Suzanne Newnham author, trance medium, health advocate
  • Home
  • Books & Articles
  • Meet Suzanne
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Chronic Pain
    • Chronic Pain Articles
    • PnP Authors magazine
  • Radio, TV, Video
  • Meditations
  • Bookstore

What Glass Ceiling - review

21/1/2023

0 Comments

 
Suzanne Newnham’s memoir What Glass Ceiling? chronicles her mother Patricia’s extraordinary journey in establishing her career during a period of Australia’s history when women did not have many opportunities to do so. Newnham’s fluent storytelling reveals her mother’s inquisitive nature, fostered by her parents when she was a small child in the 1930s, encouraging her questioning mind and enabling her to succeed later.

As a young girl in the 1950s, Patricia is intelligent, hard-working and determined to attend university to study medicine. While this dream is unrealised due to bureaucratic reasons, Patricia studies accountancy at college, just as her beloved father (and her role model) did. Later, she begins an internship with an accountancy firm, showing great aptitude for auditing and bookkeeping. Her work assignments are fascinating – auditing the accounts of a veritable ‘Who’s Who’ of Australian companies, giving Patricia (and the reader) rare insights.

Newnham’s colourful bird’s-eye descriptions of Sydney’s city streets create tantalising images. We ‘see’ Patricia arrive to brief company board members wearing her smart two-piece and heels (she had done some modelling in her twenties, so she knew how to enter a room), carrying ledgers, pencils, and paper in hand, confident of her skills. One gets the sense that Patricia is undeterred by the social norms of the times, entering this male-dominated field expecting full access. When one company’s board member assumes he will be briefed by a male version of ‘Pat’, Patricia remembered:

“As I walked into the board room for a client meeting with a group of executives to discuss accounts, I was greeted by many incredulous expressions: this was in addition to hearing a lot of fussing about me being a female and not a male accountant, so I calmly queried “do you think I had two heads?” It probably wasn’t a mature way to speak, but an educated woman in a position of responsibility within a company shouldn’t be considered odd!”

Over the years, Patricia adds marriage and four children - fitting her work and voluntary activities around family life. She epitomises ‘work-life balance’ before the term is in common usage. Yet, as we turn the pages to the story’s end, Newnham’s evident love, pride and respect for her mother’s achievements leave a lasting impression.

What Glass Ceiling?  is a ‘must-read’ for daughters of today’s generation as they evaluate how to ‘do it all.' They would learn a great deal about one woman’s unintended leadership shaping a fulfilling career just ‘by doing’ at a time when it was often exclaimed: “Ladies, just don’t do that!”

What Glass Ceiling? reveals the merits of walking beyond the obstacles that aim to prevent us from achieving. Rather, we should not consider life a strategic project - all mapped out in front of us. It should be taken in bite-sized portions, never more than we can chew.

Karen Kentwell 2023

AUSTRALIA - BOOK
BUY FROM SMASHWORDS
BUY FROM APPLE
BUY FROM KOBO
0 Comments

What Glass Ceiling? in 2023

8/1/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
1949, at 21 years of age, Patricia was the first female accountant with Bitumen and Oil Refineries (Australia) Ltd. In 2021, Patricia was guest speaker for BORAL's professional women's group - WISE. Given a BORAL bear following her talk it soon became a treasured reminder of an exciting part of her life.
Patricia's memoir What Glass Ceiling? is available in print and e-book.
0 Comments
    Picture
    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Author
    Suzanne Newnham

    writer, trance medium, health advocate, wife, mother, grandmother
    "I like being happy"

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    July 2022
    August 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    June 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    November 2015
    July 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    RSS Feed

(c) Suzanne Newnham 2016
(c) background image Milky Way incl Magellan Cloud from Moruya - Mick Newnham 2014