Dale Spender (born 1943) is an Australian feminist scholar, teacher, writer and consultant.
Spender was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, a niece of the crime writer Jean Spender (1901–70). The eldest of three, she has a younger sister Lynne, and a much younger brother Graeme. She attended the Burwood Girls High School, in Sydney. In her youthful days she was a Miss Kodak girl. In the later half of the 1960s she also taught English Literature at Dapto High School. She started lecturing at James Cook University in 1974, before going to live for a while in London and publishing the book Man Made Language in 1980.
She is co-originator of the database WIKED (Women's International Knowledge Encyclopedia and Data) and founding editor of the Athene Series and Pandora Press, commissioning editor of the Penguin Australian Women's Library, and associate editor of the Great Women Series (United Kingdom). She is the author of a witty literary spoof, The Diary of Elizabeth Pepys, 1991 Grafton Books, London, a feminist critique of women's lives in 17th Century London, purportedly written by Elisabeth, the wife of Samuel Pepys. Today Spender is particularly concerned with intellectual property and the effects of new technologies: in her terms, the prospects for "new wealth" and "new learning". For nine years she was a director of Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) in Australia and for two years (2002–2004) she was the chair. She is also involved with the Second Chance Programme, which tackles homelessness among women in Australia.
This was magnificent and very useful - I have about a dozen more feminist titles on my to-read list now. It was written clearly and eloquently, with a bit of that academic-type language that I prefer, and it was supremely interesting as well. I ended up reading the endnotes at the very end (instead of when they were marked throughout the book) because I realized most of them weren't source citations but actual useful knowledge, and I enjoyed the whole book so much that I wanted to read all that was available. (I usually skip endnotes.) I also really appreciated that Spender included responses from those feminist theorists who responded to her inquiry - quite fascinating to see whether they agreed with her interpretation of their ideas. Definitely recommend this to anyone interested in the subject! I loved it.