Madge Dawson

Last updated • 4 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Madge Dawson
Born
Alice Madge Burton

(1908-03-05)5 March 1908
Echunga, South Australia
Died15 June 2003(2003-06-15) (aged 95)
EducationHonorary Masters
EmployerUniversity of Sydney
Known forWomen Activism, Social Justice, Education
SpouseDavid Dawson
ChildrenSean Dawson, Paddy Dawson

Alice Madge Dawson (5 March 1908 – 15 June 2003) was an Australian educator, social worker, researcher and pioneering feminist. She created the Women's Studies course in the Department of Adult Education at the University of Sydney. [1]

Contents

Early life

Dawson was born as Alice Madge Burton, in Echunga in South Australia in 1908. Although she won a scholarship to study medicine at Adelaide University the family could not afford to pay for the costs of living there and instead Dawson became a teacher, partly funded by the availability of the South Australian Education Department allowance. In this department of study teachers in the area experienced discrimination to many women around the world, the men earned a higher salary and married women were not allowed to work. When Dawson went to Sydney University similar discriminations were still in place, women were not offered the home loan scheme for married staff. Dawson took on this latter position and won the case, getting the loan. [2] [3] [4]

Activism

In 1937 Dawson traveled with her husband David Dawson. They visited “Japan, Germany and the USSR as well as China and the UK." [2] Dawson felt deeply unsettled as they observed events unfolding in Nazi Germany from the ground, including a speech by Joseph Goebbels, a Nazi politician. [5] Dawson desired to learn from their travels by witnessing and experiencing prejudice firsthand, specifically "racism, sexism, class division, colonialism, imperialism, communism, Nazism and war." [6]

Stirred by her travels, she opposed Nazi organizations alongside "the Spanish people and the International Brigade." [2] Dawson was involved in other political movements, including an organization for Aboriginal rights, the Australian Labor Party, (ALP). She also spoke against the Vietnam War and use of nuclear weapons.

Career

Throughout World War II she worked in an aircraft factory. For several years after the war Dawson gained a number of new qualifications in social work before they returned to Australia in 1954. [2] In 1956 she began working as a lecturer in Sydney University where she initiated the work that would become Women's studies. [7] [4] Initially her course talked about the socio-economic and political status of women in Europe. Many of her students became leading academics in the new feminist movements and the course led to the publication of her book Graduate and Married (University of Sydney, 1965). However, as of late, the demands of the economy as well as recognition of the crucial role women already play have prompted some reevaluation of their potential. [8] She continued to research the topics and produced two further books with academics from three Sydney universities, retiring in 1973 but continuing to lecture part time. [4] [9] [10] Dawson was awarded an honorary master's from Sydney University as well as an honorary doctorate from Macquarie University in 1989. [11]

Personal life

Dawson married David Dawson in 1934. After the war they settled in London and had two sons Sean (adopted) and Paddy Dawson. [2]

Bibliography

Resources

  1. ↑ "Dawson, Alice Madge (c. 1980–2003)". www.encyclopedia.com. Encyclopedia.com.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ardent warrior for women's rights". The Sydney Morning Herald. 31 July 2003.
  3. ↑ "Catalog Search Results". catalog.hathitrust.org. HathiTrust Digital Library.
  4. 1 2 3 Roe, Jill (1988). "Madge Dawson's Eightieth Birthday". Labour History (54): 112–113. doi:10.2307/27504440. JSTOR   27504440.
  5. ↑ "Joseph Goebbels". encyclopedia.ushmm.org. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  6. ↑ "MILESAGO - Profiles - Madge Dawson". www.milesago.com. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  7. ↑ Naples, Nancy A. (2020). "The Changing Field of Women's and Gender Studies". Companion to Women's and Gender Studies. pp. 1–22. doi:10.1002/9781119315063.ch1. ISBN   978-1-119-31508-7. S2CID   216495734.
  8. ↑ Dawson, Madge (1969). "Education of women in Australia". Convergence. 2 (2): 11. ProQuest   1437903027.[ non-primary source needed ]
  9. ↑ "Honorary Awards" (PDF). University of Sydney.
  10. ↑ Gowlett, Christina; Rasmussen, Mary Lou (2 October 2017). The Cultural Politics of Queer Theory in Education Research. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-317-32669-4.
  11. ↑ "Honorary doctorates". Students.

Related Research Articles

Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppression; and the relationships between power and gender as they intersect with other identities and social locations such as race, sexual orientation, socio-economic class, and disability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quentin Bryce</span> 25th Governor-General of Australia

Dame Quentin Alice Louise Bryce, is an Australian academic who served as the 25th governor-general of Australia from 2008 to 2014. She is the first and to date only woman to have held the position, and was previously the 24th Governor of Queensland from 2003 to 2008.

Rosemary Follett is a former Australian politician who was the first Chief Minister of Australian Capital Territory, serving in 1989 and again between 1991 and 1995. She was the first woman to become head of government in an Australian state or territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florence Howe</span> American feminist writer (1929–2020)

Florence Rosenfeld Howe was an American author, publisher, literary scholar, and historian who is considered to have been a leader of the contemporary feminist movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Ryan</span> Australian politician (1942–2020)

Susan Maree Ryan was an Australian politician and public servant. She was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and held ministerial office in the Hawke government as Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women (1983–1988), Minister for Education and Youth Affairs (1983–1984), Minister for Education (1984–1987) and Special Minister of State (1987–1988). She was the first woman from the ALP to serve in cabinet and was notably involved in the creation of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and the Affirmative Action Act 1986. Ryan served as a senator for the Australian Capital Territory from 1975 to 1987. After leaving politics she served as the Age Discrimination Commissioner from 2011 to 2016, within the Australian Human Rights Commission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raewyn Connell</span> Retired Australian professor

Raewyn Connell, usually cited as R. W. Connell, is an Australian sociologist and Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney, mainly known for co-founding the field of masculinity studies and coining the concept of hegemonic masculinity, as well as for her work on Southern theory.

Marie Tulip was an Australian feminist writer, academic and proponent for the ordination of women as priests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheila Fitzpatrick</span> Australian historian

Sheila Mary Fitzpatrick is an Australian historian, whose main subjects are history of the Soviet Union and history of modern Russia, especially the Stalin era and the Great Purges, of which she proposes a "history from below", and is part of the "revisionist school" of Communist historiography. She has also critically reviewed the concept of totalitarianism and highlighted the differences between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in debates about comparison of Nazism and Stalinism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marnie Bassett</span> Australian historian, biographer and travel writer

Flora Marjorie (Marnie) Bassett was an Australian historian, biographer and travel writer. Her writing focussed on women's and family history, with particular attention to people from Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Nazi Germany</span> Nazi policies regarding the role of women in German society

Women in Nazi Germany were subject to doctrines of Nazism by the Nazi Party (NSDAP), which promoted exclusion of women from the political and academic life of Germany as well as its executive body and executive committees. On the other hand, whether through sheer numbers, lack of local organization, or both, many German women did indeed become Nazi Party members. In spite of this, the Nazi regime officially encouraged and pressured women to fill the roles of mother and wife only. Women were excluded from all other positions of responsibility, including political and academic spheres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Summers</span> Australian writer and journalist

Anne Summers is an Australian writer and columnist, best known as a leading feminist, editor and publisher. She was formerly First Assistant Secretary of the Office of the Status of Women in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Her contributions are also noted in The Australian Media Hall of Fame biographical entry

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athalya Brenner</span>

Athalya Brenner-Idan is a Dutch-Israeli biblical scholar known for her contribution to feminist biblical studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norma Parker</span> Australian social worker

Norma Alice Brown CBE (1906–2004) was an Australian social worker and educator. She is regarded as one of the founders of social work in Australia and established Catholic social work at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne in 1932 and St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney four years later.

Evelyn Torton Beck has been described as "a scholar, a teacher, a feminist, and an outspoken Jew and lesbian". Until her retirement in 2002 she specialized in women's studies, Jewish women's studies and lesbian studies at the University of Maryland, College Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ailbhe Smyth</span> Irish feminist and pro-choice campaigner

Ailbhe Smyth is an Irish academic, feminist and LGBTQ activist. She was the founding director of the Women's Education, Resource and Research Centre (WERRC), University College Dublin (UCD).

Janice Jones Monk is an Australian-American feminist geographer and researcher in the South West United States, and an Emeritus Professor at the University of Arizona School of Geography, Development and Environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harriet Christina Newcomb</span> English feminist, activist, and educationist

Harriet Christina Newcomb was an English feminist, activist, and educationist. She was a proponent of progressive education and improved teacher training, in both Britain and Australia, and was an active member of the Women's Freedom League.

Camille Agnes Becker Paul (1932-2010) was an Australian feminist, moral theologian and activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cara David</span> Australian educator, feminist, and social reformer.

Cara, Lady David was an Australian educator, feminist, and social reformer.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.