• Entry type: Person
  • Entry ID: AWE5421

Mathews, Iola

(1943 – )
  • Born 1 January, 1943, Melbourne Victoria Australia
  • Occupation Author, Feminist, Industrial advocate, Industrial officer, Journalist

Summary

Iola Mathews was one of the ten women who founded the Women’s Electoral Lobby in February 1972. She was a journalist at The Age for many years, writing mainly on Education and Women’s Issues. In 1983-4 she helped establish the Action Plan for Women in the Victorian Public Service, and in 1984 was appointed Coordinator of the Action Program for Women Workers at the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).

In 1988 Mathews became an ACTU Industrial Officer and Advocate in national test cases to improve wages and conditions for women workers, including the Parental Leave test case. In 1996 she was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for services to women’s employment. She has published numerous books and articles and in 2006 established Glenfern writers’ studios in Melbourne.

Details

Iola Mathews has published numerous books, pamphlets and newsletters as a journalist. The following (short) list indicates the range of her experience in the industrial relations field.

  1. Work and Family Issues: Guidelines for Negotiations (ACTU 1992)
  2. Parental Leave: the Award Provision Explained (ACTU 1991)
  3. Women in the Australian Workforce, Past, Present and Future (ACTU 1990)
  4. Guidelines for Part-Time, Casual Work and Job Sharing (ACTU 1990)
  5. Removing Discriminatory Clauses in Awards (ACTU, 1987)
  6. Affirmative Action: Negotiating Document (ACTU 1986)
  7. Non-Sexist Language (ACTU 1986)
  8. Superannuation and Women (ACTU 1986)
  9. Legislative and Award Restrictions on Women’s Employment (ACTU 1986)
  10. Editor: Women at Work, ACTU Newsletter (1984-92)
  11. Discrimination in Sporting Clubs, (Victorian Equal Opportunity Board, 1983)
Read

Events

  • 1970 - 1980
  • 1972 - 1972

    Founding member of Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) and member of first coordinating committee, public relations committee and publications committee

    Membership
  • 1982 - 1983

    Task Force to establish a Women’s Centre for Victoria’s 150th anniversary

    Membership
  • 1982 - 1983

    Working party to establish the Victorian Women’s Information and Referral Exchange (WIRE)

    Membership
  • 1978 - 1980

    Freelance section, Australian Journalists’ Association

    President
  • 1983 - 1984

    ALP Vic, Status of Women Committee

    Membership
  • 1983 - 1984

    Victorian Women’s Advisory Council to the Premier

    Membership
  • 1984 - 1988

    ACTU Women’s Committee

    Secretary
  • 1984 - 1990

    National Labor Consultative Council – Committee on Women’s Employment

    Membership
  • 1987 - 1989

    Expert Group on the Impact of Structural Adjustment on Women in Commonwealth Countries (CHOGM, London)

    Membership

Published resources

  • Book
    • Making women count : a history of the Women's Electoral Lobby in Australia, Sawer, Marian, 2008
    • How to use the media in Australia, Mathews, Iola, 1981
    • Chequered Lives: John Barton Hack and Stephen Hack and the early days of South Australia, Mathews, Iola, 2013
    • My Mother, My Writing and Me: a Memoir, Mathews, Iola, 2009
    • Media Handbook, Mathews, Iola, 1978
    • Going Back to Work, Mathews, Iola, 1977
  • Book Section
    • Regions, Capital and Job Creation, Mathews, Iola, 1998
  • Videorecording
    • Not a Bedroom War, c1993
  • Resource

Related entries


  • Founded
    • Women's Electoral Lobby Australia (1972 - )