Dale Spender

Dale Spender (1943-2023) was a researcher, broadcaster, teacher and renowned author and editor of over thirty books including the internationally acclaimed Man Made Language and Women of Ideas. She founded publishing imprints, series and journals. Most notably, she was the founding editor of the Athene Series and Pandora Press, the commissioning editor of the Penguin Australian Women’s Library, and the associate editor of the Great Women Series (UK).

As an international expert in the fields of language, communication, writing, editing, publishing, and equity, she became the Australian representative on a number of international academic journals and a member of a variety of advisory boards. She taught in universities in many countries, gave more than 300 keynote addresses, contributed regularly to the media in Australia and overseas, and wrote regularly for many popular publications and newspapers.

Her book Nattering on the Net: Women, Power and Cyberspace was one of the first books to look at the impact of cyberspace on women’s lives. Dale served on many committees including on the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) and the Australian Interactive Multimedia Industry Association (AIMIA). She was a founding member of the committee of the Second Chance Programme Fundraising Group (inc) for homeless women. For nine years she was a director of Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) and for two years (2002- 2004) she was the chair.