Shining a light on invisible labour

THE role women have historically played in the hospitality industry will be the focus of a talk by Professor Diane Kirkby at the Eureka Centre in May.

Her talk, Placing the story of women: Pubs and work in Australia’s history, will focus on how and why pubs were an important place of employment for women, despite being often viewed as a masculine space.

Ms Kirkby is a professor in law and humanities at University of Technology Sydney and recently won the Australia and New Zealand Law and History Society Prize.

“I’m a historian of labour and I’m particularly interested in women’s work,” she said.

“I work much more on the 20th century but when it comes to women in hotels, that was major work I undertook some time ago, and it goes back to the very beginning of colonisation in Australia.

Historically, women undertook much of the work in pubs, including behind the bar, in dining rooms, in kitchens and making up rooms.

“My interest was sparked because in a country town of New South Wales where I was born and spent my childhood, all the businesses were run by women,” said Ms Kirkby.

“I was always surrounded by the importance of working women in the community and they all have stories to tell.”

Ms Kirkby said one of the reasons women’s labour in pubs has not been recognised is because it was unseen.

“It came from the fact that women’s work has largely been invisible and it was very domesticated,” she said.

“There were women who were the publicans and had their licenses, but often it was a married couple, because the authorities would give the license to a man because he had a wife who would do the housekeeping.”

Ms Kirkby’s talk will be on Thursday 2 May from 5.30pm at the Eureka Centre.

More information can be found on the Eureka Centre website.