Women's secret business

Abstract

On a bright morning, while attending the Sixth International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women in Adelaide, Australia, I join a walking tour of the campuses of the University of Adelaide, the University of South Australia, and Findlander University. Dew gathers on flowers and shrubs. Birds sing. Various women from the community, legislature, and university faculty guide the tour, and give us presentations on women's roles in Australia. The tour leader shows us historical sites where statues or plaques commemorate the accomplishments of Australian scholars, legislators, and feminists. The feminist history recounted by the tour guides spans the time from the colonialists’ arrival to the present. The leaders who address us at the stops along our walking tour tell us of the first girl permitted to enter the university, the first woman hired to teach in the university, the first woman to join the medical faculty, and the first woman to be elected to Parliament.