season the Viet Cong changed tactics and began targeting the centre of Saigon with rockets, usually in the early hours of the morning. I can remember spending quite a few hours on the floor under my very low Vietnamese bed, nose to mattress. On one occasion a rocket hit directly in front of my building at 3am. Fortunately I had fled my bed before the glass from the window shattered over it. It was quite terrifying. Power was out across downtown Saigon and only the occasional flash of rocket fire lit the night sky. The phones had been cut, and no female staff member was ever issued with a radio at the time. I think it was assumed we wouldn’t be able to operate them. Fortunately we had gas stoves, and candles and I spent the next few hours drinking coffee and reading “The Once and Future King” by T. H. White to whom I shall forever be grateful for my sanity. WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: Brenda Kruckow in front of a display of seized Viet Cong weapons, Saigon, circa 1968. Brenda Kruckow Stenographer, Saigon 1968-69 For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia EXCERPT FROM INTERVIEW WITH SHIRLEY WALKER In late 1990, I was posted to Tel Aviv on a short term mission as a communicator. Iraq had invaded Kuwait in August that year and in January 1991, a few weeks after my arrival in Tel Aviv, the US-led coalition launched its offensive to liberate Kuwait. Saddam Hussein responded by firing missiles at neighbouring coalition states and Israel. The Embassy was closed as it was considered unsafe. Instead we worked at the Ambassador’s Residence, preparing reports which we sent un-encrypted by satellite. I lived at the residence of the post’s Senior Administrative Officer to wait out the conflict. We were given suits and gas masks to protect us against anticipated Iraqi chemical attacks, and medication to inject and pills to take if nerve gas was released. The bathroom was designated the ‘safe room’ as there was water available and it was considered a strong structure with no glass. We spent a good deal of time there. When the air raid sirens went off we had to scrabble into our protective gear. Sleeping in our chemical weapons suits saved time; it was a complicated process to get everything on – trousers, jacket, rubber boots, hooded mask and gloves. After the all-clear siren, we would phone our relatives in Australia to reassure them we were safe. Most times when I spoke to my mother she had already been contacted by Canberra. WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: Shirley Walker during the Gulf War, Tel Aviv, January 1991. Shirley Walker Communicator Tel Aviv, 1990-91 For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia EXCERPT FROM INTERVIEW WITH PENNY WENSLEY January, 2005 In the four years I was in New York, there were never more than 11 women ambassadors out of 189 member states. We carried the same responsibilities as our male colleagues, handled the same range of issues – and yet were constantly asked for our views ‘as women’ and expected to be interested in ‘women’s issues’. As chairman of the UN’s tough Fifth Committee, the media’s main interest was how I felt to be the first woman to hold the position. As a diplomat, I would rather be asked about my experience representing Australia at the United Nations in Geneva, in New York, and as Ambassador for the Environment, leading Australian delegations to myriad major international meetings, negotiating crucial conventions and agreements; or about my chairmanship of the UN Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, of the UN Fifth Committee, or the UN General Assembly’s Special Session on HIV/AIDS. But heads of mission who also happen to be women are role models; and the judgements made about our effectiveness reflect not only on our countries but on women in general. There exists an extra dimension to our experience – at least until there are many more of us in places that count. Penny Wensley AO Ambassador for the Environment, United Nations, 1992-1996 Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Geneva 1993-199 Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York, 1997-2001 WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: Penny Wensley, Ambassador to India and Bhutan, presenting her credentials to His Majesty King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, King of Bhutan, 7 May 2003. For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: Sue Boyd, Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, during the floods of 1988. (Photograph: Tony Ashby) For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: Heidi Venamore, Deputy Head, Australian Representative Office in Iraq, 2004. For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: Ruth Pearce (right), Australian High Commissioner to the Solomon Islands during the visit by Australian Prime Minister, Paul Keating, to Homara, July 1992. For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: Margaret Adamson, Australian Ambassador to Poland, laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw during the inaugural Anzac Day Service, 1999. For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: Karina Campbell (left), Australian Ambassador to Laos, and a project beneficiary (right) during a monitoring visit to an Australian funded crop substitution project in Xieng Khouang province. For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: Tracey Haines, member of the Multinational Peace Monitoring Group, Bougainville, 1998-1999. For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia EXCERPT FROM INTERVIEW WITH TRACEY HAINES I am from the Kamilaroi (Gamillaroi) people, the second largest Aboriginal tribe in New South Wales. I was born in the mid 1960s, at a time when Aboriginal people weren’t counted as Australian citizens, and therefore could not work for the Australian Government, or even obtain a passport to travel overseas. Fortunately, times have changed. As an Australian Aboriginal woman I am preparing for a three-year posting to Paris. The chance to represent my country overseas has deep symbolic significance for me. It reflects the incredible progress in improving the outlook for Indigenous peoples. It sends a powerful message to other Indigenous women that, with resilience and determination, they will also be able to overcome the many obstacles that stand in the way of them fulfilling their potential. And I know my family is extremely proud of me - I have the opportunity to travel overseas and represent this country in an official capacity - a prospect not possible when I was born. WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: Tracey Haines 2004 Tracey Haines and Mandawuy Yunupingu (Founder of the Yothu Yindi Foundation) at the launch of the ‘Kickin’ up Dust’ exhibition, Canberra, July 2002. For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia WOMEN WITH A MISSION DOCUMENT STUDY: Dr Tamara Somers, Third Secretary, Australian High Commission, Ghana, during ‘Clean Up The World’ day, 2004. (Photograph: Andy Somers) For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523 Women working for Australia WOMEN WITH A MISSION The Australian delegation to the International Women’s Suffrage Alliance Congress, Rome, 1923. (Photograph: courtesy of the National Library of Australia) For more information contact Website: www.dfat.gov.au/women Education Officer Email: webmaster@dfat.gov.au Tel: 02-62612523