Jill Ker Conway
Encyclopedia
Jill Ker Conway is an Australia
n-American
author. Well known for her autobiographies
, in particular her first memoir
, The Road from Coorain. She was also Smith College
's first woman president, from 1975–1985, and now serves as a Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
. In 2004 she was designated a Women's History Month
Honoree by the National Women's History Project
.
in the outback of Australia
. Together with her two brothers, Conway was raised in near-total isolation
on a family owned 73 square kilometres (18,038.7 acre) tract of land, Coorain (aboriginal
word for "windy place"), which was eventually expanded into 129 square kilometres (31,876.6 acre). On Coorain she lived a lonely life, and grew up without playmates except for her brothers. She was schooled entirely by her mother and a country governess
.
Conway spent her youth working the sheep station; by age seven, she was an important member of the workforce, helping with such activities as herding and tending the sheep, checking the perimeter fence
s and lugging heavy farm supplies around. The farm prospered until a drought that would last for seven years. This and her father's worsening health put an increasing burden on her shoulders. But this ended abruptly when she was 11 and her father drowned in an unfortunate diving
accident, while trying to extend the farm's water piping.
Initially Conway's mother, a nurse by profession, refused to leave Coorain. But after three more years of drought
she was compelled to move Jill and her brothers to Sydney
, to allow them to lead a normal life.
Conway found the local state school a rough environment. The British
manners and accent ingrained by her parents clashed with her peers' Australian habits provoking taunts and jeers. This resulted in her mother enrolling her at Abbotsleigh
, a private girls school, where Conway found intellectual
challenge and social acceptance. After finishing her education at Abbotsleigh, she enrolled at the University of Sydney
where she studied History
and English
and graduated with honours in 1958. Upon graduation, Conway sought a trainee post in the Department of External Affairs, but the conservative all-male committee was intimidated by her and she was refused for being, as she learned later, "too good looking" and "too intellectually aggressive."
After this setback she travelled through Europe with her now emotionally volatile mother. In 1960 she decided to strike out on her own and move to the United States
. At age 25, she was accepted into the Harvard University
history program. There she assisted a Canadian
professor, John Conway, who became her husband until his death in 1995. Conway received her Ph.D.
at Harvard in 1969 and taught at the University of Toronto
from 1964 to 1975. Her book True North deals about her time in Toronto
.
From 1975-1985 Conway was the president of Smith College. Since 1985 she has been a Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
. She has received thirty-eight honorary degree
s and awards from North American and Australian colleges, universities and women's organizations.
In 1975 Conway became the first woman president of Smith College
, the largest women's college
in the United States
. Located in Northampton, Massachusetts
, Smith is a private liberal arts college
and is the only women's college in the U.S. to grant its own degrees in engineering
.
One of Conway's most notable accomplishments is a program she instigated to help students on welfare. At the time many students who were also welfare mothers were not pursuing liberal arts
as accepting Smith's scholarship
meant losing their welfare benefits. The students were forced to choose between supporting their children or furthering their education. By not giving them scholarships but paying their rent
instead, Conway circumvented the state's system. She also gave the students access to an account at local stores, access to physician
s and so on. ABC
's Good Morning America
even profiled graduates of the program, giving it national exposure. Eventually the state of Massachusetts
, convinced about the importance of the program, changed its welfare system so that scholarship students wouldn't lose their benefits.
Conway also created the Ada Comstock Scholars program. This program allows older women, often with extensive work and family obligations, to study part-time. These women can take classes for a Bachelor's degree at Smith's at a slower pace over a longer period.
In 1975, Conway was named by Time
as a Woman of the Year.
Conway started writing her first memoirs after leaving Smith College, during her period at MIT. The Road from Coorain was published in 1989 (ISBN 0-394-57456-7) and deals with her early life, from Coorain in Australia
to Harvard in the United States
.
The book starts off with her early childhood at the remote sheep station Coorain in Hillston. Conway writes about her teenage years in Sydney
and especially her education at the University of Sydney
, where university studies were open to women but the culture was focused heavily on the men. She described her intellect
ual development and her feelings realizing there is a bias
against women, after being denied a traineeship at the Australia
n foreign service.
In 2001 Chapman Pictures produced a television film
, The Road from Coorain (IMDB entry), featuring Katherine Slattery as the grown-up Jill, and Juliet Stevenson
as her mother.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author. Well known for her autobiographies
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, in particular her first memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
, The Road from Coorain. She was also Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
's first woman president, from 1975–1985, and now serves as a Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. In 2004 she was designated a Women's History Month
Women's History Month
Women's History Month is an annual declared month worldwide that highlights contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. March has been set aside as this month in the United Kingdom and in the United States...
Honoree by the National Women's History Project
National Women's History Project
The National Women's History Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring and preserving women's history. Based out of Santa Rosa, California since 1980, it was started by women's history activists Molly Murphy MacGregor, Mary Ruthsdotter, Maria Cuevas, Paula Hammett and Bette...
.
Biography
Conway was born in Hillston, New South WalesNew South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
in the outback of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Together with her two brothers, Conway was raised in near-total isolation
Solitude
Solitude is a state of seclusion or isolation, i.e., lack of contact with people. It may stem from bad relationships, deliberate choice, infectious disease, mental disorders, neurological disorders or circumstances of employment or situation .Short-term solitude is often valued as a time when one...
on a family owned 73 square kilometres (18,038.7 acre) tract of land, Coorain (aboriginal
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
word for "windy place"), which was eventually expanded into 129 square kilometres (31,876.6 acre). On Coorain she lived a lonely life, and grew up without playmates except for her brothers. She was schooled entirely by her mother and a country governess
Governess
A governess is a girl or woman employed to teach and train children in a private household. In contrast to a nanny or a babysitter, she concentrates on teaching children, not on meeting their physical needs...
.
Conway spent her youth working the sheep station; by age seven, she was an important member of the workforce, helping with such activities as herding and tending the sheep, checking the perimeter fence
Perimeter fence
A perimeter fence is a structure that circles the perimeter of an area to prevent access. These fences are frequently made out of single vertical metal bars connected at the top and bottom with a horizontal bar. They often have spikes on the top to prevent climbing. Residential perimeter fences are...
s and lugging heavy farm supplies around. The farm prospered until a drought that would last for seven years. This and her father's worsening health put an increasing burden on her shoulders. But this ended abruptly when she was 11 and her father drowned in an unfortunate diving
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
accident, while trying to extend the farm's water piping.
Initially Conway's mother, a nurse by profession, refused to leave Coorain. But after three more years of drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
she was compelled to move Jill and her brothers to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, to allow them to lead a normal life.
Conway found the local state school a rough environment. The British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
manners and accent ingrained by her parents clashed with her peers' Australian habits provoking taunts and jeers. This resulted in her mother enrolling her at Abbotsleigh
Abbotsleigh
Abbotsleigh School for Girls is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for girls, located in Wahroonga, on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
, a private girls school, where Conway found intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
challenge and social acceptance. After finishing her education at Abbotsleigh, she enrolled at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
where she studied History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
and graduated with honours in 1958. Upon graduation, Conway sought a trainee post in the Department of External Affairs, but the conservative all-male committee was intimidated by her and she was refused for being, as she learned later, "too good looking" and "too intellectually aggressive."
After this setback she travelled through Europe with her now emotionally volatile mother. In 1960 she decided to strike out on her own and move to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. At age 25, she was accepted into the Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
history program. There she assisted a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
professor, John Conway, who became her husband until his death in 1995. Conway received her Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
at Harvard in 1969 and taught at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
from 1964 to 1975. Her book True North deals about her time in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
From 1975-1985 Conway was the president of Smith College. Since 1985 she has been a Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. She has received thirty-eight honorary degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
s and awards from North American and Australian colleges, universities and women's organizations.
President of Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
, the largest women's college
Women's college
Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Located in Northampton, Massachusetts
Northampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, was 28,549...
, Smith is a private liberal arts college
Liberal arts college
A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional...
and is the only women's college in the U.S. to grant its own degrees in engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
.
One of Conway's most notable accomplishments is a program she instigated to help students on welfare. At the time many students who were also welfare mothers were not pursuing liberal arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
as accepting Smith's scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
meant losing their welfare benefits. The students were forced to choose between supporting their children or furthering their education. By not giving them scholarships but paying their rent
Renting
Renting is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for all property charges regularly incurred by the ownership from landowners...
instead, Conway circumvented the state's system. She also gave the students access to an account at local stores, access to physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
s and so on. ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
even profiled graduates of the program, giving it national exposure. Eventually the state of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, convinced about the importance of the program, changed its welfare system so that scholarship students wouldn't lose their benefits.
Conway also created the Ada Comstock Scholars program. This program allows older women, often with extensive work and family obligations, to study part-time. These women can take classes for a Bachelor's degree at Smith's at a slower pace over a longer period.
In 1975, Conway was named by Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
as a Woman of the Year.
The Road from Coorain
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to Harvard in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The book starts off with her early childhood at the remote sheep station Coorain in Hillston. Conway writes about her teenage years in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and especially her education at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
, where university studies were open to women but the culture was focused heavily on the men. She described her intellect
Intellect
Intellect is a term used in studies of the human mind, and refers to the ability of the mind to come to correct conclusions about what is true or real, and about how to solve problems...
ual development and her feelings realizing there is a bias
Bias
Bias is an inclination to present or hold a partial perspective at the expense of alternatives. Bias can come in many forms.-In judgement and decision making:...
against women, after being denied a traineeship at the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n foreign service.
In 2001 Chapman Pictures produced a television film
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
, The Road from Coorain (IMDB entry), featuring Katherine Slattery as the grown-up Jill, and Juliet Stevenson
Juliet Stevenson
Juliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, CBE is an English actor of stage and screen.- Early life :Stevenson was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England, the daughter of Virginia Ruth , a teacher, and Michael Guy Stevenson, an army officer. Stevenson's father was in the army and was posted to a new place every...
as her mother.
List of works
- Felipe the Flavored ice (never)
- A Woman's Education (2001)
- Women on Power: Leadership Redefined (2001)
- Earth, Air, Fire, Water: Humanistic Studies of the Environment (2000)
- Overnight Float (with Elizabeth Topham Kennan as Clare MunningsClare MunningsClare Munnings is an American mystery author.Clare Munnings is the penname for two American authors: Jill Ker Conway and Elizabeth Topham Kennan . Their first novel, Overnight Float, was published in 2000.-External links:* **...
) (2000) - In Her Own Words: Women's Memoirs from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States (1999)
- When Memory Speaks (1998)
- Modern Feminism: An Intellectual History (1997)
- Written By Herself, vol. 2, Autobiographies of Women from Britain, Africa, Asia and the U.S. (1996)
- Written by Herself (editor) (1995)
- Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir (with Russell BakerRussell BakerRussell Wayne Baker is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning writer known for his satirical commentary and self-critical prose, as well as for his autobiography, Growing Up.-His career:...
and William ZinsserWilliam ZinsserWilliam Knowlton Zinsser is an American writer, editor, literary critic, and teacher. He began his career as a journalist for the New York Herald Tribune, where he worked as a feature writer, drama editor, film critic, and editorial writer, and has been a longtime contributor to leading...
) (1995) - True North: A Memoir (1995)
- The Politics of Women's Education (with Susan Bourque) (1993)
- Autobiographies of American Women: An Anthology (1992)
- The Road from Coorain (1989)
- Learning About Women (with Susan Bourque and Joan Scott) (1989)
- Utopian Dream or Dystopian Nightmare? Nineteenth Century Feminist Ideas About Equality (1987)
- Women Reformers and American Culture (1987)
- The Female Experience in 18th- and 19th-Century America (1982)
- Women Reformers and American Culture: 1870-1930 (1972)
- Merchants and Merinos (1960)
See also
- LiteratureLiteratureLiterature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
- Literature of the United States
- FeminismFeminismFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
- Smith CollegeSmith CollegeSmith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
- ImagineNations GroupImagineNations GroupImagineNations Group is a global alliance of social entrepreneurs, thought leaders, investors, financial institutions, global brands, media and organizations — all working together to empower and inspire a new generation of successful young adults in the developing world with opportunities,...