Australia's first migrant resource centre battled steelworks for jobs for women

Australia Broadcast Center

4 days ago

Arriving in Australia in the 1980s, migrant women applying for work at the country's largest steelworks were rejected on the basis of their sex.
Their rejection sowed the seeds of one of the largest anti-discrimination cases in Australian history, paving the way for women to work for BHP at Port Kembla in New South Wales for the first time.
Behind the landmark case was the Jobs for Women campaign, started by women who met at the newly formed migrant centre.
At the time, Helen Meekosha was managing the Illawarra Migrant Resource Centre, one of the first centres to open in Australia.
"I'd done a survey when I first got the job to identify issues facing migrants in the Illawarra," Ms Meekosha said.
To mark 45 years since the beginning of the campaign, a film documenting the case was shown at Warrawong near Wollongong, once again bringing together some of the women involved.
Ms Meekosha, a retired academic, was among them and reflected on the campaign.
"There was a number of supporters in Wollongong, but people were opposed to the campaign as well," she said.
"Looking back it was ridiculous but at the time it was difficult, and painful.
"People were opposed to it because they saw a certain lot of women getting publicity.
"There was opposition from all quarters … the racism was terrible, and [there were] clashes between communities which go back to their countries of origin.
"I've got stories I'll take to my grave."
Ms Meekosha is certain the campaign would not have happened without the centre's contribution.
"There were no migrant women on my committee, so first I had to overthrow the committee and get some good people on it," she said.
"I got harassed to not have the Jobs for Women meeting there because BHP was saying if they don't have anywhere to meet, they'll stop harassing us."
In 1994, 14 years after the meeting at the migrant centre, the Jobs for Women campaign ended, with 709 women awarded compensation and 34 employed full time for decades.
Some of the women involved were reunited at a recent screening of Women of Steel (2020), a film directed by Robynne Murphy about the campaign.
The event was promoted by not-for-profit Women Illawarra.
"We felt it was an opportunity to showcase the success we've had working with the Women of Steel and a number of those women were part of the organisation at the time," chair of the board Nat McLean said.
"We reached out to BHP, and I know women who have had long-standing careers within the organisation, but unfortunately we didn't get permission for them to speak at the event.
BHP and BlueScope were contacted for the story but declined to comment.
Filmmaker Robynne Murphy said it was important for women to continue to fight discrimination.
"We won a lot of things for women, in terms of opportunities, who now have a lot more confidence," Murphy said.
Murphy, who fought side by side with migrant women, said it was a complicated campaign full of hurdles.
She praised the migrant women for keeping the campaign momentum going.
"It's very difficult to do on your own, but a group of people makes anything possible."