1885-1974
feminist and trade unionist
born on 31 December 1885 at Brisbane in Queensland
My name is Muriel Heagney and I represent ‘Australians All’ because, from the
1920s, I devoted myself to securing equal pay for women. Women in similar work to men at
that time were only paid half of what men were paid. I wrote a book that persuaded the
trade union movement to support the idea of equal pay for women. In 1949, when the
Arbitration Court was considering what the minimum wage for workers should be, I argued
that women and men doing the same job should be given the same wage. The Court, however,
decided that women should receive only three-quarters of what men were being paid despite
the fact that they were doing the same work. In 1969 the court agreed, in principle, that
there should be ‘equal pay for equal work’, and that all the changes had to take
place by the beginning of 1972. It was not until 1974, however, that the Arbitration Court
agreed that men and women should have an equal minimum wage.
IDEA
FOR SCENE: Show Muriel Heagney making a speech that calls for equal pay for equal work.
When she finishes, the crowds begin chanting "Same work, same pay! Same work, same
pay!"
1901-2001 Centenary of
Federation