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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“I’m a historian of labour and I’m particularly interested in women’s work,” she said.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
Historically, women undertook much of the work in pubs, including behind the bar, in dining rooms, in kitchens and making up rooms.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“I was always surrounded by the importance of working women in the community and they all have stories to tell.”<\/p>\n
Ms Kirkby said one of the reasons women’s labour in pubs has not been recognised is because it was unseen.<\/p>\n
“It came from the fact that women’s work has largely been invisible and it was very domesticated,” she said.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
Ms Kirkby’s talk will be on Thursday 2 May from 5.30pm at the Eureka Centre.<\/p>\n
More information can be found on the Eureka Centre website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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, […]<\/p>\n