Australian Women in Advertising in the Nineteenth Century by Jackie Dickenson (review)

Abstract

Joy Jobbins, mother of five, and former fashion model turned PR executive for the Australian Wool Board aptly captures the predicament common to women juggling an advertising career and family life with her simple statement: “There are many lost years as a mother that the Wool Board owes me” (114). While these words ring true for many women in the industry today, Jobbins was reflecting on a career that spanned the 1950s and 1960s. Jobbins’ predicament was not unique. Popular television series such as Mad Men generally depict male-saturated advertising agencies, but Dickenson’s Australian Women in Advertising in the Nineteenth Century brings to light countless women, such as Jobbins, who forged successful careers in advertising, promotion, public relations, and other creative industries in Australia throughout the nineteenth century.