The Anna Stewart Memorial Project is a two-week, hands-on training program for women and non-binary unionists. It offers participants the chance to:
- Engage with unions,
- Build their leadership skills, and
- Explore how unions can address workplace issues affecting women.
For decades, the Project has empowered hundreds of participants to step up in their unions and workplaces, advocate for women’s rights and safety, and inspire others to take action.
Who is it for?
This program is designed for women and non-binary people who are active union members, activists, delegates, or workplace leaders and are ready to advance their union involvement.
ABOUT ANNA STEWART
The Anna Stewart Memorial Project honours Anna Stewart’s groundbreaking contributions to advancing women’s rights in the union movement. Anna’s relentless advocacy helped shape strategies to address the challenges faced by working women and empower them to play active roles in their unions.
Anna fought for equality and opportunity for women in the workplace, improving pay, job security, skills recognition, and maternity leave provisions in industries where women were marginalised.
As an official with the Federated Furnishing Trades Society of Australia, Anna led the first blue-collar union campaign for maternity leave provisions, advocating while pregnant with her third child. At the Victorian Vehicle Builders Federation, she championed childcare in car plants, tackled sexual harassment as an industrial issue, and contributed to the ACTU’s Maternity Leave Test Case.
Anna’s leadership inspired many women, she brought the realities of working women’s lives into union and industrial spaces, normalising our needs through her actions.
Anna believed women must be active in their unions, take on leadership roles, and work collectively to achieve meaningful change.
Tragically, Anna passed away in 1983 at the age of 35. Her union comrades established the Anna Stewart Memorial Project to continue her vision of equality and empowerment for working women.