“If you don’t think something is right, then challenge it”
Evelyn Scott
There are so many ways that you can Waltz with a Matilda. Alison Coote was shocked by the lack of statues of Melbourne women when she began researching the first edition of The Melbourne Book: A History of Now in 1999.
“There was a nude, a nymph, a mermaid, a nurse from Britain, a nun from Italy, Queen Victoria but no Melbourne women at all,” said Coote.
Meanwhile, “dead white men abounded, worthy and unworthy, local and foreign, on and off horseback”.
Rather than wait forever for the gatekeepers of culture to acknowledge women, she just decided that dammit, she’d just write a book and acknowledge them.
Available at Booktopia and other outlets
How Will You Waltz with a Matilda?
You do not have to be Australian or profile an Australian woman. You are simply provided with an opportunity to redress the Matilda Effect by bringing the women’s stories out of the shadows. If you decide to engage I will link and or feature your profiles on this site.
The Matilda effect is a bias against acknowledging the achievements of women scientists whose work is attributed to their male colleagues. This phenomenon was first described by suffragist and abolitionist Matilda Joslyn Gage in her essay, “Woman as Inventor”.
Waltzing With Matilda's 