'In 1954 Dame Enid Lyons, the first woman elected to the Australian House of Representatives, argued that radio had ‘created a bigger revolution in the life of a woman than anything that has happened any time’ as it brought the public sphere into the home and women into the public sphere. Taking this claim as its starting point, Sound Citizens examines how a cohort of professional women broadcasters, activists and politicians used radio to contribute to the public sphere and improve women’s status in Australia from the introduction of radio in 1923 until the introduction of television in 1956. This book reveals a much broader and more complex history of women’s contributions to Australian broadcasting than has been previously acknowledged.
'Using a rich archive of radio magazines, station archives, scripts, personal papers and surviving recordings, Sound Citizenstraces how women broadcasters used radio as a tool for their advocacy; radio’s significance to the history of women’s advancement; and how broadcasting was used in the development of women’s citizenship in Australia. It argues that women broadcasters saw radio as a medium that had the potential to transform women’s lives and status in society, and that they worked to both claim their own voices in the public sphere and to encourage other women to become active citizens. Radio provided a platform for women to contribute to public discourse and normalised the presence of women’s voices in the public sphere, both literally and figuratively.'
Source : publisher's blurb
'Catherine Fisher's Sound Citizens: Australian Women Broadcasters Claim their Voice, 1923-1956 (2021) examines the history of women's broadcasting from the introduction of radio in 1923 to the introduction of television in 1956. During this time, women broadcasters made a major contribution to women's empowerment, and literally and figuratively gave Australian women a public voice. Fisher utilises textual evidence in the form of radio periodicals, scripts, and institutional and personal correspondence to trace the impact of radio in connecting the private sphere of the home with public and international affairs. Her research presents the experiences of professional women broadcasters, female activists and politicians who used radio as a platform for education, community building and advocacy.' (Introduction)
'Catherine Fisher’s first book explores the ways in which Australian radio, from its origins in the 1920s until the introduction of television in 1956, provided a space for women to engage with social and political issues as active citizens. It focuses on both the Australian Broadcasting Commission and the commercial sector, and country as well as city.' (Introduction)
'This well-researched and highly readable book is a wonderful contribution to a growing body of Australian feminist-inspired studies that have delved into the archives of broadcasting. Based on the author’s PhD thesis, the core of the book is the story of women’s widening access to the public sphere through the affordances of mass media.' (Introduction)
'Dame Enid Lyons, the first woman elected to the House of Representatives, was appointed as a Commissioner of the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1951. Lyons had already proved to be an adept broadcaster, using radio as part of her campaigns for office, and she was a keen believer in radio’s utility for Australian women. Lyons maintained that radio meant that ‘a woman could do two things at once: cultivate her mind and do her housework’ (1). Women might be largely confined to the private sphere, but radio offered a window on the world beyond, and as Catherine Fisher’s polished, compact study demonstrates, many women broadcasters used radio to build an engaged form of citizenship amongst their listeners in the years between the introduction of radio in the early 1920s and the development of television in the mid-1950s.' (Publication abstract)
'This well-researched and highly readable book is a wonderful contribution to a growing body of Australian feminist-inspired studies that have delved into the archives of broadcasting. Based on the author’s PhD thesis, the core of the book is the story of women’s widening access to the public sphere through the affordances of mass media.' (Introduction)
'Catherine Fisher’s first book explores the ways in which Australian radio, from its origins in the 1920s until the introduction of television in 1956, provided a space for women to engage with social and political issues as active citizens. It focuses on both the Australian Broadcasting Commission and the commercial sector, and country as well as city.' (Introduction)
