I would describe myself as a feminist,
– Malcolm Turnbull, Australian election 2016.
The “I Am Anna” refers to the Anna Stewart Memorial Project, a union leadership and training program organised in Queensland by the Queensland Council of Unions.
The project encourages rank-and-file women to become more active in their unions. Participants learn about union organising, campaigning and issues affecting women at work while gaining practical experience within the union movement.
The Queensland Teachers’ Union participates in the project. Traditionally, participants undertake a two-week work-shadowing program: one week with their own union and another with a host union.
The project commemorates Anna Stewart (1947–1983), a feminist, journalist and trade union activist who fought for women’s workplace rights and greater participation by women in union decision-making and leadership.
Stewart campaigned for equal pay, job security, recognition of women’s skills and improved maternity-leave provisions. She was also a founding member of the Australian Council of Trade Unions Women’s Committee.
When women wear the words “I Am Anna,” they identify themselves with Anna Stewart’s legacy and declare their intention to continue her work.
The first Anna Stewart Memorial Project was established in Victoria in 1984, the year after her death. It has since helped generations of women develop the knowledge, confidence and practical skills needed to organise in their workplaces and assume leadership roles within their unions.
While pregnant with her third child Anna spearheaded the first blue collar union campaign for maternity leave award provisions, and while at the Victorian Vehicle Builders Federation in 1975, Anna fought for childcare facilities in car plants, researched and argued work value cases, initiated campaigns against sexual harassment as an industrial issue, and assisted with the ACTU Maternity Leave Test Case and campaign.