AGY-1128 | Women's Policy Unit (c.1977-1978) / Women's Coordination Unit (1978-1993)

Full description

The Women's Co-Ordination Unit was established with Carmel Niland’s appointment as coordinator of the Women’s Policy Unit, later renamed Women’s Coordination Unit (1). The exact date of Niland’s appointment is uncertain, varying with sources at between 1976 and 1978. At that time, the Unit was centrally located within the Premier’s Department to facilitate its monitoring of government policy in relation to the status of women in NSW. It functioned to advise the Premier on women’s issues and consult within the public sector.

In 1988 the incoming Greiner Coalition Government abolished the Premier’s Department (2). The Women’s Coordination Unit was relocated to the Department of Family and Community Services (3) and again, in 1991, to the Department of School Education & Youth Affairs (4). With the Chief Secretary and Minister for Administrative Services being appointed as the Minister Assisting the Premier on the Status of Women, the Women’s Coordination Unit transferred from the Ministry of Education and Youth Affairs into the portfolio of Chief Secretary (5), where it remained until the agency was removed and replaced by the first State Department for women on 1 July, 1993.

The purpose of the Women’s Coordination Unit was to provide policy advice to the Premier, monitor initiatives to improve the status of women and provide research and information services for women. The Unit worked in association with the Women’s Advisory Council, a body consulting with the wider community of women, to research women’s issues (6).

1. Who’s Who in Australia 1999, Information Australia, Melbourne, 1998, p.1266
2. NSW Government Gazette No.101, 15.6.1988, p.3167
3. Premier’s Dept Annual Report 1987-88, p.5
4. NSW Government Directory 1991, p.303
5. Chief Secretary’s Department Annual Report 1992, p.37
6. NSW Government Directory 1985, p.464.