A Woman's Work

It is Melbourne in 1956 and the Olympic Games will be held at the end of the year. Raymond Quinn who lives alone with his mother is looking forward to the arrival of the games in Melbourne. Television is also coming. Ivy Quinn enjoys working at a doctor's surgery but she worries about the challenge of bringing up a twelve year old boy without a father figure in his life.

Kathleen O'Grady is the mother of five children. She lives with her husband but is tired of the constant day to day chores and responsibilities she is expected to undertake on her own. She is especially fed up with having to constantly wash nappies and clean up after her husband and children.

Both women realise that they need to make changes to the way they live. The incentive in this case is a new recipe competition being run by the Australian Women's Weekly. It is not just the slight possibility of possibly winning a cash prize that is important. It is the opportunity to be creative and try something new.

In A Woman's Work by Victoria Purman the author shows how far we have come in 2023 compared with the things women were expected to put up with in the 1950s, especially how men expected them to live their lives. By taking part in the competition Ivy and Kathleen gain new confidence in their abilities and begin to plan for a better future for their families and for women. As a schoolgirl in the 1950s and 1960s this view of women's history portrayed in the novel was extremely real.