AustLit

'These three books chronicle the lives of Australian feminists Germaine Greer, Iola Mathews and Anne Summers. By way of brief introduction: Summers is one of Australia’s best-known feminists. She was part of the collective that founded Elsie, the first women’s refuge in Australia, and in 1975 she authored the Australian feminist classic Damned Whores and God’s Police.Summers also worked as a journalist in Australia and internationally, and as a political advisor at the highest level of government to improve the lives of Australian women. Unfettered and Alive is the second volume of her autobiography, which begins in 1976 where her first, Ducks on the Pond (1999), ends. Iola Mathews started her career as a journalist at The Age and was one of the founding members of the Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL), an organisation that sought reform of party politics along feminist lines. She also worked at the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) where she pursued equal pay and paid parental leave. Germaine Greer wrote what is sometimes called ‘the classic text of the [women’s] movement’ The Female Eunuch (1970) and is a global celebrity, thinker and provocateur.' (Introduction)