For Love or Money: A History of Women and Work in Australia
‘For Love or Money’ is a remarkably rich compilation film that draws upon over 200 films produced in Australia between 1906 and 1983. The film juxtaposes clips from feature films, home movies, newsreels and documentaries with radio shows, diaries, popular songs, letters and interviews. Music composed for the film evokes a sense of historical period and significant moments in women’s history.
What emerges is the powerful and passionate story of women in Australia. It is a story that has been hidden and neglected by history. It is a story told by indigenous and migrant women, transported labourers and contemporary women.
The film chronicles the extraordinary cycles of women’s gains and losses as they are moved in and out of the workforce according to the demands of time. It reveals how women’s unpaid and voluntary work keeps an entire system running smoothly, in peacetime and in war.
As wives and mothers, women do the work of loving – the work that is never paid or recognised as real work. The film shows how women’s work in the home determines the kinds of jobs they do in the paid workforce – the low paid, low status jobs.
‘For Love or Money’ is also a film about revolt. It shows how women have fought and organised for equality and wage justice for over a century. The film culminates in the 1980’s and explores the challenges that face women in the nuclear age.
Description source: Cinenova paper archive
This film is not available to book through Cinenova. It is now represented by Ronin Films.
