Category: Historical Contributions & Women’s Science

Showcasing women’s often-overlooked role in science, research, and discovery throughout history.

Counting Cultural Contribution

Post author By CreativeWomensAssociation
Post date January 15, 2026

Australia’s creative economy is already carrying significant economic weight, but much of that value remains unmeasured and unprotected. Without recognising domestic and care load, creative labour—particularly women’s—continues to subsidise the economy invisibly, resulting in systemic loss rather than shared wealth.

Tags Common Wealth, creative workforce, Creativity Index, Cultural Economy, Domestic and Care Load, gender economics, provenance, Unpaid Labour, Women’s Economic Participation, Workforce Policy

Across the Commonwealth

Post author By CreativeWomensAssociation
Post date January 13, 2026

Australia’s cultural labour has long powered industry, health, and community life—yet without provenance, its value leaks away. This article explores why recognising cultural contribution as trained labour, protected through provenance, is essential to building a resilient national economy.

Tags Common Wealth, Creative Economy, creative workforce, Cultural Infrastructure, Culture & Provenance, Manufacturing Capability, Public Interest Infrastructure, Regional Development, Sovereign Value, women’s labour

Arts & Culture Blogs Creative Business & Leadership Creative Capital Creative Survival Creativity Economic Independence & Women's Enterprise Health Historical Contributions & Women's Science In Real Life | IRL. Innovation & Ideas Insight Intermission Legacy & History Popular Culture, Women & the Creative Economy Power & Privilege Smart News Stories The Almanac The Architecture of Women's Health The Future of Women's Work: Creative, Economic & Cultural Power The Gazelle The Reading Shelf Wellness Work & Money

When Did Art Stop Being a Trade

Post author By CreativeWomensAssociation
Post date December 17, 2025

What does “creative” actually mean — and when did art stop being a trade? This article explores how arts shifted from skilled, trade-based practices into performative spectacle, and how that transition reshaped value, labour, and women’s work in the creative economy.

Why We Built Trades for Boys

Post author By CreativeWomensAssociation
Post date December 16, 2025

Australia has spent decades building trade pathways for boys while leaving women’s creative labour without workforce infrastructure. This article examines why the creative economy emerged from women’s historical trades — textiles, design, and cultural production — and how the failure to formalise these as certified professions has created systemic economic insecurity for women.

Tags Creative Economy, Creative Women’s Association, creative workforce, Cultural Industries, Economic Policy, Gender Equity, provenance, Skills & Certification, Textiles & Craft, Unpaid Labour, Women’s Trades, Workforce Infrastructure

Arts & Culture Creative Business & Leadership Creative Capital Creative Survival Creativity Economic Independence & Women's Enterprise Field Notes, Observations & Case Studies Historical Contributions & Women's Science In Real Life | IRL. Innovation & Ideas Insight Intermission Legacy & History Popular Culture, Women & the Creative Economy Power & Privilege Smart News Stories The Almanac The Future of Women's Work: Creative, Economic & Cultural Power Wellness Work & Money

Australia’s Creative Economy Is Running on Empty

Post author By CreativeWomensAssociation
Post date November 28, 2025

Australia’s creative economy is being held back by the collapse of its textile manufacturing base. With less than 1% of apparel textiles milled onshore and no national provenance certification, Australia risks losing its cultural, economic, and creative sovereignty. A real creative economy requires structure, manufacturing, and protected provenance — not symbolic celebration days.

Tags Certification, CreativeAuthority, CreativeCare, CreativeEconomy, CreativeExcellence, CreativeHealth, CreativeWomensAssociation, CreativeWorkforce, CulturalEconomy, CWAAustralia, GenderEquity, NationalStandards, PreventativeHealth, SystemChange, UNESCO, WomenAndWork

Blogs Field Notes, Observations & Case Studies Historical Contributions & Women's Science Scientific Illustration & Sketches

The Sketchbook Was Her Microscope

Post author By CreativeWomensAssociation
Post date July 11, 2025

Long before women were allowed in labs, they sketched. Scientific illustration was their microscope — a way to document, analyse, and contribute to discovery. Now, we reclaim that resilience through line, pigment, and process.

Tags Art and Science, Botanical Illustration, Creative Women’s Association, CWA, Drawing as Data, Feminist Art History, Feminist Knowledge Systems, Field Sketching, Historical Women Artists, Maria Sibylla Merian, Process Over Perfection, Resilience in Creativity, Sand Drawing, Scientific Drawing, Scientific Illustration, Sketchbooks, Visual Literacy, Women in Science, Women's Contribution to Science

Historical Contributions & Women's Science

The Other Half of the Equation

Post author By CreativeWomensAssociation
Post date July 7, 2025

Ten women. Ten groundbreaking stories. Discover the scientists who changed the world — full stop. No comparisons, just brilliance.

Tags Ada Lovelace, Barbara McClintock, CWA Lens, Emilie du Châtelet, Female Scientists, Historic Women in STEM, Hypatia, Katherine Johnson, Mary Anning, Pioneering Women, Rosalind Franklin, Scientific History, Women in Science, Women’s Achievements

Historical Contributions & Women's Science

Rewrite the Record

Post author By CreativeWomensAssociation
Post date July 7, 2025

History made it look like men built science alone. The truth? Women like Annie Walker were shaping discovery all along. It’s time to rewrite the record.

Tags Annie Walker, CWA Lens, Feminist History, Forgotten Women Scientists, Gender Bias in STEM, Gender Equity in Research, Scientific History, Women in Science, Women's Achievements, Women's Contributions to Science