farewell to a most significant womon...

margaret whitlam, a strong, independent womon, an icon of australian politics, died at the age of 92 on saturday...

she was a prominent womon in australian herstory and history, so much so that she was named an australian living treasure in 1997... she had been an elite swimmer, participating in the 1938 empire games, only missing out on the 1940 olympics due to their cancellation (ww2 having 'started' in 1939)… she gained a degree in social studies, becoming a social worker (receiving recognition in 1983 for services to the community)...


 
her life-partnership with gough whitlam began in 1942 and it wasn't long before she became part of the federal political scene... she was a staunch supporter of womyn’s rights (in particular abortion law reform), social justice, the environment and the arts, and will be remembered for re-writing the role of ‘first lady’ in australia…

when gough was voted in as prime minister "she spoke frankly about the ambiguous role, undefined duties and loss of a separate identity. She wrote in her diary in December 1972, 'What am I to do? Stay in a cage - wide open to view, of course - and say nothing? That's not on but if I can do some good I'll certainly try' ... from national archives australia


according to her biographer susan mitchell, she was never afraid to speak her mind... "She was ahead of Gough and the Labor party in a lot of the things she said. Certainly she made it quite clear in her attitudes towards women's rights to have abortions, she even believed that marijuana should be legalised.  She said 'I have to be my own person, I'm not just going to be some ageing princess locked up in a tower." ... abc news

 

she is indeed held in high esteem… in an unprecedented move “Julia Gillard will today offer former PM Gough Whitlam and his family a state funeral for his wife Margaret. In a break with protocol, a state funeral to remember the woman who remade what it was to be Australia's first lady is thought to be the first for the wife of a PM.” ... news.com.au

joan kirner said of her death… “Though all of the papers and all of the biographies describe her as the former prime minister's wife, it's the wrong description. She was Margaret Whitlam, leader of women and leader in women's rights and achievements." ... abc news