Dowse, Sara (1938-)

Field of activity
Feminist, Women's rights activist, Writer and Public servant
Libraries Australia
http://nla.gov.au/anbd.aut-an35416365
NLA Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-515460

Biographies

Sara Dowse is a prize-winning writer of reviews and Canberra-themed fiction. A feminist and women's rights activist, she was a member of the Women's Liberation Movement and the Women's Electoral Lobby-ACT. She became the inaugural head of the Women's Affairs Section of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (now Office of the Status of Women) for the Whitlam government. (This entry is sponsored by generous donation from Christine Foley.)

Born in Chicago, USA, Sara Dowse (nee Rosenthal) grew up in Hollywood, the daughter of an actor mother and celebrity lawyer father. Born of Jewish parents, she experienced anti-semitism in her early years, and left for Australia at nineteen (in 1958) when she married a visiting Australian footballer.

She studied Arts at Sydney University, and after experiencing sexism as a pregnant student and in society generally, she became what has been described as an 'old-style feminist'.

She arrived in Canberra in 1968 and worked as a journalist, publisher's field editor and tutor at the Canberra College of Advanced Education. She was a member of the Women's Liberation Movement and the Women's Electoral Lobby-ACT, and became the inaugural head of the Women's Affairs Section of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (now the Office of the Status of Women) for the Whitlam government. At the time of her appointment, she was dubbed 'Supergirl' by the press.

Dowse became spokesperson for 130 organisations that opposed the removal of lawfully performed abortions from the medical benefits scheme.

After a publicised resignation from the public service, she worked as a teacher at The Australian National University, a reviewer for newspapers and journals, and became a writer of novels and short stories. She has also been an interviewer for the National Library of Australia's Oral History Program. She was forty-five when her first novel, West Block, based on her experiences in the Prime Minister's department, was published in 1983.

Dowse's other books include Silver City (1984), Schemetime (1990), Sapphires (1994) - a largely autobiographical work about rediscovering Jewish roots - and Digging (1996). She has contributed to Worth Her Salt: Women at Work in Australia (1982); Leaving School, It's Harder for Girls (1983); Women, Social Welfare and the State (1983), Sisterhood is Global (1984) and Home Grown Anthology (1993).

She was a member of Seven Writers - a group of seven Canberra-based writers whose work vividly portrayed life 'beneath the surface of Canberra' - and as part of this collective she contributed to Canberra Tales (1988), republished as The Division of Love in 1996, an anthology of short stories about life in Canberra. The work received an ACT Bicentennial Award.

Dowse has also been awarded the AIPS/APSA Women in Politics Prize (1982); 3M/Royal Blind Society Talking Book of the Year (1994); ACT Book of the Year (1995); ACT Book Reviewer of the Year (1995 and joint winner in 1997 with Marion Halligan). She was short-listed for the Steele Rudd Award (1995) and long-listed for the IMPAC Dublin Prize (1996). She has also been the recipient of an Australia Council fellowship; a Harold White Fellowship (1991) and an ACT Literary Fellowship (1996).

Sara Dowse has five children.

View the full record at Australian Women's Register

Related people and organisations

Resources for Sara Dowse

Selected resources (11)

Australian Women's Register

  1. West Block: the hidden world of Canberra's mandarins
    Dowse, Sara
    [1983]
    Published: Penguin
  2. Silver City
    Dowse, Sara
    [1984]
    Published: Penguin
  3. Schemetime
    Dowse, Sara
    [1990]
    Published: Penguin
  4. Sapphires
    Dowse, Sara
    [1994]
    Published: Penguin
  5. Digging
    Dowse, Sara
    [1996]
    Published: Penguin
  6. The Division of Love: Stories
    Barbalet, Margaret et al
    [1995]
    Published: Penguin
  7. Australian women writers : a bibliographic guide
    Adelaide, Debra
    [1988]
    Published: Pandora Press
  8. Femocrats and Ecorats: Women's Policy Machinery in Australia, Canada and New Zealand
    Sawer, Marian
    [1996]
    Published: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development
    Series: http://www.unrisd.org/html/op/opb/opb6/op6.htm
  9. Getting Equal: The History of Australian Feminism
    Lake, Marilyn
    [1999]
    Published: Allen & Unwin
  10. National Library of Australia Oral History Collection: Interview with Julia Ryan, feminist [sound recording] / interviewer, Sara Dowse (c. 1970 - 1990)
    Ryan speaks of the National Foundation for Australian Women, its history and aim to promote feminist ideas into the far future, how the composition of members has changed over the years, the changes to home-based women, the advent of "second-wave" feminism, the history of the women's movement in Canberra starting formally in June 1978, previously operated informally from 1969 as an off-shoot from the Sydney group lead by Lyndal Ryan, how the movement grew through networking, why their meetings were closed to men, how 1972 saw an increase in political involvement with their support of the Aboriginal Embassy tent and the establishment of the Women's Electoral Lobby, their resistance to takeovers by both moderate and extreme political groups, the opportunity feminists had during the Whitlam years to gain influence in the bureaucracy with the appointment of Elizabeth Reid in 1973 as Whitlam's adviser on women's issues, how the group engaged in consciousness-raising, the emergence of femocrats like Mary Menange and Anne Somers threatened to depower women by transferring too much responsibility to government bodies, the highlights of 1975 as International Women's Year and its contribution to the Labour Government dismissal, how feminism eventually influenced the right-wing of politics, the relationship between gender and class in social oppression, the move from Marxist politics to post-modern Foucault models for change and the emergence of women's studies as a discipline.
    ORAL TRC 2651
  11. National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection: Papers of Dale Sara Dowse (1938-) (1958 - 1998)
    The bulk of the collection comprises papers relating to Dowse's work as a writer, including research material, correspondence, newspaper cuttings and drafts of her novels, reviews and short stories. There are papers relating to her work as head of the Office of Women's Affairs, papers relating to grant applications, and personal correspondence with family and friends. There are extensive files on West Block, Canberra tales, Schemetime and Silver city, and also on the National Women's Advisory Council, Australian Labor Party, and Australian National Word Festival.
    MS 7365

Resources by Sara Dowse (58)

  1. West block : the hidden world of Canberra's mandarins / Sara Dowse
    Dowse, Sara, 1938-
    [ Book : 1983-1989 ]
    At 47 libraries
    West block : the hidden world of Canberra's mandarins / Sara Dowse
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 22.75)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 22.75)

  2. Digging / Sara Dowse
    Dowse, Sara, 1938-
    [ Book, Audio book : 1996-1998 ]
    At 50 libraries
    Digging / Sara Dowse
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 21.414)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 21.414)

  3. Sapphires / Sara Dowse
    Dowse, Sara, 1938-
    [ Book, Audio book : 1900-1994 ]
    At 47 libraries
    Sapphires / Sara Dowse
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 20.951)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 20.951)

  4. Papers of Sara Dowse
    Dowse, Sara, 1938-
    [ Unpublished : 1958-2007 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 18.849)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 18.849)

  5. Schemetime / Sara Dowse
    Dowse, Sara, 1938-
    [ Book : 1990 ]
    At 25 libraries
    Schemetime / Sara Dowse
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 15.117)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 15.117)

  6. Sara Dowse interviewed by Ann Turner
    Dowse, Sara, 1938-
    [ Sound : 1997-1998 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 14.654)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 14.654)

  7. Silver city / Sara Dowse
    Dowse, Sara, 1938-
    [ Book, Audio book : 1984-1986 ]
    At 37 libraries
    Silver city / Sara Dowse
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.403)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.403)

  8. Interview with Sara Dowse, feminist writer / interviewer, Elizabeth (Biff) Ward
    Dowse, Sara, 1938-
    [ Sound : 1998 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.001)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.001)

  9. American migration to Australia oral history project
    Dowse, Sara, 1938-
    [ Sound : 2010 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.596)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.596)

  10. Juliet Richter interviewed by Sara Dowse
    Richter, Juliet, 1938-
    [ Sound : 2008 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.534)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.534)

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Resources about Sara Dowse (15)

  1. Papers of Sara Dowse
    Dowse, Sara, 1938-
    [ Unpublished : 1958-2007 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 17.985)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 17.985)

  2. [Biographical cuttings on Sara Dowse, public servant, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals]
    [ Published : 1900-1990 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 16.355)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 16.355)

  3. Sara Dowse interviewed by Ann Turner
    Dowse, Sara, 1938-
    [ Sound : 1997-1998 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 14.551)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 14.551)

  4. Interview with Sara Dowse, feminist writer / interviewer, Elizabeth (Biff) Ward
    Dowse, Sara, 1938-
    [ Sound : 1998 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.005)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.005)

  5. Portraits of Sara Dowse, writer, at her home in Canberra, 1987 / Henk Brusse
    Brusse, Henk
    [ Photograph : 1987 ]
    Languages: No linguistic content
    View online
    At National Library
    Portraits of Sara Dowse, writer, at her home in Canberra, 1987 / Henk Brusse
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 10.157)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 10.157)

  6. [Portrait of Sara Dowse 1990] Virginia Wallace-Crabbe
    Wallace-Crabbe, Virginia, 1941-
    [ Photograph : 1990 ]
    View online
    At National Library
    [Portrait of Sara Dowse 1990] Virginia Wallace-Crabbe
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.755)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.755)

  7. Sara Dowse, Digging
    Penguin Books Australia
    [ Book : 1997 ]
    At State Library of VIC
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.749)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.749)

  8. Gail Radford interviewed by Sara Dowse at the National Library of Australia on 2-3 April 2009 / Sam Cooper
    Cooper, Samuel, 1982-
    [ Photograph : 2009 ]
    Languages: No linguistic content
    View online
    At National Library
    Gail Radford interviewed by Sara Dowse at the National Library of Australia on 2-3 April 2009 / Sam Cooper
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.687)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.687)

  9. [Collection of photographs of Helen Garner and Sara Dowse, 15 March 2005] Loui Seselja
    Seselja, Loui, 1948-
    [ Photograph : 2005 ]
    View online
    At National Library
    [Collection of photographs of Helen Garner and Sara Dowse, 15 March 2005] Loui Seselja
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.487)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.487)

  10. Portrait of Sara Dowse at the Adelaide Writer's Week, 1994 / Virginia Wallace-Crabbe
    Wallace-Crabbe, Virginia, 1941-
    [ Photograph : 1994 ]
    Languages: No linguistic content
    View online
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.192)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.192)

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  1. Seven Writers (1980-1998)
    ... were founding member Dorothy Johnston (1948- ), Margaret Barbalet (1949- ), Sara Dowse (1938 ...
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.001)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.001)

  2. Office of Women's Affairs (1974-1977)
    ... Formed under the leadership of Sara Dowse, the Office of Women's Affairs (OWA) was the bureaucratic ...
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0)

  3. Halligan, Marion (1940-)
    ... innovative work (1994) ACT Book Reviewer of the Year (1997 joint with Sara Dowse) Age Book of the Year Award ...
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0)

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  1. [Portrait of Sara Dowse 1990] Virgi...
    Wallace-Crabbe,...
    [ Photograph : 1990 ]
    [Portrait of Sara Dowse 1990] Virginia Wallace-Crabbe
  2. Portraits of Sara Dowse, writer, at...
    Brusse, Henk
    [ Photograph : 1987 ]
    Portraits of Sara Dowse, writer, at her home in Canberra, 1987 / Henk Brusse
  3. Portrait of Sara Dowse at the Adela...
    Wallace-Crabbe,...
    [ Photograph : 1994 ]
  4. Gail Radford interviewed by Sara Do...
    Cooper, Samuel,...
    [ Photograph : 2009 ]
    Gail Radford interviewed by Sara Dowse at the National Library of Australia on 2-3 April 2009 / Sam Cooper
  5. Portrait of Sara Dowse, Canberra, 1...
    Brusse, Henk
    [ Photograph : 1987 ]
    Portrait of Sara Dowse, Canberra, 1987 / Henk Brusse
  6. [Portrait Sara Dowse, 15 March 2005...
    Seselja, Loui, ...
    [ Photograph : 2005 ]
    [Portrait Sara Dowse, 15 March 2005] Loui Seselja

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  1. Life of Lisa Fitch / Sara Dowse
    [ Book : 1990 ]
    Languages: Undetermined
    At Monash Uni Library
    Life of Lisa Fitch / Sara Dowse
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.124)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.124)

  2. The transfer of the Office of Womens Affairs
    Dowse, Sara
    Decisions: Case Studies in Australian Public Policy
    [ Book, Article : 1981 ]
    At AIATSIS Library
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.118)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.118)

  3. Victor : an unfinished song / Joan Jara
    Jara, Joan
    [ Book : 1983-2001 ]
    Languages: Spanish, English
    At 13 libraries
    Victor : an unfinished song / Joan Jara
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.109)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.109)

  4. A dictionary of terms dealing with disorders of speech / compiled by Samuel D. Robbins and Sara M. Stinchfield, members of the Nomenclature Committee of the American Society for the Study of Disorders of Speech
    American Speech and Hearing Association. Nomenclature Committee
    [ Book : 1931 ]
    Read online at Hathi Trust
    View online
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.059)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.059)

  1. Website: Australian Women's Archives Project
    www.womenaustralia.info
    Matching pages:
    View 94 matching archived pages
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.092)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.092)

  2. Website: Australian Women in War
    www.womenaustralia.info
    Matching pages:
    View 35 matching archived pages
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.083)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.083)

  3. Website: National Library of Australia staff papers
    www.nla.gov.au
    Matching pages:
    View 21 matching archived pages
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.062)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.062)

  1. Papers of Alison Broinowski
    Broinowski, Alison, 1941-
    [ Unpublished : 1965-2006 ]
    At National Library
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.031)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.031)

  2. Papers of Edna Ryan
    Ryan, Edna, 1904-1997
    [ Unpublished : 1948-1993 ]
    At National Library
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.002)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.002)

  3. Papers
    Walker, Brenda, 1957-
    [ Unpublished : 1989-1996 ]
    At National Library
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.002)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.002)

  1. Imagining the real : Australian writing in the nuclear age / sponsored by the Dept. of Foreign Affairs' International Year of Peace Secretariat, the Australian Defence Force Academy's Dept. of English, and the Australia Council's Literature Board
    Imagining the real : Australian writing in the nuclear age Australian Academy of Science and Australian Defence Force Academy) (1986 :
    [ Video : 1986 ]
    At ADFA Library
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.033)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.033)

  2. Voices of Dissent
    Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Radio National
    [ Sound : 2009 ]
    View online
    At ABC Radio National
    Voices of Dissent
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.026)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.026)

  3. Springfield / Marian Eldridge
    Eldridge, Marian, 1936-1997
    [ Book, Audio book : 1992-1993 ]
    At 50 libraries
    Springfield / Marian Eldridge
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.003)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.003)

  4. The seal woman / Beverley Farmer
    Farmer, Beverley, 1941-
    [ Book, Audio book : 1992-1996 ]
    At 58 libraries
    The seal woman / Beverley Farmer
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.003)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.003)

  1. SARA DOWSE"WHY I QUIT"
    The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982) Wednesday 1 February 1978 p 9 Article Illustrated
    ... SARA DOWSE "WHY I QUIT" How do women really rate with the Federal Government? ON DECEMBER 20 the ... Elizabeth Reid's need for departmental support. But Sara Dowse - making a point if it was an ... agree that children should not be the concern of women alone. CONTINUED OVERLEAF WHO IS SARA DOWSE? ... 2227 words
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 2.82)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 2.82)

  2. SHAPING THE LITERATI NEW YORK JEW. By Alfred Kazin. Seeker and Warburg. 307pp. $21.50. Reviewer: SARA DOWSE [coming soon]
    The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) Saturday 18 November 1978 p 19 Article
    ... SHAPING THE * LITERATI NEW YORK JEW. By Alfred Kazin. Seeker and Warburg. 307pp. $21.50. Reviewer: SARA DOWSE IT is sometimes refreshing to be reminded that Australians aren't the only people to have suffered the ''cultural cringe". Before World War II American writers, painters, intellectuals and ... 933 words
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 1.411)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 1.411)

  3. SEX REPORT ENOUGH TO DRIVE ONE TO CHASTITY BEYOND THE MALE MYTH: What Women Want to Know about Men's Sexuality. Times Books, 430pp. $12.50. Reviewer: SARA DOWSE [coming soon]
    The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) Saturday 16 December 1978 p 18 Article
    ... SEX REPORT ENOUGH TO DRIVE ONE TO CHASTITY BEYOND THE MALE MYTH: What Women Want to Know about Men's Sexuality. Times Books, 430pp. $12.50. Reviewer: SARA DOWSE THE HE publishers Beyond the Male Myth' claim it is "the most explosive book about male sexuality uality since the Kinsey Report". Kinsey ... 827 words
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 1.01)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 1.01)

  1. Sara Dowse: why I quit
    Dowse, Sara
    Australian Women's Weekly
    [ Article : 1978 ]
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.692)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.692)

  2. Sara Dowse. -An interview-
    Dowse, Sara
    Ellison, Jennifer. Rooms of Their Own
    [ Article : 1986 ]
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.689)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.689)

  3. Change of cultures. -Sara Dowse, writer-
    Tedeschi, Claire
    Sydney Morning Herald. Good Weekend
    [ Article : 1995 ]
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.297)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.297)

  4. Hard-won point of view
    Dowse, Sara
    Island
    [ Article : 1031-2012 ]
    View online (access conditions)
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.275)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.275)