Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .
Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (19 February) . . Page.. 79 ..
MR WHITECROSS (Leader of the Opposition): Mr Speaker, I move:
That the Assembly expresses its deep regret at the death of Ms Edna Ryan, who made a significant contribution to the community of the Territory, especially to the campaign for equal pay and equal rights for women, and tenders its profound sympathy to her family in their bereavement.
Mr Speaker, Edna Minna Ryan was a feminist, an author and a socialist. She died in Canberra on 10 February 1997. This is the first opportunity we have had to officially farewell Edna and to remember her achievements, not only for the Australian Labor Party but also for Australian society and for women's place in Australian society. Edna Ryan was an integral part of what the ALP is today - a party of conscience, ideals and achievements; a party that places people above monetary values and women above stereotypes.
It is difficult, Mr Speaker, for my generation to understand the world in which Edna grew up and the workplace which she entered at the age of 14. There was no parental leave, no maternity leave, and no child care or superannuation. Women in the public service were sacked upon marriage and there was no concept of equal pay for equal work. It was a world where women were expected to be homemakers first and paid workers second. Those women who needed to or wanted to enter the work force did so without any pay equity. Women's wages were set at a percentage of the male rate by a male establishment that believed that no woman needed to be financially independent. It was people like Edna Ryan who advanced the cause of women in the workplace and tirelessly pursued the cause of equal pay for equal work.
Edna was a woman who had to be the sole breadwinner for her family. What she lacked in formal education she made up for in tenacity and independence. I understand that she joined the first International Women's Day demonstration held in Sydney in 1928. Edna was involved in the early equal pay cases before the Australian Industrial Relations Commission in 1969 and 1972 and was an early member of the Women's Electoral Lobby. She intervened for WEL in the national wage case in 1974. Being one of only four advocates arguing on behalf of women workers, Edna presented information never before published on the number of women heading households, as part of a successful
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .