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Gender and the Trans-Tasman World of Labour: Transnational and Comparative Histories
Raelene Frances and Melanie Nolan*
With some exceptions the striking similarities of labour history in Australia and New Zealand have traditionally been examined through the lens of separate national narratives. More recently, however, we have witnessed a recovery of the 'trans-Tasman world of labour'. Such historical analysis has enabled the emergence of significant insights into the parallel development of labour market legislation, policy formation and wage fixation. This article charts the shared gendered experience of the labour movement between Australia and New Zealand and focuses, in particular, on equal pay. We argue that attempts to tell national stories in these two countries will be enriched by an appreciation not just of the trans-Tasman context and influences, but also of the ways in which workers have mobilised at the international level.
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| Since the publication of Common Cause, a collection of essays edited by Eric Fry, there has been a steady trickle of interest in the shared history of labour in Australia and New Zealand.1 Francis Castles, Donald Denoon, Raelene Frances, Bruce Scates and James Bennett, amongst others, rediscovered a 'trans-Tasman world of labour'.2 This work has highlighted the urban occupational profile of Australia and New Zealand, which were both 'born modern'. While Australia was slightly ahead of New Zealand in rates of urbanisation, both had highly literate and relatively well-paid workforces.3 Both democracies had high unionisation rates and strong labour movements.4 Differences were of degree, not of kind: the impact of the Great Depression of the 1930s was shorter and sharper in Australia; New Zealand had a more marked labour shortage than Australia, which propelled more radical change in the post-war period.5 While labour flowed from New Zealand to Australia in the late twentieth century, it had been the reverse at the beginning of the century.6 Recent work on Australasia emphasises that shared language, culture, institutions and historical ties facilitated policy learning and transfer between New Zealand and Australia, especially at the level of key policymakers. However, in all the work to date on trans-Tasman labour there have been only a few examples of historiographical comparison considering gender. Bruce Scates has examined the common gendered experience during the Depression in the 1890s.7 Shaun Goldfinch and Philippa Mein Smith have elaborated on the policy transfer of arbitration across the colonies, including the male breadwinner model.8 Melanie Nolan has considered the united front that the post-war Labor governments took to effect full employment policies locally and nationally and the limits to those policies as the proportion of married women in paid employment rose.9 Raelene Frances has surveyed wage-fixing more generally in twentieth century Australasia.10 |
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