Guide to the Papers of Elizabeth Reid, 1963-1981

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 9262
Creator:
Reid, Elizabeth, 1942-
Extent:
15.12 metres and (108 boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Elizabeth Reid, National Library of Australia, MS 9262, [series and/or file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Biographical Note:

Elizabeth Reid (born 1942) was educated in Sydney and Canberra. In the early 1960s she worked as a computer programmer. She graduated with BA Hons from the ANU in 1965 and with a B Phil from Oxford University in 1970. From 1970 to 1973 she worked as a senior tutor in the Philosophy Department at the ANU.

In February 1973, soon after taking office, Gough Whitlam's Labor government advertised for the new position of Special Adviser to the Prime Minister on women's issues. The advertisement resulted in 450 applications from which a short-list of eighteen women were selected for interview. The short-list included such noted feminists as Beatrice Faust, Suzanne Baker, Susan Ryan, Dany Humphreys (Torsh), Eva Cox, Ann Forward, Deborah McCulloch, Lyndall Ryan and Anne Summers.

The job of Special Adviser went to Liz Reid. There was no similar position anywhere else in the world so there were no precedents for the Adviser's agenda or activities. The task was daunting especially since Reid had the assistance of only one staffer. There were plenty of ideas in the women's liberation movement, which emerged in Australia as in other countries in the late 1960s, about priorities for improving the situation of women, but there was also criticism about the establishment of the position of women's adviser and scepticism about what such a person could achieve. Many women wrote to Reid with suggestions about what needed to be done and where help was required from the government (Reid received more mail than anyone in the government apart from the Prime Minister) but the media was scornful and cynical about the value of such a position. The terms 'Superwoman', 'SuperFem' and 'Ms Liz' were used by both critics and supporters, by critics to deride the appointment and by supporters to indicate the difficulties of the task that lay ahead.

The Whitlam government took important steps with regard to no-fault divorce, equal pay, the supporting mothers' benefit, an adult minimum wage for women and maternity leave, supported family planning in community health centres (including the establishment of the Leichhardt Community Women's Health Centre), investigated the educational needs of women and girls, established a Women's Affairs Section in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (later upgraded to a Branch), investigated sexism in the Public Service and established the Royal Commission on Human Relationships. There was however much controversy about its policy toward the key issue of child care which the conservatives in the Labor Party opposed.

The Whitlam government also decided to make a special effort to implement the objectives of International Women's Year, 1975 and in late 1974 $2 million was allocated to women's projects, the first time that funds had been specifically set aside for such a purpose. Reid established the National Advisory Council to plan and organise International Women's Year in Australia and to administer the grants. The NAC included people such as Irene Greenwood, Margaret Whitlam, Caroline Jones, Ruby Hammond, Diana Waite, Barry Egan (trade unionist) and Jim Spigelman from the Office of the Prime Minister. The media were critical about the '$2 million for the Sheilas' and remained generally hostile during IWY, treating it as a waste of taxpayers' money on extremist or trivial causes. The distribution of grants was also controversial, especially within the women's movement in Sydney where there was criticism of the support given to books, films and festivals (including a grant to Germaine Greer for a TV documentary) rather than to initiatives such as Elsie, the first women's refuge in Sydney, or to the Rape Crisis Centre set up in Sydney in October 1974. The year long IWY program resulted in many activities which focussed on the contemporary and historical situation of women, especially major events such as the Women and Health Conference, and the Women and Politics Conference. A delegation from Australia also attended the IWY Conference in Mexico. Other outcomes included the establishment of the Working Women's Centre, the ABC's 'Coming Out' show, the Women's Film Fund and the compilation of the Schools Commission report on Girls, Schools and Society and of Women in Australia: An Annotated Guide to Records (a project directed by Kay Daniels).

In late 1975, when the new secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister, John Menadue, decided to have Liz Reid transferred from the Prime Minister's Office to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet she refused to agree to this change in her position and influence and resigned. Since then she has mostly lived and worked overseas. In 1975 she took up a position as adviser to Princess Ashraf Pahlavi of Iran on development planning and women and later became Director of the UN Asian and Pacific Centre for Women and Development (in Teheran) from 1977 to 1979. During 1976 she was also a Fellow at the Institute of Politics and the JF Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The worsening situation in Iran which eventually led to the fall of the Shah and the assumption of power by Ayatollah Khomeini led Liz Reid to take up a position as consultant to the Commonwealth Secretariat in London in 1979 after which she became the principal officer of the Secretariat for the 1980 World Conference of the Decade for Women, 1979 to 1980.

Since 1981 Reid has worked on development and health programs, many relating to HIV/AIDS, in Bangkok, Zaire, Burundi, Rwanda, New York, Canberra and Papua New Guinea. She has worked in a variety of roles for a range of organisations within the United Nations, as well as for USAID and the Peace Corps. She continues to speak at conferences and publish extensively on issues relating to women in development and HIV/AIDS.

In 2001 Reid was made an Officer of the Order or Australia for her contributions to international relations, the welfare of women and her work on the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Bibliographic Reference(s)

Provenance:

The papers of Elizabeth Reid were donated to the Library under the Cultural Gifts Program in 2002.

Arrangement:

The bulk of Reid's papers was in files when received. Arrangement into series has been imposed by the Library, with original file titles recorded where possible.

Container List:
Series File/Item Box
1 1-7 1
1 8-16 2
1 17-24 3
1 25-31 4
1 32-39 5
1 40-46 6
2 1-8 7
3 Loose 1 box 8
4 1-8 9
5 1-6 10
5 7-11 11
5 12-16 12
5 17-22 13
5 23-28 14
5 29-35 15
6 Loose in box 16
7 1-8 17
7 9-16 18
7 17-21 19
8 1-7 20
8 8-14 21
8 15-20 22
8 21-26 23
9 1-4 24
9 5-8 25
10 1-4 26
11 1-3 26
11 4-10 27
11 11 28
12 1-4 28
13 1-8 29
13 9-11 30
14 1-7a 31
14 8-15 32
14 16-22 33
14 23-29 34
14 30-37 35
14 38-42 36
14 43-46 37
14 47-54 38
14 55-63 39
14 64-71a 40
14 72-79 41
14 80-86 42
14 87-94 43
14 95-101 44
14 102-108 45
14 109-113 46
14 114-121 47
15 1-8 48
15 9-17 49
15 18-26 50
15 27-32 51
15 33-36 52
15 37-39 53
16 A 54-55
16 A-B 56
16 B-C 57
16 C 58-59
16 C-D 60
16 D 61
16 E 62-63
16 E-F 64
16 F-H 65
16 H 66
16 H-I 67
16 I 68
16 I-L 69
16 L-M 70
16 M 71
16 M-N 72
16 N 73
16 N-O 74
16 O-P 75
16 P 76
16 P-R 77
16 R-S 78
16 S 79-80
16 S-T 81
16 T-U 82
16 U 83-85
16 V-W 86
16 W-Y 88
17 1-3 88
17 4-9 89
17 10-14 90
17 15-18 91
17 19-21 92
18 1-5 93
18 6-9 94
18 10-13 95
18 14-18 96
18 19-23 97
18 24-28 98
18 29-32 99
18 33-37 100
18 38-40 101
18 41-44 102
18 45-48 103
18 49-51 104
18 52-53 and loose volumes 105
18 11 volumes loose in box 106
18 54-55 107
18 56 108

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
The collection is available for reference.
Conditions Governing Use:
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Elizabeth Reid, National Library of Australia, MS 9262, [series and/or file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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