Meredith Edwards

In Melbourne, Edwards won the Francis J. Wright Exhibition in Economics (funded by the Chamber of Commerce Exhibition in Statistical Method), the Katherine Woodruff Memorial Exhibition in Economic History and the Wyselaskie Scholarship in Political Economy.

“Studying economics was one of the best decisions I have made in my life… [it] opened up choices for my career… [it] grounded me in the mainstream dialogues,” she says.

Academic and researcher

Developing a feminist perspective for her work came about in the 1970s from teaching and researching with two children. In the 1970s, her strident, informed public opinion led to working part-time in the Australian Government’s Social Welfare Commission on issues around childcare.

Completing her PhD, a feminist thesis on finance policy, Edwards became an outspoken opponent of family taxation, a hotly contested policy area. The National Women’s Advisory Council funded her study of financial arrangements within families in 1981.

By then, Edwards wanted to work in the public service and influence social security policy. She made the move from academia in 1983 when seconded to the Australian Government’s Office for the Status of Women and produced groundbreaking economic analysis on women’s issues. Influential work in various government departments led to her post as Deputy Secretary in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Femocrat in the public service

Edwards's fourteen years of work in the public service was informed by the aspiration for equality in the treatment of women and men.

Edwards strove to ensure that the policies on which she gave advice were consistent with the feminist principles she had developed in her PhD: taking account of work incentives, valuing unpaid work in the home, and how income was distributed in households.

“Those principles are as relevant to tax/transfer policies today as they were then, and policy makers need to be continually reminded of them.”

Continuing to make an impact

Edwards was involved in the formation of the 50/50 by 2030 Foundation, a gender equality initiative by the University of Canberra and the Australian Government. In 2018, Edwards discussed her co-authored report, 'Not yet 50/50', published by the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, which focused on the barriers for women’s career progression in the public sector.

“… men and women’s perceptions as to why there is a gender gap in leadership roles vary greatly, highlighting the need for open and honest discussions in the workplace,” she said at the time.

Her awards include a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to social welfare and education, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Canberra that recognised her outstanding work as a "leader, lecturer, researcher, and policy analyst in economics and public policy".

The Economic Society of Australia awarded Edwards the Distinguished Public Policy award in 2023.

The innovative, candid publication Social Policy, Public Policy: From Problem to Practice (2001), a book that Edwards co-authored with C. Howard and Robin Miller, explained how she achieved policy changes in the public service, and was republished in 2020. It is considered essential reading for students of public policy and political advisers.

“Economics has taught me to be critical and dispassionate; but life has taught me to be self-aware, to remove the masks that may define my various roles and remain rooted in my authenticity.”