Forty years ago, The Canberra Times noted the commencement of a landmark piece of Australian legislation with a small item on page 17.
"People at work can now hit back at crude comments, bottom slapping, and other forms of sexual harassment, which can undermine their ability and make their life a misery, following the introduction today of the new Sex Discrimination Act," the August 1, 1984 article said.
ACT Arts Minister Tara Cheyne told a crowd in the Senate rose garden at Old Parliament House on Thursday she thought that one sentence, which she wished was satire, showed how monumental securing basic rights had been, and how difficult.
A crowd gathered on the 40th anniversary of those laws coming into effect to see the unveiling of a sculpture of their architect, the trailblazing ACT Labor senator Susan Ryan.
The sculpture, by artist Lis Johnson, was unveiled by members of Ryan's family, not far from the former senator's office window.
Justine Butler, Ryan's daughter, said her mother would have loved every moment of the occasion.
"The end result is really beautiful and Lis' work is so warm," Ms Butler said.
"My brother Ben, who's in New York and wasn't able to be here today - when I said, 'What would you want to say about the statue?' because he's seen it in the studio in Victoria, he said, 'Look, not only has Lis captured Mum's physical appearance, but also her spirit and vitality'.
"So we're really thrilled with that."
Ryan was elected as the ACT's first Labor senator in December 1975, having campaigned with the slogan "a woman's place is in the Senate". She had been a foundation member of the Women's Electoral Lobby in 1972.
Named minister for education and youth affairs in 1983 in Bob Hawke's first ministry, Ryan also pushed to ensure the Sex Discrimination Act passed, which made it unlawful to discriminate against a person because of their sex.
The laws were "probably the most useful thing I've done in my life", Ryan, who died aged 77 in 2020, said.
Anne Summers, the feminist writer who led the Office of the Status for Women when it was tasked with implementing the Sex Discrimination Act, said the laws had been extremely successful.
"So many things have happened that have made the act keep up with the times and be practical. People use it. Women - men use it, too - but women, mostly women, use it. So I think it's been an unqualified success," Summers told The Canberra Times.
Summers said the sculpture of Ryan was a wonderful tribute to a woman who brought in very profound and lasting reform for Australia.
The attitudes of the 1980s - that married women would take jobs from teenage boys, for instance, or that women in the workplace would steal husbands away - had shifted thanks in large part to the Sex Discrimination Act.
"That was all that kind of nonsense - and that's all gone now. No one would dream of saying that now," Summers said.
"And the fact that we had to stop advertising jobs as being for men and boys and women and girls, and all jobs went in together, which meant that anyone could theoretically do any job, apply for any job - that made a huge difference."
Dame Quentin Bryce, the former governor-general and former federal sex discrimination commissioner, as well as a close personal friend of Ryan's, said it was an exquisite memorial of the great Australian life of a person who truly contributed to the nation.
"[Ryan] was a person for whom I had the most enormous admiration, respect and affection. I had a lot of very good times with her, but you don't meet many people in your life for who you have a serious, deep respect and from whom you learn an enormous amount," Dame Quentin said.
Dame Quentin said she was a believer in legal reform and valued the experience of observing the development of the Sex Discrimination Act.
"It was a great pioneering piece of legislation that was very hard fought. Susan stood up and she spoke to it again and again ... What she had going for her was the support of women from across the country from all sides of politics, from women from the bush, from the city," she said.
Johnson said it was a relief to finally have the Ryan sculpture unveiled.
"This has been one of the most special projects for me. I feel like Senator Ryan was a really effective politician, a really deserving subject for a sculpture. And we need more sculptures of women," Johnson said.
The Victorian artist said she was pleased with the location, where Ryan would be noticed.
"Even if you've never heard of Susan Ryan, hopefully the sculpture will draw you in and you'll read the notice and people will become educated and inspired, because she was an awesome role model for women and for politicians," Johnson said.
"A really worthy subject."
