No stranger to controversy
A varied career was motivated by immigration policy and the plight of refugees Marianne Van Galen-Dickie is no stranger to controversy. She has been championing the cause of refugees for more than a decade amid policy turmoil and heated public debate. She entered the field in the 1990s when she…
From chaperoned schoolgirl to gender specialist and policy activist
A demographer’s remarkable journey through difficult cultural territory From first grade onwards, Iwu Dwisetyani Utomo, a Fellow at the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute (ADSRI), recalls celebrating the Indonesian national holiday Kartini Day commemorating the birthday in 1879 of…
Women face new glass ceiling
A feminist legal scholar warns that gains made by women in the law and legal profession could be under threat When Professor Margaret Thornton considered practising as a barrister after graduating from law school in the late 1970s she was told she was “the best qualified but the wrong sex”. She…
Passion, hard work, obstinacy, family understanding
Essential ingredients in the success of the first woman professor in computer science at ANU Professor Sylvie Thiébaux still remembers when she realised she wanted to work with computers. “I was around 13 years old. I was at Orly airport, waiting to go on my first plane trip, and the plane was…
The gendered world of science
A chemist and physicist sees science as an unduly gendered kind of world – but that need not be the case Art and science are often thought to be polar opposites. Science is objective and logical by definition, whereas art tends to be emotional and expressive. The Director of the Australian…
A profound interest in possibilities for people and ideas
An manager looks back on her career with quiet contentment and ahead with great optimism As she moves from her current position as the Director of Marketing and Communications at Crawford School of Public Policy to act in a newly created role as its School Manager, Cecily Stewart sees that “…
Room in her heart
The head of a residential hall creates a gentle and accepting environment for students new to Canberra Marion Stanton recalls the long train trip in the 1980s from Armidale, in northern NSW, to Canberra, where she was about to start undergraduate studies at the Australian National University. It…