Cauldron: Women and Labor No. 2 (Tribune, 24 Oktober 1979)

Tribune (1979-10-24) - CAULDRON Women and Labor No 2 Source: Trove, National Library of Australia - https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article259554936 Date retrieved: 2026-10-17 OCR text (uncorrected) follows. 24 Oct 1979 - CAULDRON Tribune (Sydney, NSW: 1939 - 1991), Wednesday 24 October 1979, page 11 OWomen and Labor No 2.Planning is well advanced for the second Women and Labor Conference to be held in Melbourne from May 17 to 19, 1980.Monthly meetings in Melbourne have attracted 30 to 50 women of diverse ages and backgrounds and their discussions have covered topics like the oral history of La Trobe Valley women, the uses of oral history in drama, the Indonesian women's movement, women in trade unions and in political leadership. The group is also actively involved in all aspects of conference organisation and planning: sending out the monthly newsletter which now reaches 300 Victorian women, soliciting papers, investigating accommodation and billeting, getting the Bulletin together and making the thousands of decisions needed when organising such a large forum. Convenors Margaret James, Margaret Bevage and Carmel Shute (a fourth convenor, Marilyn Woolley, withdrew due to work pressure) — are responsible for routine correspondence, co-ordination of the newsletter and Bulletin, financial arrangements and negotiation on the group's behalf for sponsorship and other conference arrangements. Conference details including proposed papers can be obtained by subscribing to the Bulletin, $5 for four issues, from: The Convenors, Women and Labor Conference, History Department, Latrobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, 3083. Unemployed women The Australian government monthly review of the employment situation for August 1979 shows that female unemployment has increased by 2.5 per cent (43,500) in the last 12 months compared to 0.7 per cent (21,000) for males. During the month an estimated 179,300 women were seeking full-time work, while 48,000 were seeking part-time work. The job categories which showed the highest unemployment rates were, in order, clerical and administrative, semi-skilled, unskilled manual, and service occupations. Although the statistics aren't broken down by sex, it's obvious which categories contain the most women. While even these numbers are high we must remember that many women aren't even counted. Women who in desperation have given up looking for jobs, those living with a working partner and not registered as unemployed, those who've worked for one hour of more (that's one hour) in the survey week. Also among the hidden jobless are older people forced to retire early or retrenched, that feel they haven't a chance of getting another job. Then there's women who'd like to return to work now their kids have reached school age or similar. And there's no way of estimating the numbers who may have fallen victim to propaganda like: "If Mum didn't work, there'd be jobs for the boys (and girls)".