Elizabeth Anne Reid AO,

FASSA The Fassa Valley ( Ladin: ''Fascia'', , ) is a valley in the Dolomites in Trentino, northern Italy. The valley composes an administrative valley community (Italian: ''Comunità di valle'', German: ''Talgemeinschaft'') of Trentino, known as Fascia ...

, (born 3 July 1942) is an Australian development practitioner,

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

with a distinguished career in and significant contribution to national and international public service. She founded, established and worked with a number of pioneering and specialised

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

institutions,

government agencies A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, ...

and

non-governmental organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

s. Reid was appointed the world's first advisor on women's affairs to a head of government by the Australian Labor

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being ...

in 1973.

Early life and education

Reid was born in

Taree, New South Wales Taree () is a city on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. It and nearby Cundletown were settled in 1831 by William Wynter. Since then it has grown to a population of 26,381, and commands a significant agricultural district. Situ ...

. At 19 she began a Statistics Cadet and became a Program Officer for the

Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is an List of Australian Government entities, Australian Government agency that collects and analyses statistics on economic, population, Natural environment, environmental, and social issues to advi ...

and from 1964 to 1966 she was a computer programmer and training officer. She went on to complete a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

with

First Class Honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

in 1965. Subsequently, she was awarded a Commonwealth Travelling Scholarship and completed a

Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil, BPh, or PhB; or or ) is the title of an academic degree in philosophy that usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects. Unlike many other bachelor's degrees, the ...

Somerville College Somerville College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The college's liberal tone derives from its f ...

of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in 1970. She returned to Australia and worked as a Senior Tutor in the Department of Philosophy at the Australian National University from 1970 to 1973. During 1976, Reid was a Fellow at the

Harvard Institute of Politics The Institute of Politics (IOP) is an institute of Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University that was created to serve as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy and to inspire Harvard undergraduates to consider careers in politics and ...

and the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Professional career

Reid was the Australian Representative to the United Nations Forum on the Role of Women in Population and Development, held in New York in February 1974. She has performed many roles in the areas of

international development International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of economic development, economic or human development (economics), human development on an international sca ...

and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

for the

and other bodies including Director and Policy Adviser of the

United Nations Development Program The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries Poverty reduction, eliminate poverty and achieve Sustainable development, sustainable economic growth and Human development (economics), hu ...

from 1989 to 1998. She was the Leader of the Australian Delegation to the World Conference of the International Women's Year in Mexico City in 1975. She has 30 years of professional development experience in Asia, Africa, the Pacific, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Central America, Eastern Europe and the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...

. Reid has had a long career with the

, including milestones such as Founding Director of the United Nations Development Programme HIV and Development Program in New York from 1992 to 1997), Director of the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

Division for

Women in Development Women in development is an approach of development projects that emerged in the 1960s, calling for treatment of women's issues in development projects. It is the integration of women into the global economies by improving their status and assisting ...

from 1989 to 1991 and Founding Director of the United Nations Asian and Pacific Centre for Women and Development in Tehran, Iran from 1977 to 1979. She is a visiting fellow at the Gender Relations Centre and the School of International, Political and Strategic Studies of the College of Asia and the Pacific at the

. Reid continues with her development practice and is also Senior Adviser to th
Collaboration for Health in Papua New Guinea
a Public-Private Partnership for Health. As part of her work with Collaboration for Health in Papua New Guinea and the ANU Gender Relations Centre in 2002 Reid convened and chaired an International Roundtable on Increasing Access to HIV Care and Treatment in Resource Poor Settings. The organisations Reid consults with includes the UN System, where she is involved in capacity building for a unified

United Nations System The United Nations System consists of the United Nations' six principal bodies (the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the United Nations ...

response to the HIV epidemic as well as national HIV policy development and implementation.

Honours

In 2001, Reid was appointed an Officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

"for service to

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

, particularly through the

, to the welfare of women, and to

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

policy development, both in Australia and internationally". She was inducted onto the

Victorian Honour Roll of Women The Victorian Honour Roll of Women was established in 2001 to recognise the achievements of women from the Australian state of Victoria. It was launched by The Hon. Joan Kirner AC as a joint initiative of the Centenary of Federation Victoria Comm ...

in the same year. She was elected as a Fellow of the

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Aus ...

in 1996 and received a citation in the Centenary of Federation Honour Roll of Women in 2014. Reid was included in the Signature Quilt project by the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame. This commemorated Australian women who were first in their field, by collecting and patching together their signatures across two quilts. Reid was included because of her role as the first Federal Government adviser to the Prime Minister on women's affairs, as described against her signature patch. One of the quilts is held at the

Women's Museum of Australia The Women's Museum of Australia, formerly the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame, is a museum focused on the place of women in Australian history, situated in the restored HM Gaol and Labour Prison building in Alice Springs, Northern Territ ...

References

External links

* *National Archives of Australia
Appointment of the first women's adviser to a Prime Minister
A1209, 1976/2370 PART 1. *National Museum of Australia
Landmark women: Elizabeth Reid, audio transcript from an interview
18 October 2013. *Fleming, Cleo
Elizabeth Reid: transforming adversity into impact
AID Profiles, 4 November 2018. {{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, Elizabeth Anne 1942 births Living people Australian feminists Australian National University alumni Academic staff of the Australian National University Officers of the Order of Australia People from Taree Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford