The PSA CPSU NSW Women’s Conference this year gave us a chance to look back at 125 years of success as a union fighting for the rights of its members. 

Ninety-four years ago, the PSA set up its Women’s Council, a body decades ahead of its time.

Back then, like much of the NSW labour market at the time, the NSW Public Sector was dominated by men.

However, as women entered the Public Sector, it became obvious they needed their union behind them.

Up until the 1960s, when a woman married, she was expected to leave the Public Sector. Women were also paid less and had fewer career opportunities available to them.

It was their union, the PSA, that fought to overturn the marriage bar. We fought to end the officially sanctioned disparity in wages that had been set in legislation since the groundbreaking Harvester Case.

All improvements to our working lives, be they wage increases, better conditions or equality at work, are not granted to us by the benevolence of our employers. They are won by unions taking action on behalf of members.

Not all our wins for women happened so long ago that they are remembered forever in black and white photos. More recently our union was the first in the country to win for its members domestic and family violence leave. It continues to advocate for real pay equality.

Our enterprise agreements for universities increasingly include leave for menstruation and menopause. These employment conditions would have been unthinkable 10 years ago, let alone at the first ever PSA meeting conducted by a group of men in 1899.

I am proud to be President of a union with a membership that is 65 per cent women; many of whom, like me, work in male-dominated professions. I am proud to be President of a union that blazes the trail and takes on issues that others would write off as too outlandish.

These are among the many reasons I am proud to be union.

Women’s Conference gave us two days to celebrate our achievements and plan our future successes. The PSA CPSU NSW is there every day of the year, demanding better for our many women members.