Mrs Whitlam prepared to speak out

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33091, 5 December 1972, Page 6

Mrs Whitlam prepared to speak out

<N.Z.P.A..Reuter—Cop»rtpht> SYDNEY. Describing herself as a “sturdy, older woman,” Mrs Margaret Whitlam, wife of Australia’s Prime Minister-desig-nate, combines qualities of intellectual perception with homeliness, patience with spontaneity, and friendliness with sophistication. A former champion swimmer, she stands 6ft lin tall, still two inches shorter than her husband. She still enjoys swimming, and has taken up golf. Sport is not her only hobby, though — she is also

interested in theatre, music, and literature. With three grown-up sons pursuing their own careers and only an 18-year-old daughter still living at her suburban home, Mrs Whitlam has definite ideas of her own, ranging from abortion law reform to making beds. On prominent issues affecting women, Mrs Whitlam says she believes in abortion on request, equal pay for equal work, paid up maternity leave for both married and unmarried mothers, and the removal of any tax on contraceptives. “I always like to make my own bed,” Mrs Whitlam said. “Other people never seem to pull the blankets high enough and I like tn be able to pull them right over my head.” Mrs Whitlam was bom Margaret Dovey and was the daughter of one of Australia’s most colourful judicial figures, Mr Justice Dovey, of the New South Wales Divorce Court. UNIVERSITY DEGREE She graduated in social studies from Sydney University, where she met her husband, and also gained selection in the Australian swimming team as women’s breaststroke champion for

the 1938 Empire Gaines. However, a throat infection stopped her from competing. The Whitlams married in 1942, and Mrs Whitlam followed her husband’s career, first with the Royal Australian Air Force, then at the New South Wales bar as a barrister and Queen’s Counsel and then in the Federal Parliament. Their eldest son has followed family tradition and taken up law. Aged 28, An* tony Whitlam is a barrister; Nicholas, 26, is a graduate of Harvard University and the London Graduate School of Business Studies; Stephen, 22, is an officer in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, and Catherine is a student. Mrs Whitlam has travelled the world many times and regularly appears on a Sydney television panel show and writes a problem-answer column for a women's magazine.

From 1965 to 1967 she worked as an almoner at Parramatta Hospital, near Sydney. She gave this up after her husband became Leader of the Federal Opposition in 1967. “EXCITING”

Just after the landslide win to Labour had become obvious, Mrs Whitlam said in an interview, “It’s exciting to be in your fifties and doing things you really wanted to do when you were twenty. “I don’t see why a politician’s wife Can’t express her own opinion about things. I’m prepared to say what I think.”

Although she is a capable, well-educated career woman, Mrs Whitlam sees her first duty as wife to Mr Whitlam. “I’m only who I am be-

cause of my husband and I always try to act like the best wife in the world,” she said.

When asked about Mrs Sonia McMahon, the wife of the outgoing Prime Minister William McMahon, she said: “You know, after all, she had three young children; she might enjoy the rest. I don’t have any young children. I’m a sturdy, older woman.”