Demonstrates how important the factor of male attitudes toward women pursuing male-dominated occupations can be in hindering the diversification of female occupational patterns. Examines the failure of a vigorous government-sponsored campaign in 1981 to introduce women into the male-dominated trades in the industrial region of Newcastle,…

Examines the nature of the Australian myth and how this has related to and affected schooling and the provision of equality of opportunity for rural children. This myth includes the "noble bushmen" and the view that "the salt of the earth" was the small, independent farmer. (Author/RK)