had
some time to focus on my other job – my real job. That
of teaching my Year 11 class about significant moments
for women in Australian history.
The students had done research for homework and
had come up with some suggestions. We spent the class
narrowing these down and identifying what the girls
believed to be the most important moments. After half
an hour or so, I faced the blackboard and started to
write up our final list:
1881 – Women are allowed to enrol in the same
subjects as men at Sydney University for the first
time. (Medicine is the only exception.)
1901 – Women are granted the right to vote.
'Miss Aigner, only white women got the vote in
1901. Aboriginal women didn't get it until the 1967
referendum.'
In a class with only one Koori girl, Kerry, it was
actually a non-Koori student, Bernardine, who had
picked up on this fact. It made me proud. I'd once heard
feminist Dale Spender say that if a man ever made a
sexist remark in public, it was up to another man to
correct him, not a woman, and I totally agreed. It was
the same with race issues. Aboriginal people were
always expected to challenge the ignorant whitefella
when racist comments were made, when in fact it
should be another whitefella doing it. Just as a man
correcting a man packed a punch, so did a whitefella
correcting a whitefella.
'Good point, Bernardine.' I kept writing:
1907 – Australia's first female architect, Florence
Parsons, wins wide acclaim for the design of her
houses.
1943 – Senator Dorothy Tangney (Western
Australia) and MP Edith Lyons (Tasmania) are
the first women elected to Federal Parliament.
1967 – Aboriginal women (and men) get the right
to vote.
1976 – Pat O'Shane is sworn in as Australia's first
Aboriginal barrister.
1992 – Women are ordained as priests in the
Anglican Church.
1996 – Jennie George becomes the first female
president of the ACTU.
2000 – Cathy Freeman wins gold at the Sydney
Olympic Games.
Looking at the blackboard, I realised that the moments
we had chosen were all 'firsts'. As the first female head
of department at St Christina's, black or white, I was
almost tempted to add myself to the list. Humility was
one thing we prided ourselves on at the school, though,
so I resisted the temptation.
The class had been a great success, and I'd enjoyed
the girls' arguments. They had really gained a
broad view of the contribution women had made to
Australian history. Many had only ever mentioned male
historians in previous classes, so today I was pleased
to have heard the names of female historians for the
first time – Beverley Kingston, Shirley Fitzgerald and
Wendy Brady – women who had influenced my own
understanding of Australian history and had even been
my inspiration for teaching it.
I was also pleased that the girls' debate and final
list had included Aboriginal achievements, given that
Australian and Aboriginal history were often treated as
two separate subjects.
No doubt about it: I'd taught them well. I was
confident that my students were going to be valuable
citizens once they got out into the big, wide world.
My daydream was broken by an unexpected question
from the back of the room. 'With equal rights came the
right for women to ask men out – didn't it, Ms Aigner?'
The discussion had apparently turned to questions
of equity in relationships, etiquette and dating. I had no
idea how it had happened; I'd been too busy indulging
in thoughts of my own achievements.
I tried to make a joke of it.
'Did it? I thought women just got tired one day of
waiting for men to work up their courage.'
'What do you think about women asking men out
on dates generally, Miss?' Bernardine asked.
I was the last one to give advice. The last guy I'd
asked out had almost taken out an AVO on me. I'd read
in Cleo that men loved confident women who went
after what they wanted; that men loved being asked out,
because many of them were too shy to do it themselves
as women grew more and more confident. And so
some time to focus on my other job – my real job. That
of teaching my Year 11 class about significant moments
for women in Australian history.
The students had done research for homework and
had come up with some suggestions. We spent the class
narrowing these down and identifying what the girls
believed to be the most important moments. After half
an hour or so, I faced the blackboard and started to
write up our final list:
1881 – Women are allowed to enrol in the same
subjects as men at Sydney University for the first
time. (Medicine is the only exception.)
1901 – Women are granted the right to vote.
'Miss Aigner, only white women got the vote in
1901. Aboriginal women didn't get it until the 1967
referendum.'
In a class with only one Koori girl, Kerry, it was
actually a non-Koori student, Bernardine, who had
picked up on this fact. It made me proud. I'd once heard
feminist Dale Spender say that if a man ever made a
sexist remark in public, it was up to another man to
correct him, not a woman, and I totally agreed. It was
the same with race issues. Aboriginal people were
always expected to challenge the ignorant whitefella
when racist comments were made, when in fact it
should be another whitefella doing it. Just as a man
correcting a man packed a punch, so did a whitefella
correcting a whitefella.
'Good point, Bernardine.' I kept writing:
1907 – Australia's first female architect, Florence
Parsons, wins wide acclaim for the design of her
houses.
1943 – Senator Dorothy Tangney (Western
Australia) and MP Edith Lyons (Tasmania) are
the first women elected to Federal Parliament.
1967 – Aboriginal women (and men) get the right
to vote.
1976 – Pat O'Shane is sworn in as Australia's first
Aboriginal barrister.
1992 – Women are ordained as priests in the
Anglican Church.
1996 – Jennie George becomes the first female
president of the ACTU.
2000 – Cathy Freeman wins gold at the Sydney
Olympic Games.
Looking at the blackboard, I realised that the moments
we had chosen were all 'firsts'. As the first female head
of department at St Christina's, black or white, I was
almost tempted to add myself to the list. Humility was
one thing we prided ourselves on at the school, though,
so I resisted the temptation.
The class had been a great success, and I'd enjoyed
the girls' arguments. They had really gained a
broad view of the contribution women had made to
Australian history. Many had only ever mentioned male
historians in previous classes, so today I was pleased
to have heard the names of female historians for the
first time – Beverley Kingston, Shirley Fitzgerald and
Wendy Brady – women who had influenced my own
understanding of Australian history and had even been
my inspiration for teaching it.
I was also pleased that the girls' debate and final
list had included Aboriginal achievements, given that
Australian and Aboriginal history were often treated as
two separate subjects.
No doubt about it: I'd taught them well. I was
confident that my students were going to be valuable
citizens once they got out into the big, wide world.
My daydream was broken by an unexpected question
from the back of the room. 'With equal rights came the
right for women to ask men out – didn't it, Ms Aigner?'
The discussion had apparently turned to questions
of equity in relationships, etiquette and dating. I had no
idea how it had happened; I'd been too busy indulging
in thoughts of my own achievements.
I tried to make a joke of it.
'Did it? I thought women just got tired one day of
waiting for men to work up their courage.'
'What do you think about women asking men out
on dates generally, Miss?' Bernardine asked.
I was the last one to give advice. The last guy I'd
asked out had almost taken out an AVO on me. I'd read
in Cleo that men loved confident women who went
after what they wanted; that men loved being asked out,
because many of them were too shy to do it themselves
as women grew more and more confident. And so
Similar Books
