International Women's Day with Anna Funder

Wifedom: Exposing the workings of patriarchy 

'To examine a marriage of eighty years ago involves the faux-comfort of distance (surely we are more evolved than that?) along with the frisson of horror: things have not changed nearly enough... Things in the rear view mirror are closer than they appear.' Anna Funder, Wifedom

In a patriarchal system, women’s relationships transform into a role – Mother. Wife. – that erases their individuality and signs them up to a motherload of unpaid labour.

In Australia, women do more than nine hours more unpaid work and care each week than men, and do more unpaid housework than men even when they are the primary breadwinner. Nowhere in the world is this trend reversed. Women’s domestic labour upholds households and economies but is too often devalued and unacknowledged.

It’s a bargain few people, including men, want to be part of. Yet it stubbornly persists.

Join Anna Funder, award-winning writer and author of Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life, as she unpacks how the patriarchy continues to maintain the status quo – using the extraordinary lives of Eileen O’Shaughnessy and George Orwell to show it in microcosm.

The event will also feature a panel discussion with A/Prof Ramona Vijeyarasa and Prof Peter Siminski, where our speakers will share insights and expertise on how we can move towards more equitable models.

This event is co-hosted by the Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. 

The event will also be live-streamed, so you have the option to attend in-person or tune in online!

• 9:45 am: Doors open

• 10:00 am: IWD presentation commences

• 10:10 am: Keynote presentation

• 10:30 am: Panel session

• 11:30 am: Event concludes