Mary Owen

Mary Owen (née Evans), OAM (8 February 1921 – 23 March 2017 ) was an Australian feminist, unionist, and activist.

Personal and early life Owen was born in Balwyn, Victoria in 1921 to Tyrrell and Mary Evans (née Withers), granddaughter to Walter Withers, a landscape painter and member of the Heidelberg School. Her mother died when she was just sixteen months old, following the birth of her twin sisters. Owen's godmother, her mother's sister Margery, taught her how to sew. Her father remarried and had three more children, making Owen the eldest of five. She attended girls' schools Korowa and Lauriston. She left school at fifteen and worked as a typist, a clerk, and an editor. The Centre's charter included equal opportunities for women to work, free of discrimination and with equal pay. They paid special attention to the needs of women from ethnic communities, as well as demanding paid parental leave, removal of abortion restrictions, more sex education and birth control access, a 35 hour work week, and community-based childcare. She was a founding member of Emily's List in Australia. She was added to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.

Owen continued her work for women's rights long after retirement with activities for the Older Women's Network, Women With Disabilities, Rationalists, Retired Unionists, Meals on Wheels, and the National Women's Archive project. She died on 23 March 2017, at age 96.

Publications

Books Owen, Mary and Shaw, Sylvie (eds), Working Women: Discussion papers from the Working Women's Centre, Melbourne, Sisters Publishing, Carlton South, VIC, 1979.

Owen, Mary (1980). "The Political Participation of Women". In Evans, Gareth & Reeves, John (ed.). Labor Essays 1980. Richmond, Victoria: Drummond Publishing, on behalf of the Australian Labor Party.

Conference papers Owen, Mary, 'Stress in the Workplace', in National Status of Women Committee (ed.), Work and Health: Issues in Occupational Health: Proceeings of the Occupational Health in Women in Technological Change Conference, Melbourne, 1982.

Journal articles Owen, Mary, 'I confess I'd rather work for a few reforms', Vashti: Journal of Women's Liberation Movement, April, 1977.

Owen, Mary, 'Discrimination - what does it mean?', Journal of the Australasian Meat Industry Employees' Union, October, 1978.

Owen, Mary, 'Why have a Working Women's Centre?', Blueprint: Journal of the Association of Architects, Engineers, Surveyors and Draughtsmen of Australia, August, 1979.

Owen, Mary, 'What Choice for Women?', Social Alternatives, vol. 1, no. 4, April 1979, pp. 31–37.

Owen, Mary, 'What came out of Copenhagen? The definition and relevance of education for women in developing countries', Journal of the Institute of Secretaries, 1980.

Owen, Mary, 'The Working Women's Centre', Radical Education Dossier, Autumn, 1981.

Owen, Mary, 'Making Affirmative Action Work', IMPA Bulletin: Journal of the Institute of Personnel Management Australian Inc. Victoria Division, July, 1984.

Owen, Mary, 'Women: a wastefully exploited resource', Search (Sydney), vol. 15, no. 9-10, Oct/Nov 1984, pp. 271–275.

Owen, Mary, 'Edna Minna Ryan', Australian Rationalist, no. 43 Autumn-Winter, 1997.