Older women, liberation and lifestyles: self-care and other-care.

Heycox, Karen ; Wearing, Betsy

Introduction

Cultural images of older people in our society, as well as studies that have focused on the problems of old age, have contributed to stereotypes of older women as weak, dependent, and burdensome. Extensive studies such as those conducted by the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University (Kendig 1986; Kendig and McCallum 1990; McCallum 1989; McCallum 1990) focused on care for the elderly, their social networks, health, housing and financial difficulties, and the related social policies. In the Australian gerontological literature generally, older people are presented as 'the deserving poor' for whom collective provision should be made through the agency of welfare provisions (Russell and Oxley 1990). At the same time, while older people are perceived as a burden on the economy because of their growing consumption of health and welfare services (Arber and Ginn 1991), their contributions to society remain largely unacknowledged.

Older women's ability to nurture and care is a taken-for-granted, unrecognised, and often exploited contribution both to the economy generally and to the welfare of many people. The reality is that there are considerable demands on older women to continue nurturing/caring activities for those in their families such as husbands, frail elderly parents and increasingly, grandchildren (Wearing and Wearing 1996). Caring for others in the community through voluntary work is also an important activity for many older women. The care that older people, especially women, undertake for others in the family and community remains largely invisible in gerontological literature and in the related policies.

In this article we raise the question: 'What part does caring for others play in the lifestyles and liberation of older women?'

While the significance of the caring role in older women's lives is acknowledged, there is clearly some tension as we begin the millennium. There is increasing resistance to the image of the gentle little old lady, gardening and cooking and caring. Recent headings in a local newspaper during Senior Citizen's Week encapsulate this spirit: 'Grandma Groove! She may be 88, but Edna's a hit on the dance floor'; 'Hang on Tight June! June Smethurst 83 takes the ride of her life on the back of a rumbling Harley Davidson'(The Sun Weekly, 12 March 1998, 16).

There always has been a diversity of lifestyles for older women, but changes in the position of women in contemporary societies have brought a focus on the legitimacy for women of all ages to seek self-development and self-expression through a variety of activities. Through public representations of older women (like the examples cited above), contemporary women have access to a wider range of role models. In addition, the increasing numbers of older women relative to the rest of the population, together with more access to economic resources for many women due to their own workforce participation has potentially increased the powers available to older women. Freed from their own childrearing (and, in later years, from husband care), with greater access to economic and health resources and the opening up of options such as education (eg the University of the Third Age), travel, and a smorgasbord of leisure activities, the avenues for selfcare, self-development and self-expression are proliferating. Media coverage has acknowledged this shift. For example, 'There's no longer that sense of sitting around, watching things go by, that used to dominate women's thinking when their children left. The choices for older women are phenomenal these days' ('Goodbye children, hello world?', Sydney Morning Herald 1994). The wider world is beckoning older women to reach beyond the previous boundaries of home and family to new and exciting experiences.

Yet while cultural shifts in the position of women in contemporary society have increased the options concerning lifestyle which are available to older women, perceptions of dependency on other family members, institutions and the State remain predominant. Also the care that older women undertake in their families and the community continues to be largely an invisible, yet taken-for-granted element of older women's lifestyles. This article examines the tension between self-care and other-care in the lifestyles of contemporary older women. Three studies in the context of white women living in a western industrialised urban society are considered in relationship to this dilemma and its implications for older women's liberation and lifestyles in the millennium.

The first study (A) involved interviews with twenty members of the Older Women's Network (OWN) Sydney. The focus of these interviews was on their experience of being older women, the role that OWN has played in their lives, and the varying degrees to which they have both challenged and reinforced the caring roles for older women. The second study (B) explored the meaning of grandmotherhood for twenty middle class Sydney grandmothers. The third study (C) examined the balance between self-care and other-care that ten lower middle and ten working class Sydney grandmothers, involved in regular child care were able to maintain as well as the extent that grandmotherhood was a constraining or liberating experience.

These three studies contribute to our understanding of the significance of the caring role, at home and in the community, for both older women and the society at large. They also demonstrate the diversity of older women's lives and the tension for some older women between the demands of the care role and the need for self-care.

Some Feminists: The Older Women's Network

In 1988 the authors travelled with a bus of OWN women from Sydney to Canberra. The purpose of the journey was to hold a picnic outside the federal Parliament House in the national capital to make older women and their needs visible to parliamentarians. Some of the women staged street theatre to dramatise their cause and we all participated in singing. The result was an invitation to afternoon tea in Parliament House with two women parliamentarians. Issues for older women were discussed. The return journey was a joyful one, the women felt that they had become visible and at least the concerns of older women were now on the parliamentary agenda.

Most of these women were at least ten years older than we were and we were moved by their energy, enthusiasm, daring and support for each other. They held out to us an optimistic picture of the possibilities for older women which trounced many of the existing stereotypes. On the way home a relaxed looking eighty year old woman told us how at 71 she was becoming crippled by arthritis and her doctor suggested she swim. 'But', she said, 'I had never swum in my life' She learnt and now was winning medals in the Aussie Masters competitions for the best in her age group. Two other women had just published a book, Older Women Ready or Not (Anike and Ariel 1987), in which they shared the experiences of a number of older women, exposing some of the myths associated with age and encouraging older women to emerge, explore and challenge the myths and social deceits. One of these women said that having reared five children and a demanding husband, she decided to retire from both roles and begin a new life for herself. Ten years later these women remain an inspiration to us, as they previously had been to some members of OWN who joined on the basis of such positive role modelling. OWN women themselves eschewed perceptions of them as 'superwomen' or archetypes of the older woman as they did not want to create new stereotypes. Nevertheless one of the authors of this article was so impressed with the OWN women that she embarked on a MA (Hons) study of these women and their personal and political experiences as members of the Older Women's Network (Heycox 2000). We present some of the findings here (Study A).

OWN as a network emphasises personal contact and support alongside public activity. Initially the research set out to explore how the process of the 'personal is political', an adage of the women's movement, affected the ability of this group of older women to challenge ageism and sexism. However in-depth interviews with twenty of the women revealed that through OWN, their consciousness had been raised and each had been involved in political action for older women. At this stage of their lives, they were, re-engaging in creative selffocussed alternatives. For them, the circle had moved from the personal to the political and then back again to the personal. Involvement in political action on behalf of older women had legitimated for them the right for women also to make a space for their own development. In reviewing their lives as nurturers in the home, in the workplace and in the community, they now were shifting their focus to a more personal resistance to ageism and sexism through care of the self and self-development.

In reviewing their lives as wives, mothers, grandmothers and in the workforce and community, these women recognize the demands that have been made on them as nurturers and also the low value placed on nurturing by society. They also recognize some of the rewards. At this point in their lives, they have a sense of increased freedom from nurturing roles and their right to develop as individuals. One respondent said she now has 'freedom from the roles and expectations laid on us when we were younger... more freedom to please ourselves' (Heycox 2000, 98). Another respondent now wants to 'be my own person' (Heycox 2000, 98). One woman reflected on how she felt she had more mind than to be a dishwasher and baby-minder. Others welcomed the opportunity now to focus on themselves and their own needs. 'I can now think about me; I'm fed up with do-gooding stuff, now I'm do-gooding for me' (Heycox 2000, 73). Some felt they had earned this right. One woman commented on how it was their lives and they had the right to do what they want now as for most of their lives they had had the role of being the carer' (Heycox 2000, 75).

What kinds of things, then, do these older women choose to do for themselves? How do they care for 'the self'? How do they pursue experiences which allow for self-healing and self-growth, at this stage of their lives? These older women have discovered strategies for nurturing themselves. These strategies have included creating outlets for self expression such as the OWN theatre group; developing workshops on health; establishing clear boundaries in nurturer roles (including that of grandmother); seeing themselves as individuals; lobbying to get their needs acknowledged and finding contacts with others that are meaningful. One of these strategies has been the development of the theatre performance group as a way of raising awareness of ageism and sexism in the community. Significantly, it was also a means of self-expression for the women. The women claimed that strategies such as these provided them with self-affirmation, fun, a sense of belonging, personal support and physical closeness. For example:

opportunity to develop my talents... feeling there was a place (OWN) to do things. (Heycox 2000, 63)

I go there (OWN) and I sing and dance... something I can do as fun... Helped me exercise a facet of myself I have not exercised before. (Heycox 2000, 63-64)

added a lot to my life... given me skills... feel appreciated for one's talents. Still in spurt of growth and the boundaries are ever widening. (Heycox 2000, 70)

it was important to get involved after (my) daughter had died... needed something... and it was contact not courses. (Heycox 2000, 71)

This study demonstrates that, for these politically aware older feminist women, activities and contacts available to them in OWN provide a space for their own self-care through self-development and enjoyment. While other-care has absorbed much of their time and energy throughout their lives and remains an important element for most of them, there is here a conscious focus on self-care. Each has ventured into the wider world through a range of political activities and there is a deliberate effort to make space for their own development as individual selves apart from their nurturing/caring roles. Yet even here the importance for women of relationships with others and the support of the group is evident in the above responses. Liberation for these women means lifestyles in which there is resistance to ageism and sexism at a personal as well as a political level. There is a conscious reaching out for wider experiences than those confined to home and family.

One of the areas mentioned by some of the women in the above study which bridges the gap between self-care and other-care is grandmotherhood. Whereas the relationship with grandchildren was important to them, at least three of the OWN women talked openly of their challenge to the role of grandmother. They set boundaries on the grandmother role and what they were/were not prepared to do in relation to their own needs. Grandmotherhood, in fact, provides a useful area for examination of the self/other debate in the lifestyles of older women. In societies such as Australia, the liberation of younger women has legitimated their involvement in the workforce beyond marriage and motherhood. They are acting on the gains made for them in the workplace and the home by the women's movement. They expect equality in the workplace with their male counterparts and the right to pursue activities outside the home which bring them satisfaction (Bowen 1998). In a situation where paid childcare is sparse and expensive, the call on grandmothers to provide child-care for the children of mothers in the workforce has made a significant intrusion into the lifestyles of older women. For example, in Australia in 1992, grandmothers provided 56% of all informal childcare in couple families and 43% in one-parent families, leading one social commentator to ask whether older women are saying, 'I'm a slave to my daughter's liberation' (MacKay 1998). What then is the contribution that grandmotherhood makes to the question of self-care/other-care in the liberation and lifestyles of older women in contemporary society?

Grandmotherhood and Self-Care/Other-Care

Within two qualitative studies of women's experiences of grandmotherhood in suburban Sydney, Australia, questions were asked about grandmotherhood and later age lifestyles. In each study twenty grandmothers were interviewed. In one (Study B), where material and educational resources made available options for activities outside the home, grandmotherhood was not a major element of identity and although grandmotherhood was enjoyable there was considerable ambivalence about its potential for self-care. Where responsibility for child-care was involved in the grandmother role the women interviewed were very clear that choice, negotiation and the setting of boundaries were needed if the self was not to be consumed by this caring (Wearing and Wearing 1996; Wearing, C. 1997). In the other study (Study C) where all of the respondents were involved in child care of their grandchildren on a regular basis and there were fewer resources for other activities, the care of their grandchildren and the rewards of this role formed a major part of perceived life satisfaction. The average hours per week spent in care of grandchildren by each woman (13 hours) was equal to that spent in her other leisure activities (13 hours). In this study, family was the most often cited source of satisfaction at this stage of the life course and the relationships with grandchildren, formed through the caring process were an important aspect of self definition (Wearing, C. 1997; Heycox and Wearing 1997).

In study B the grandmothers lived in a middle-class residential area, were relatively affluent and generally had educational levels beyond high school. The sample was homogeneous in terms of age, socio-economic status, and marital status, but was diverse in terms of employment, residential distance from children and grandchildren, number of grandchildren, responsibility for grandchild care, and ideas concerning grandmotherhood. Ages ranged from 44 to 65 years, with an average of 58. All of the twenty participants owned their own homes; 12 had a family income over $50,000 per year. The majority had the Intermediate Certificate plus a Business College or TAFE certificate; four had tertiary degrees or tertiary diplomas. Occupations, current and past, included teachers, nurses, secretaries, and clerks. Seven women were employed on a part-time or casual basis, three were retired; the remainder were not in paid employment, but most were engaged in voluntary work. Two women were widowed and two divorced, the rest were married. The number of their own children varied from two to five, with an average of three. The number of their grandchildren ranged from one to six, with an average of 3.4. Distance from their grandchildren ranged from two minutes by car to as far away as Taiwan (Wearing and Wearing 1996, 169).

For Study B, grandmotherhood is an extension of the nurturing/caring roles that all of these women have carried out during their lives. However, they see it as different from motherhood, in that the complete responsibility for child rearing does not rest on the grandmother's shoulders, 'you can give them back'. Others commented that grandmotherhood can be 'fun'; a part of 'leisure'; a 'joy'; 'rewarding'; 'satisfying'; 'they give you so much love'. One respondent said, 'There is more time to spend with grandchildren than when you are a mother, it is less pressured and more enjoyable'. None of the women interviewed, however, saw her primary identity as a grandmother. They saw themselves as 'a woman', 'a person', 'an individual', 'just me'. Grandmotherhood was a part but not the whole of their sense of self. Some stated that they did not want to live through their grandchildren. In groups of their friends, grandchildren formed only a part of the conversation, they were not the main topic. Their lives included paid work or voluntary work in the community which was important to them and a variety of leisure activities (Wearing and Wearing 1996, 172).

When asked about their leisure activities, the options abounded for this group of affluent, older women. The most often mentioned were the expected homebased ones of reading, listening to music, watching television, gardening, craft, knitting, sewing and embroidery. Walking, swimming, tennis and movies were also frequently mentioned. Group activities were common. These included: church groups, bush walking club, embroidery guild, tennis club, books club, picnics and meeting with friends. Less often mentioned were those which involved specific individual interests and choice and were not confined to traditional womanly pursuits. They were: sailing, skiing, surfing, horse riding, line dancing, golf, caravanning, researching family history, ballet, opera and theatre. All of these leisure pursuits gave satisfaction and contributed to their sense of who they are. The latter activities provided subjectivities which extended far beyond that of traditional grandmother. For example, a widow said:

 I enjoy riding. I didn't take it up until I was a
 grandmother.... I have a life of my own now and I'm happy to
 live it. I think my children appreciate that I don't depend
 on them or live my life for them.... No I don't think people
 respect me because I'm a grandmother more than any thing else.
 I don't think it's a status you have to achieve before
 you get respect. Sometimes I think I'm being more selfish now,
 probably because I'm on my own. Maybe its just living my way
 instead of how people think I should.

In some ways, this grandmother was the most independent of the participants, although all of these grandmothers participated in some activities which were independent of their partners. She was consciously breaking out from others' expectations (Wearing and Wearing 1996, 174).

For the grandmothers in this study, much satisfaction was gained from their interaction with their grandchildren. It was 'fun' and a 'joy'. However, when it involved regular and/or lengthy periods of childcare it became tiring and 'hard work'; the fun and leisure element diminished. In this sample, where there are resources available for other leisure activities outside the home and family, grandmotherhood is only one subjectivity among many and its status as a leisure activity is ambiguous, especially where child care is involved. If child-care is taken for granted, and the grandmother is given little choice, the pleasure of such caring is greatly diminished. Under these circumstances 'other-care' subsumes 'self-care'. On the other hand grandmothers who, through caring, develop a strong and rewarding relationship with their grandchildren experience this as an important part of their life satisfaction, as the third study shows.

In study C, all of the women were caring for grandchildren on a regular basis each week. Their circumstances were not as affluent as those of the grandmothers in the previous study. Ages ranged from 50 to 70 years old. The average age of the respondent's was 58 years. The number of children that each of the grandmothers had, ranged from two to eight. The number of grandchildren the grandmothers had, ranged from one to twelve. The average number of grandchildren was four. The age ranges of their grandchildren were from two weeks old to nineteen years old. Fourteen grandmothers were married, four were divorced and two were widowed. Three respondents had a family income of over $50,000 per year, the rest were below this, with three having an income below $20,000 per year. The average level of education for these grandmothers was high school, although one had completed a university degree. Their leisure activities were mainly homebased such as watching TV, knitting, sewing, reading, listening to music, craft, gardening. Outside activities were mostly joint excursions with husbands, they included, walking, visiting friends and relatives, movies, dancing, aerobics, bowls, tennis, voluntary work and occasionally, dinner, visits to the theatre and concerts.

At this stage of their lives, these grandmothers perceived care of grandchildren as an important source of meaning and identity in their lives (Wearing 1997). One grandmother expressed her greatest satisfaction in life as 'Looking after my family' (Wearing 1997, 30). Others indicated it was the whole experience of giving and receiving love in family relationships that brought personal satisfaction to them at this stage of their lives. For example Joanne says, 'My family, they're everything to me'; and Julie comments, 'Just seeing all the kids happy- you want to see them happy and settled in their relationships, happy in their homes and not having too many hassles. It makes you happy then' (Wearing 1997, 30). Another says her life satisfaction comes from 'Just doing what I'm doing (caring full-time for grandchild). I'm not very hard to please really. I don't have any ambitions. There's no way I'll go back and study and do something like that because I'm not that type of person' (Wearing 1997, 33). For these grandmothers, other-care in the family is a vital part of their personal satisfaction in life and sense of self-worth. Although viewed separately from freely chosen leisure activities, it is seen by most as leisure as well as work in terms of its avenue for self-expression and enjoyment. The wider world may beckon for these women, but there is a very great sense of satisfaction to be found in the act of caring for grandchildren which establishes rewarding relationships. Not only is the work/leisure dichotomy challenged, but so also is the self/other dichotomy.

Self-Care, Other-Care, Lifestyles and Liberation

The three groups of older women considered here (Studies A,B,C) display differing lifestyles with differing emphases on self-care and other-care. The Older Women's Network group (Study A) belonged to a politically motivated network of older women and they were focussing consciously on self-care in their later years after many years of other-care in the family, in the workplace and in the community. Nevertheless some of their strategies for self-care, such as the theatre group, involved activities which were related to the political aims of OWN. While for them these activities involved fun, enjoyment, sharing and leisure, they also included the other-care involved in actions aimed at improving the circumstances of older women in general. On the other hand, amongst Study C of grandmothers who were caring for grandchildren regularly each week, there was no such conscious focus on self-care. For them, the self-care/other-care dichotomy held little meaning as their sense of self was very closely associated with all aspects of grandmotherhood, including caring, and the relationships which developed through caring for their grandchildren. Caring for grandchildren was perceived by them to be part of their leisure, making a significant contribution to their sense of selfworth and enjoyment in life. For the more affluent Study B grandmothers who had greater variety in their options, there was considerable ambivalence concerning the caring aspects of grandmotherhood. They consciously put boundaries around other-care in their leisure choices. Individualised leisure was generally important to them, as well as activities which involved the family and the community.

In the second wave of feminism in the 1970s the older women who belonged to The Older Women's Network (Study A) would have been perceived as the most liberated of the three groups studied. Due to raised consciousness they were able to challenge patriarchal ideologies concerning the position of women and to develop activities which allowed for self development. The Study B grandmothers were also able, to some extent, to challenge patriarchal constraints due to the power associated with material and educational resources. The less affluent Study C grandmothers, on the other hand, remained within the patriarchal ideologies of the family and the 'ethic of care' which have been construed as constraining women's access to self-fulfilment in contemporary society (Henderson and Allen 1991). This interpretation goes some way towards understanding the differing lifestyles and liberation of older women to-day. It suggests that, whereas the world beyond the home beckons older women in their pursuit of self-care and life-satisfaction, only those with available means and/or consciousness dare to venture there.

In the 1990s, however, feminism itself moved on in its thinking and there is the suggestion today, with a strong underpinning from poststructuralist (Lloyd 1989; Grosz 1989) and postcolonialist (hooks 1989; Collins 1990) theorists that the situation is more complex than this. Insights from these theories add another dimension to an understanding of the liberation and lifestyles of older women today. This involves a critique of the self/other dichotomy where self has been valorized over the other. The boundaries around the self for very many women are rather pervious and interpersonal relationships and care for others contribute enormously to women's sense of who they are and their sense of self-worth (Fraser 1995; Gilligan 1982; Probyn 1993).

Feminists who write from a postcolonial perspective point out the exclusionary nature of studies such as those presented here. They refer only to white, western, Caucasian women, their world views and sense of self. Feminist postcolonial criticism has been particularly concerned with the lived experiences of women who cannot be fitted into Eurocentric, western middle-class white theorisation, as formulated by male theorists and their feminist counterparts. Some severe critiques of feminist colonialist assumptions have been voiced by women of colour and women in developing countries. For these women, self and other are virtually inseparable. Among their criticisms has been a critique of the excessive individualism of western feminist approaches where the self is seen as separate from both family and community (Collins 1990; hooks 1989). From a postcolonialist perspective, when the self/other binary opposition is deconstructed it becomes clear that concern for others, understanding of others and care of others impinge on the self in a positive way.

The critiques of poststructuralist and postcolonialist feminists lead us to a recognition of the very real contribution that caring for others both inside and outside the home makes to the identity and sense of self-worth of individual women. Venturing into the wider world with eyes wide open can reveal to women other subject positions with validity equal to their own. Listening to the voices of women from non-Eurocentric cultures gives a different perspective and decentres the excessive focus on the self which has been at the core of conceptualisations of the self in western, white, male-dominated cultures. The implication in such male dominated cultures is that in order to achieve self-realisation, it is necessary to establish definitive boundaries around one's identity and distance one's self from engaging in care for others. On the other hand, if the self-care, other-care dichotomy is deconstructed, what are the implications for older women in the millennium? In this deconstruction of the self/other dichotomy is there an implication that caring for others always means caring for the self, so that it forms the legitimation for the return to responsibility for the nurturing/caring tasks of their own families as well as those of society in general? In liberating younger women from total responsibility for the care of their young has responsibility been shifted to the previous generation of women?

The balance between self-care and other-care for older women remains a complex issue. Excessive emphasis in western thought on self-enhancement, self-expression and an achievement basis for a sense of self-worth can devalue the very real satisfaction that many women gain from the relationships they form in caring for others. On the other hand, the expectation that women will automatically want to take responsibility for the care of family and community members at the expense of activities which are focussed on self-care, would appear to be counterproductive for women's liberation.

Conclusion

The cultural construction of womanhood in contemporary societies can bring benefits to those societies, but at what cost? The ability of many older women to care for others contributes to the well-being of family members, to the community and to the economy. Yet it remains an expected contribution which, for the most part, remains invisible. Are women who are beginning at this stage of their lives to experience some independence from care for their own children, now being reinvented in the caring role, with its subordinate status and unpaid labour, as grandmothers? Alternatively, is the situation of grandmotherhood, an instance of other-care that brings a sense of meaningfulness, usefulness and self-worth to older women?

We have argued in this article that self and other are inextricably interrelated, each has an impact on the other and there is a delicate balance between the two. The studies of three groups of older women discussed in this article have emphasised the importance for them of inter-relatedness and reciprocity of affection, of aspects of caring for a sense of self-worth and of the possibilities of continued self-growth throughout life. Recognition of the contribution that older women's caring activities make to society would increase their sense of self-worth and disrupt cultural constructions of the old as societal burdens who are unrelentingly dependent.

As we have shown here, liberation in this new millennium for older women may take many forms and be associated with a variety of lifestyles in which self-care and other-care interact on an everyday basis to produce lives which are productive for both the self and the other. It is time too that social policies begin to recognise the potentialities for older people of growth and expansion through the provision of facilities for a variety of activities. While there is media coverage for older women who participate in extraordinary activities such as June Smethurst on a Harley Davidson, we argue that there are many older women whose lifestyles demonstrate personal growth, creativity and contribution to the community in less dramatic ways. These women should not remain invisible in perceptions, practice and policies for older women. As well, such policies need to acknowledge and reward older women's cultural contribution through caring for others.

In the past social policies, and the corresponding literature, have focussed on selfcare as a pre-requisite for the effective care of others rather than this being a valid activity for women's own sense of self. For example, respite care and carer support groups have as their primary aim the support of those who care. Often they are a temporary relief to ensure that the carer remains in the caring role for a prolonged period of time. While we acknowledge the benefits of these programmes, there is also a need for social policies and programmes which acknowledge carers' own needs development over and above the rewards obtained from the caring role.

The studies reported in this article have shown the significance in older women's lives of care for others in relationship to care for the self. Care for self appears to be highlighted most for those women who belong to a public political group where they have had their mutual concerns reinforced and have felt support to address these needs. Finally, if there are benefits for women in a sense of self-worth related to self-care and other-care, perhaps the same may be so for older men. Men in retirement may also benefit from some responsibility for care of others as well as self-care, and they may be an untapped resource when issues concerning care of the young, as well as ageing and society, are being explored.

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Karen Heycox [1] Betsy Wearing [2]

[1] Karen Heycox is a lecturer in the School of Social Work at the University of NSW.

[2] Betsy Wearing prior to her retirement was a professor in the School of Social Work at University of NSW.