Spotlight on: Jane Caro
Get to know the 2018 Women’s Leadership in Media Award winner.
Women’s Leadership in Media Award
Jane Caro, The Saturday Paper, ABC News online and University of Queensland Press, “Women’s Entrappings of High Office” “Women over 50 are living out two fates that show feminism is an incomplete project”, “Unbreakable: Women share stories of resilience and hope”
When her name was announced at the Mid-Year Awards ceremony, the writer, columnist and author Jane Caro walked onto the stage with an expression that can only be described as gobsmacked.
As she said afterwards, she had entered the Women’s Leadership in Media Award only a day before deadline — and with much self-doubting and nagging encouragement from others. With such a strong set of finalists to compete against, taking out trophy was the last thing she expected. Besides — she was, as she confessed to the room with that wry self-deprecation that so endears her to audiences, just a “jumped-up copywriter”.
On social media, many reacted in ecstasies of congratulation and jubilation. Fellow finalist Tracey Spicer publicly praised to her “long-time mentor and friend”. The Walkleys’ own announcement tweet garnered almost 1,600 likes.
What distinguished Jane’s entry in particular was, according to the judges, her dogged exposure of the unique forms of discrimination, systemic misogyny and exclusion faced by older women. Her winning entry “demonstrates her powerful commitment to advancing mainstream debate around gender equality and the myriad ways in which women are disempowered and devalued,” wrote the judges in the comments.
“Over the course of many years, Jane’s fearless selection of subject matter, along with the depth of her research and consistently determined voice, have marked her as an invaluable warrior for women’s rights and media leadership.”
Here, Jane talks to the Walkley Foundation about her win and her work, speaking in particular to her piece for ABC news on feminism’s “incomplete project” for women over fifty.
How did you get started on this story?
It really came out of me discovering that women over 55 were the fastest growing group of homeless and being completely horrified and shocked by that statistic. I mean I am 61 — so it’s my generation of women. I thought for a long time that it was a revolutionary generation, because we are the first group of women in the history of the world who have worked for our own money most of our lives. So the fact that some of those women are ending up having to live out of their cars was just extraordinary to me.
It is caring responsibilities that predisposes women to vulnerability in our old age. Because women are still expected to prioritise looking after other people before looking after themselves, when they are old and they need looking after there’s no one there to do it for them. And they haven’t amassed the finances they need.
It’s a whole of society problem: we are paid less the minute we leave university, we mostly work part-time, female-dominated occupations are the lowest paid occupations. Everything just accumulates over a lifetime, and the result is women retiring on average half the super of men, and a third of women retiring with no super at all.
What impact did the story have?
We did a half-hour episode on The Drum which was about [this issue] completely, which was really interesting, and Louise Adler [from Melbourne University Publishing] rang me up and asked me to turn the article into a book, which I have just sent the manuscript off for. So clearly the article hit a real nerve. It put some things into focus that people had been vaguely aware of, putting it at the front of people’s minds rather than just a vague memory at the back. That response shows it clearly had an impact greater than most 800-word opinion pieces.
You’ve said that you don’t consider yourself a journalist, but we talk about ‘acts of journalism’ and I think it’s safe to say you’ve committed some of those! What compels you to share the stories and commentary you do?
I am very careful to make sure that I get my facts right. That doesn’t mean I don’t make mistakes, but I do try very hard to check everything. I haven’t done a degree in journalism and I think it’s a good idea to know what your limitations are; if people come to me with a story that needs real investigative skills, I will suggest they take it to someone else because that’s just not my area of expertise.
I think what I’m good at is taking facts and looking at them in a wider context so I can put things together and come up with a conclusion. Taking dry facts and figures and making them into something lively, interesting, readable and human — so that people can take a statistic and really make a story out of it. Stories are what impact people.
What’s your message to Australians about why quality journalism needs their support?
We have never needed facts more. I am an opinion writer by large, but I believe you are only entitled to an opinion if that opinion is based on an interpretation of actual facts and reality.
I think that facts have never mattered more and people have to be able to trust what they read, they have to be able to trust the sources. You can have an opinion diametrically opposed to mine, that is of course your right. And if you base it on facts and evidence, I might disagree with your interpretation but I applaud the fact that you have been rigorous in the fact that you have put at the base of your view.
But making things up, twisting things, cherry-picking your facts has to be exposed and fought vigorously. If we don’t have the truth then we can’t make proper decisions that are based on reality.
Tell us the best thing about receiving this award?
The best thing about receiving this award was my complete astonishment, I did not expect it! I always feel enormously privileged to have access to the microphone or the printed page and people’s eyeballs. I try to use it as responsibly as I can. It is enormously affirming to have the industry (that I sort of feel like I have pushed my way into) accept and acknowledge that work. There is nothing better than that, nothing.
What’s next for you?
My third novel, which has just been published, and I am about to start editing and sorting out the book that came out of the article we’ve been talking about, which is called The Women Who Changed Everything. It is really a life story of a generation and how their lives have added up to the two different fates that they are now facing.
Jane Caro is an author, novelist, broadcaster, columnist, advertising writer, documentary maker and social commentator. She appears frequently on Q&A, The Drum, Sunrise and Weekend Sunrise. She has created and presented three documentary series for ABC Compass, airing in 2015, 2016 and 2017; another is in production. Jane pens regular columns in Sunday Life and Leadership Matters.
Follow her on Twitter: @JaneCaro.
See all the winners of the Walkley Mid-Year Awards here.
The Women’s Leadership in Media Award is supported by:
Interview by Gemma Courtney, The Walkley Foundation
