'It's a woman': Molly Brennan and gender, social justice and leadership in the Victorian Education Department, 1960s and 1970s

Molly Brennan was a trail-blazing headmistress/principal of Victorian government high schools in the 1960s and 1970s. She was president of the Victorian Head Mistresses Association. In 1970, she made history as the first woman principal of a large Victorian co-educational government high school. Then, controversially, she applied to be Melbourne High School's principal in 1974. Brennan was an early second-wave feminist. The following account of her activism analyses her political approach to social justice with regard to equity for women teachers and improving girls' educational opportunities. She saw herself as a leader, and others recognised her as such during her career and today. It was not until she applied for promotion out of the girls' high schools and into the traditional power bases of male teachers as heads of co-educational high schools and Melbourne High School that her teaching and leadership abilities were questioned.