One of the side gains of being associated (I have forgotten what my role is actually called) with the journal Australian Social Work, is that I also occasionally get sent the magazine of the Australian Association of Social Workers. This time it has an obituary of Helen Stuchberry, a well-known Australian social worker, who died last year.
Her life story is in part a record of the disadvantages women suffered in achieving their aspirations in part generations. She wanted to be a scientist, but women were disadvantaged in that field. So she became a social worker and when she became pregnant with her first daughter had to resign from her government job because women with children couldn't hold a government post.
Later, went back into hospital social work, and eventually held senior posts in various community health and social care roles. After she retired, she worked in various voluntary roles, including setting up a hostel providing accommodation for older people in her community.
Her early experience with the social security department gave her experience of social disadvantage that developed her 'great compassion for the disadvantaged and the need for social equity that would ground her for life'. The article says: 'Helen was a lifetime advocate for social justice, which she often achieved through gentle pressure in the right places'.
Quiet advocacy may be unfashionable with some, but it has achieved a lot in the world.
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