Blaze: Working Women, Public Leaders is a new exhibition produced by NSW State Archives. See Blaze at the Whitlam Institute within Western Sydney University.
Blaze engages with the finding that a significant leadership gap continues to exist between women and men in public life. Through its thoughtfully curated study of a selection of women working in different policy fields from the 1860s to the present, Blaze sheds insights into the challenges and opportunities that women have faced building professional careers in the NSW public sphere.
Spanning a 150 year timeframe, Blaze looks to a selection of women from the past who were trailblazers in carving out roles for females in the NSW public sphere. They were the first women to hold positions that had been traditionally occupied by men. These ‘past’ Blaze women led the way for others to follow and they re-shaped the institutions of the State from within. As ‘firsts’, their leadership enabled future generations of women to pursue opportunities that they themselves might only have imagined.
Turning to the present, Blaze engages with the stories of fourteen women who currently hold senior positions in NSW government agencies, departments, boards and/or related initiatives. In their day-to-day work, they make a high-level contribution to the work of the State and the communities of NSW. For Blaze, each of these ‘present’ women have reflected on their careers, and in doing so, provided unique insights into their formative, professional and leadership experiences.
When: Thursday 26 April – Friday 27 July 2018
Where: Whitlam Institute, Western Sydney University, Parramatta Campus, Female Orphan School, Building EZ, Corner of James Ruse Drive and Victoria Road, Rydalmere New South Wales 2116
The exhibition is open: Thursday & Friday, 10am – 4pm, the second Saturday of each month, 11am – 4pm
Cost: Free
Contact: 02 9685 9210 or info@whitlam.org
Image courtesy of State Archives and Records Authority of NSW