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A Century of Australian Girl Power by Margaret Ambrose
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Florence Mary Taylor: The first female architect
In 1923, 13 years after she gained her degree in architecture from the University of Sydney and at age forty-one, Florence Taylor was admitted as an associate (not member) of the New South Wales Institute of Architects. At the time, she was far more qualified than most of the Institute’s male members, holding qualifications as a structural and civil engineer, as well as being a technical journalist and editor.

Florence’s father died when she was a teenager and she was forced to work to support her family. Not content to remain a typist, she enrolled to study architecture at university and was the first woman in Australia to do so. She found an architectural firm willing to take her on, but like her subsequent jobs, found herself performing menial tasks while her male colleagues were given creative jobs, paid recognition and advanced in their careers.

With her husband, George, who was also an architect, Florence started the Building Publishing Company, a successful trade publishing company which she continued to run after his early death. She became one of the most progressive thinkers and writers of the town planning profession and is responsible for the look and feel of much of Sydney today. Despite her career struggles in a male dominated field, Florence refused to adopt male characteristics in dress and manner to make her way, and was known for her love of French perfume, gloves and frilly lace parasols.

In 1939 Florence was awarded an OBE and years later, a CBE, for her dedication to her profession and her unwavering conviction that, “every woman be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with men without losing the characteristics of her sex.”

Joan Mavis Rosanove: Fought for the right of women to practice law
While Joan wasn’t raised under the shadow of financial hardship like Florence or Dagmar, her struggles were no less as a woman in the male dominated field of law, and as a Jew. Joan was the daughter of a reputable Melbourne barrister and spent much time as a child in court with her father. Both of her brothers became solicitors and it was no surprise when Joan finished school and entered the field. She did articles with her father’s firm by day and studied at Melbourne University by night.

The tight-knit Anglo-Saxon Protestant legal profession at the time refused to accept Joan as part of their “community”. They often hounded her in court, ignored her achievements and thwarted her attempts to become a QC. Working as a barrister, she had to rely on briefs provided by law firms but many refused to give her work. She was unable to get a room in chambers because other male barrister’s threatened to walk out if she was given one. Joan set up practice from her home and over the next 22 years built a strong business, often defending female victims of domestic violence and doctors who performed abortions.

Joan found the time to speak publicly as often as she could, championing the cause of women working in the law, and advocating that women be allowed to sit on juries. Although not a religious woman, Joan was horrified by the reported persecution of Jews in Europe in World War II and the racism experienced by Jews in Australia. She often took up the fight of Jews who were being treated unfairly and was labelled a radical for it. She is responsible for the 1959 overhaul of the Australian divorce laws, achieving greater national conformity and equity for women.

Following this success, Joan (by this stage a grandmother) decided to try to become the first female Queen’s Counsel. She was refused, although many of her male colleagues had by this time become QCs and judges. The first female QC was Roma Mitchell in 1962. In 1999, a block of Melbourne barristers' chambers was named the Joan Rasanove Chambers – 75 years after she was first black-banned from them.

For more stories that celebrate the achievements of Australian women, grab a copy of Great Australian Women: From Federation to Freedom by Susanna de Vries. It’s published by HarperCollins and retails for $27.50, including GST.



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