Mem’s a Boomer. Why her generation drove social change and isn’t just about house prices | SBS Insight

Younger generations often vocalise their resentment towards Baby Boomers and their inaction on climate policy, their hold on property and economic prosperity, but the work that Boomers have done to create positive changes in society is often overlooked.

By rejecting the conservative attitudes of their parents’ generation, Boomers transformed society by pushing back against social attitudes and norms and breaking taboos.

How Boomers fought against the stigma of single motherhood

When Tricia Harper returned to Australia from London in 1969 as a single mother with her baby daughter, she opened Melbourne’s The Age newspaper and read an article that stated the bottom groups on the social ladder, which included derelict men and unmarried mothers.
Harper had been living independently and working as a teacher when she decided to resist the intense societal pressure at the time to give her baby up for adoption. She kept her daughter Ruth despite family and friends voicing their disapproval.

This disapproval motivated Harper to group together with other unmarried mothers to form a group, The Council for Single Mothers and her Child, that would advocate for change.

“We wanted to abolish the illegitimacy … we wanted to change the Family Law Act, and get better child support payments. They were some of our key goals, as well as moving to eliminate stigma, get rid of labels,” Tricia said.

Source: Mem’s a Boomer. Why her generation drove social change and isn’t just about house prices | SBS Insight

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