Girl Friday: A job title used in 1970s workplaces for a junior administration assistant or receptionist.
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Common synonyms include junior office chick, s..t-kicker, donkey worker, general dog's body or gofer (go for this, go for that).
Girl Friday: An Extraordinarily Ordinary Working Life (Hardie Grant Publishing, February 1, $36.99) is the hilarious and moving memoir about women at work, pay inequality and the alienating nature of the 21st century workforce.
This is a story about resilience and reinvention, and it is also a story about how we are not human resources, we are human beings.
Kristine was 15 when she lied to get a junior office job as a Girl Friday in 1975 - she took the job because she thought she only had to go to work on Fridays.
She went on to experience the full gamut of working life, from joblessness, self-employment, mind-numbing office roles, toxic workplaces, and out-of-control workloads.
Miraculously, Kristine clocked up 40 years of admin work, and then in her fifties she became unemployable and ready to tell all.
Wisecracking, frank and completely relatable, Kristine Philipp's Girl Friday offers stirring insights into the personal and political contexts of working women's lives, the lengths older women must go to keep a job, the trials of walking the poverty line in later life and the power of friendships and camaraderie in the workplace.
About the author
Kristine Philipp began life in Melbourne in 1960. In 1975 she started office work, on and off for 40 years, in the university sector, small business, the public service and community organisations.
In 1984, she was the subject of a half-hour episode of Faces of Change, an ABC TV documentary series (and book) about women in Australia hosted by Anne Deveson. She was remembered in Deveson's 2003 book Resilience.
Kristine inspired and helped to develop the lead character in Mary Callaghan's 1988 feature film Tender Hooks. She won a scholarship and graduated with BA Hons in cinema-media studies in 2000. Kristine has written and performed stand-up comedy shows at Fringe Festivals, and writes articles for Friends of the Earth.
Kristine's creative non-fiction short stories are published in a local literary journal, on ABC online and are produced as audio stories. Kristine is an unemployable, old punk, and Girl Friday is her working life memoir.
Therese Murray
Wordsmith. Senior journalist. Editor. I have a proven track record in helping people and communities solve their problems. My career is all about telling stories.
Wordsmith. Senior journalist. Editor. I have a proven track record in helping people and communities solve their problems. My career is all about telling stories.
