Women of Steel: Robynne Murphy on the historic Jobs for Women campaign
In the annals of working class history in this country, the Jobs for Women campaign has, quite rightly, gone down as the stuff of legend.
Beginning in 1980, and centred around the right of women to work at the Port Kembla steelworks in Wollongong, owned and operated at the time by Australian Iron & Steel, a subsidiary of BHP, the bitter struggle would carry on throughout the entire decade of the 1980’s, eventually ending in a crucial, historic victory for working class women, not only in the steel industry, but throughout the country.
Robynne Murphy is an activist, filmmaker, and retired steelworker. She was central to organising the Jobs for Women campaign, and is the director of Women of Steel, a documentary film chronicling this important struggle, one from which younger activists can learn a great deal. Robynne spoke to Alex Whisson, and began by describing what life was like for women in the steel town of Wollongong in 1980, and the obstacles they faced.
