quentin bryce: a woman at the top
Maybe it’s because a lack female leadership in the workplace is still a major problem in Australia, maybe it’s because our first female prime minister was removed amid some mean-arsed gender debates. Perhaps it’s because it’s disheartening that our current government employs one woman in its Cabinet, but my psyche has become plagued with the fate of females in leadership roles.
Enter, stage left, Quentin Bryce, Australia’s first feminist, female Governor-General now holding the title of The Honourable Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO (a discussion for another time) and a salient role model for Australian women.
Bryce grew up in Ilfracombe, a small town in central west Queensland. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland, becoming one of Australia’s first female barristers and the first female appointed to the University of Queensland’s law faculty. Bryce has described the pursuit of her career as ‘a long road,’ especially in relation to her interests in ‘promoting and protecting human rights, but with a special emphasis on Indigenous issues, [and] equality of opportunity.’
Before she became Governor of Queensland and Governor-General of Australia, Bryce had a host of leadership positions in the feminist sphere including: Convenor of the National Women’s Advisory Council, Inaugural Director of the Queensland Women’s Information Service, Director of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, and Principal and CEO of The Women’s College, University of Sydney. Yeah, this woman knows what’s up.
But, it was confusing to me at first why such an important woman with evidently strong views would agree to be a non-partisan figure in her role as Governor-General. Yes, she still occupied a leadership role, but why was she choosing to hold a constitutional and ceremonial position?
Well, markedly, her position entitled her to a platform. A very public platform, which she used to rally on issues that were important to her, such as women’s and children’s rights, human rights, and Indigenous affairs. This was a powerful thing for her to have. Indeed, the governor-general’s website has posted all 830 speeches Bryce has made in her time as Governor-General and two million people view her activities monthly. Bryce herself has stated that ‘the personal is political,’ and her vice-regal post has in truth made her an exemplar to me both personally and politically.
Most notably Bryce’s Boyer lecture: Watching women, show’s just how assertive she is in women’s movements, and her International Women’s Day speeches set a tone of pithy encouragement for Australian women and a need to reach out to women internationally.
Of course, her links to feminism have always been present in nuanced ways. On several occasions Bryce can be seen wearing her floral brooch (or, should I say badge) of purple, white and green. These were the colours the suffragette movement adopted as a symbol of their plight. In her portrait, which will be hung in the member’s hall of parliament house, Bryce is wearing what the artist, Ralph Heimens, calls ‘suffragette purple.’ ‘This is something she wanted – to be represented in the colour of the women’s movement.’
Bryce’s subtlety ingrained in her position as Governor-General is apparent but her assertive nature regarding matters such as human rights is also present in her speeches, participation in organisations, and actions.
‘It’s been an era of great reform since I started my career in 1966, which was when the marriage bar was lifted, and we can be very proud of the achievements in equality and opportunity and equal status for women,’ Bryce said on her last day as Governor-General. ‘But we have a long way to go in terms of women’s leadership, our equal participation at the highest levels of decision making.’ You said it sister.
