Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: women

  • Intrepid Women: Adventures in Anthropology

    Intrepid Women: Adventures in Anthropology

    Editor of the book Intrepid Women, Adventures in Anthropology Julia Nicholson, has chosen six women who have exceeded in their desires to understand and document their anthropological fieldwork. Their work was carried out from the early 1900’s to 1937.Julia has written about two of these women, one from New Mexico and one from Naga Hills. The extent to which these women compromised their health, safety, physical and mental security is amazing.

    Other authors in the book, Intrepid Women, Adventures in Anthropology, have chosen women from Siberia, North America, and Mexico. Four of the women graduated as Oxford trained anthropologists, one survived a shipwreck, and one expected daily to be captured and beheaded by the Japanese army.

    Each of the women learned local dialects, and developed relationships, which focussed their attentions on establishing the dignity and humanity of all cultures. Not only did these women face the dangers out in the field, but they were also discriminated against in the University setting.

    Professor Hartland told Margaret Murray “That there are many things a woman ought not to know, and he certainly would not allow a woman to attend any of his lectures.” Fortunately, there were also progressive men who realised that to understand a society, one had to understand the role that women played in it, and women were essential to complete that understanding.

    A special exhibition held at the Pitt Rivers Museum in 2018 displayed objects which had been collected by five of these women. This included photographs, videos, journals, and many other artifacts. Through these collections, the women have left a legacy for researchers to study. There are many photographs of people, artifacts, documents, and ceremonial regalia in this book which enhances the stories.

  • Travelling to Tomorrow

    Travelling to Tomorrow

    The modern women who sparked Australia’s romance with America

    In 2011 the Yves Rees and her partner travelled from Australia to San Francisco for work. Yves had an internship at the museum and worked on an exhibition for the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge construction. Yves had previously spent a year studying in England where a period of cold, and gloom punctuated by convict and colonial jokes made her feel alienated from her “Mother Country. ” Many Australians had tried their luck in London but the author, as a historian, wondered how many women had been “Seduced by the United States.”  – Where was the History?

    What follows, is the stories of women, little known in Australia, who had achieved greatness in their chosen profession, and recognition beyond their wildest dreams. Sadly, not many of these names are familiar to us.

    May Laherty from Queensland had always had a gift for debating. She was invited by her uncle to move to America. He would pay for her tuition at the University of Southern California Law School. At this time there were no female lawyers in Queensland but opportunity to succeed and work in America. During her years of study, May topped her class and went on to practice law.

    Rose Cummings (1884-1968) was a socialite who had become bored with her lifestyle. She consulted with an old New Yorker who suggested she try Interior Design an unheard-of occupation in Australia at that time. With “Luck, privilege and ingenuity,” Rose built a lifestyle of wealth and prestige.

    These fascinating short stories continue. Isabel Letham, a swimmer, Dorothy Cottrell, a writer, Mary Cecil Allen, a painter, Vera Bradford, a pianist, and Dorothy Waugh, a dentist, are just some of the characters we uncover.

    As a Historian, the author has outlined the social and political norms during these stories. We learn about great Australian women, who have achieved success and the settings and times when their influence was paramount.

  • Whenever You’re Ready

    Whenever You’re Ready

    Trish Bolton was aware that most novels don’t feature older women as the main characters. It became a dream of hers to address this. She has written a book, set in Australia, about a group of women who have been friends since school. There is Claire, the comforter and carer, Alice, the TV presenter, and Lizzie, the high-flying political dynamo.

    The beginning of Whenever You’re Ready is very dramatic and sets the scene for soul searching and reflection. Now that Claire is no longer a part of the group, Lizzie, her daughter Margot and Alice, all reflect on past times. They each had a bond with Claire, and she was the cement that bound them together for so long.

    As a child, Margot spent more time with Claire while her mother was working and looked to Claire as her care giver. Alice knows a secret that Claire has made her promise never to tell. Lizzie regrets the many times she was too busy to catch up with Claire.

    As each story unfolds and relates to the others in the group, we find a rich and diverse tale being told. As women in their sixties, their past stories ring true of the times and reflect changing social values and norms.

  • The Six

    The Six

    The Untold Story of America’s First Women in Space

    There are few people who have not heard of Neil Armstrong, the first man to put his foot on the moon in 1969, however not many have heard of the first woman in space, Sally Ride. Acclaimed space reporter Loren Grush’s in her extensively researched book, ‘The SIX’, ensures that the six elite women, who entered the NASA programme in 1978, in a field often hostile to their gender, are truly recognised for their many remarkable achievements.

    During the 1960’s and 1970’s would-be-female astronauts were stonewalled by a bureaucracy intent on preventing change. However, with the rise of the women’s movement, social and political change, Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid and Rhea Seddon were selected from a candidate pool of 8,000 brilliant, courageous, passionate and driven women to join the America’s NASA Human Space programme. Despite attitudinal change, these women challenged by the male-dominated media of the day with its outright sexist attitudes, still had to overcome a sometimes chauvinistic work atmosphere.

    The author not only details their training, the missions each undertook, the significant contribution each made, the Challenger disaster and its investigation (the death of teacher Christa McAuliffe which was watch by her students), but also gives the reader insight into their lives and dreams before, during and post their involvement in the space programme.

    The author’s passion for this topic and her well-developed journalistic skills are very evident in this in engaging story of these six trailblazing women. She strikes the perfect balance between their wonderful personal stories of how their time at NASA affected them and their families and the technical details of their assigned missions.   

    This highly recommended book deserves to be on every school’s library shelves.

  • The First Matildas – the 1975 Asian Ladies Championship

    The First Matildas – the 1975 Asian Ladies Championship

    The Matilda’s have taken the world by storm during the 2023 Women’s World Cup series and raised the focus of women soccer and almost by default, women’s sport in Australia to the highest levels ever known, and certainly the accolades they have been receiving are very, very long overs due.

    The First Matilda’s written by Greg Downes pays tribute to the women, and the men, who formed the first Matilda’s Women’s Football team that went on to represent Australia in the 1975 Asian Ladies Championship and became known as the 1975ers.  

    How this came about and the many challenges that had to be faced, overcome and then in several instances accepted, makes interesting reading. These women, from many cultural backgrounds, came together from far and wide locations to begin the formation of what has today, resulted in a formidable force of women excelling in what was once a stanchly male dominated area.

    Each of the women that made up this historic side have been interviewed in detail about how they came to play football, how they discovered their local, or not so local sides and what it was like to train, work, and compete, before eventually going to Hong Kong to represent Australia in the AFC Women’s Cup which back in 1975 was something incredibly special.

    This AFC World Cup competition was the first of its kind and was run by the Asian Ladies Football Confederation; to get there was a challenge in itself, but one that was well met. In 2022, these pioneering women were still not recognised in full for their great achievement. Why? Because they were not men and the Football Association is still a political machine! The 2023 team will have hopefully shattered this concept for all time.

    Pat and Joe O’Connor, migrants to Australia where the instigators for the development of women’s football in New South Wales as well as going on to develop and formalise many aspects of the modern game. Joe, an Irishman from country Clair met and married Pat, a Warwickshire lass and decided to move to Australia in 1963 because of the weather and their love of the outdoors. They are now considered as the Godparents of Australian Women’s Football.

    A simple note from their son’s school asking if he would like to join the local soccer club, proved to be impetus that would result in what is today, a modern vibrant, highly respected team of Women who are taking, not only Australia but the world by storm as they continue to raise the bar for women athlete’s world-wide.

    The 1975ers, effectively the first Matilda’s began an historic journey, failed to get the recognition they well deserved but through their efforts, refusal to accept the limitation placed upon them and all the challenges of carving a place in a male dominated world of sport, have now, almost 40 years later, with the Matilda’s of 2023, finally achieved the recognition Australian women in sport so richly deserve.

    As with many books relating to a particular subject, in this case Woman Football, the material is interesting to the fans and supporters of the Sport. The style with which the history is compiled is somewhat unusual as the interviews with the women have been used as separate stories.

    These have been tied together with facts and background, which, draws attention to the women who are the focus, as they describe what it was like to be part of such a momentous change in sport and one that has seen many of them go on to be leading ‘ladies’ in the development of Women’s Football in Australia and world-wide.

  • Motherland

    Motherland

    Motherland is a superb compilation of short stories. The way they have been woven around the theme of women in the outback is most engaging. The foreword by Stephanie Trethewey is equally revealing as she discloses her past experiences. She was a single journalist hunting down the exciting stories in the city, and working at a frantic pace to keep up. Her life was fast, glamorous, and full on. Then one day, on a slow day, she met a farmer. He was speaking at a conference. Thus begins her journey.

    An impressive feature of this book is the map at the front. It clearly shows where each woman who has contributed a story to this book lives. It really helps to clarify the reader’s imagination, knowing the exact location in the country, of each author. All the states and territories are represented by women with their story to tell. Julie McDonald tells her story which changed her life in a second. She went from the happiest of women, married to the love of her life, to a widow with four children.

    Karen Brock from Tasmania was announced as the AgriFutures Rural woman of the Year in 2020. But life had not always been easy for her. As a young mother with two small children, she was subjected to domestic violence that was horrific. When you are alone and there “are kilometres of paddock around …and there’s no help,” it seems there is no way out. Again, isolation plays a huge part for country women.

    Each of the stories we read tell of the love of the country, the lifestyle and the family. For each story, there is a time when the lack of services and help can mean the difference between life and death. Motherland presents the courage and passion that these women show which is to be celebrated.

  • Rebalance: How Women Lead, Parent, Partner and Thrive (Resetting Our Future)

    Rebalance: How Women Lead, Parent, Partner and Thrive (Resetting Our Future)

    During the COVID pandemic many people were forced into making some serious changes in their lives. Women were almost immediately thrust into a world vastly different to their daily lives, taken out of boardrooms, offices, careers and their own business to become home school parents and much more.

    Both men and women found themselves floundering in a sea of unknown quantities and for many, they discovered they simply had to take stock of not just their lives, but their career pathway. Many were for the first time, spending longer with their children and spouse than perhaps ever before and realised that one of the most important aspects of their lives was family.

    How to change, to be able to manage the massive variations that that entered their and many others lives, was something Monika Brand Engel, Lisa Neuberger Fernandez and Wendy Jagerson Teleki all women of high standing in the Corporate world, all three mothers and wives, needed to take on board and look at a positive way forward, not just for them but for the many others who were, in their words, ‘forced to take stock’.

    They began writing Rebalance at the beginning of the pandemic, eventually concluding the book as there was some hopeful evidence that life was returning to what is now called the ‘new normal’.

    Their findings have created a new respect for the role of the working mother, the very real need in people’s lives of establishing boundaries, listening, setting up networks to both support and encourage, and having a voice to be able to challenge long held assumptions about the woman’s role in the modern world.

    Empowering, encouraging and full of wonderful tips on what to do and not to do, Rebalance: How Women Lead, Parent, Partner and Thrive is a long overdue book for not just women in business, but women who work in any form of enterprise world-wide.

  • Votes for Women!: The story of Nellie, Rose and Mary

    Votes for Women!: The story of Nellie, Rose and Mary

    Having just had the Federal Elections, it’s hard to believe that it’s only been 120 years that women were allowed to vote in this election. Australia was the second country to allow women this privilege; it took another twenty years for women in the United Kingdom and the United States of America to be given the same rights. However, women in South Australia had gone to the polls six years earlier; being the first in Australia to do so.

    Multiple award-winning author/artist Mark Wilson in his beautifully illustrated picture book ‘Vote for Women’ chronicles the story of three women whose drive and determination helped achieve the vote for women in South Australia. Rose Birks, her stepdaughter Nellie and Mary Lee worked for women’s rights and became part of the Women’s Suffrage League.

    While lobbying for women to be allowed to vote, they also petitioned for the rights of children in their home town of Adelaide. Even though they faced a great deal of opposition, they managed to accumulate over 10,000 signatures on their petition, which ultimately lead to success.

    Not only children but also adults cannot but fall in love with the charming illustrations which have been inspired by the French and Australian impressionist painters Renoir, Monet, Cubbin and Streeton. For all those who share the author’s passion for Australian history and for all those who are yet to acquire it, this hard backed book is a must to buy.

  • What She Said

    What She Said

    Inspirational Speeches by Women

    What She Said is a powerhouse book. Anyone who has to make a speech, no matter what their standing, the reason or the audience size, should ensure they obtain a copy.

    Monica Lunin has correlated 40 speeches made by women over the past 400 years, extracted the lessons they contain and exactly how they have used their voices, their message, to herald change. 

    Throughout history, women have always been the lesser when it comes to public, powerful oratory, but in today’s world this gap is decreasing, with women holding powerful roles, unafraid to speak out, to use their position to demand change happen.

    Queen Elizabeth 1, a woman who became Queen after the reign of the infamous Henry VIII, in sixteenth century England, in a short but powerful speech to her troops, made them feel they were the most important people to her, that their role was tantamount to hers at that point in time; the eve of her troops assembling to take on the might of the Spanish Armada. Her message was clear to all as she raised the men from conscripted fighters to noble and worthy subjects. Powerful indeed.

    Florence Nightingale has a timeless lesson in her speech to Nurses about making sure everything is done to the very best of their ability in What Makes A Good Nurse.  Michelle Obamas speech as The First Lady of America, was to an audience of approximately 50,000 people as she spoke out in support of Hillary Clinton’s Democratic nomination to run for President. She received a standing ovation for her words; while at times a little hesitant and unsure, her speech was filled with genuine emotion and understanding.

    As the ten sections unfold there is Julia Gillard’s Misogyny Speech, in which she lost her famous calm approach and dressed down Tony Abbott, then the Leader of the Opposition, in a manner that left him and the House, in no misunderstanding of what she meant.

    Greta Thunberg’s Our House Is On Fire, presented to the World Economic Forum in 2019 was an incredible moment in time. At the age of 16 years she spoke eloquently, powerfully, using many subtle but powerful techniques to captivate her audience and in doing so, set off a movement for climate change that circled the world; slowed only by the advent of COVID -19.

    Ruth Bader Ginsberg, was the second woman to serve on the Court in America, rising to become one of the most respected women in America. Her argument in the landmark case of Fronterio v’s Richardson still resonates today. 

    Emily Pankhurst, headed the suffragette movement and used whatever tactics she felt the occasion demanded, to bring the vote to women. Angela Merkel spoke on the importance of the world being united to ensure another tragedy, such as World War 2, was never able to reoccur.

    Jacinata Arden’s speech after the horror of the Christchurch Massacre resonated across the world, calling out the men who plan such terrible, senseless acts of violence for their fleeting moment of fame and binding all the many people of New Zealand into one Nation.

    Each of the speeches is broken down into What She Said, and How She Did That, which adds a fresh perspective on words which have, without doubt, changed the world in which we live, even if only a little, .

    The final speech is from Maya Angelou who was chosen to speak at the inauguration of Bill Clinton into the role of President of the United States in 1993. A poet and author, she was noted for speaking out on things she felt mattered. Her words, in poetic format had to be carefully chosen to reflect the highest intentions of Clinton and show how he intended to lead.  A Rock, A River, A Tree is well worth reading and reflecting on the power of words when carefully selected and delivered.

    Whether you are to address a very small group or a massive audience, What She Said should be considered essential reading. Even if you are not about speak publicly, reading the selected 40 speeches shows the trajectory of the powerful, ever increasing voice of women, young and old, world-wide, calling for change; demanding change.

  • Orphan Rock

    Orphan Rock

    Australian History comes to life in this rich and complex saga, Orphan Rock. Set in Sydney in the late 1800’s we are introduced to the main character Bessie, as she gradually becomes aware that she has been left at an Orphanage.

    As a young girl, she can vaguely remember her mother, but Lottie is the orphan who guides her through the routines, keeps her safe, and sleeps with her at night. The poverty and hardship are tangible.

    Many topics are examined in this story and as a result of careful research, the Dominique Wilson brings forward many other social justice issues.

    For those Chinese who migrated to Australia for a better life, or for gold, life was unenviable. Trying to settle into a community who were mistrusting and suspicious was hard enough, but to try to work and support a family was a battle. If a Chinese man fell in love and married an Australian girl, she would be disgraced and extraneous to the community.

    A separate issue at that time was the rights of women. As an adult, Bessie began to work for a newspaper run by feminist Louisa Lawson, she saw the inequality and despair of women trying to make a stand for their rights. Bessie was fortunate as she was a companion to an old woman who had a pen pal living in France. The pen pal decided to come to Australia for a visit and the disparity between the cultures was huge.

    After surviving the death of her husband and family to smallpox, Bessie lived from hand to mouth. Eventually, she remarried and her daughter lived to benefit from all hardships that had gone before her. As Kathleen becomes an adult, she continued the French Connection formed when her mother was a young woman and was there when World War 1 broke out.

    It is the detail and characters in Orphan Rock which present such an impact on the reader. As we follow the story, Historical events slot into place and it is so easy to be transported to that time and location.