Blaze e-catalogue - Catalog - Page 16
Introduction
Law—practised in both the private and public sectors—as Ms Armstrong has observed, has
normalised a culture of long work days in legal offices coupled with all-hours client demands.
Women who are unable to conform to this due to carer responsibilities often miss out on
opportunities for promotion. Ms Armstrong sees technology and its application towards work
flexibility as key to driving cultural change and ultimately, ensuring that more women can
participate in high level roles.
For Lillian Armfield (1884–1971), a pioneer in the criminal justice system and one of the
first two NSW women police constables, discrimination on the grounds of sex ran deep.
To become a police constable, female recruits had to waive any future claim to a
departmental pension. Women were not allowed to make arrests or be armed. Armfield,
however, was known to flaunt the rules. Such was the esteem in which she was held by some
male peers that they loaned her their firearm so that she could arrest criminal suspects.
Paediatrician Dr Margaret Harper attended to thousands
of children and infants throughout her four-decade career
in the NSW public health sector. Mothers eagerly awaited
her arrival at the Alexandria Baby Clinic, where she
worked as an Honorary Physician.
Waiting to see Doctor, Baby Health Centre,
Alexandria, 1914
NRS 4481 ST 5640
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