Catherine Jane Caro AM (born 24 June 1957)[3] is a feminist social commentator, writer and lecturer based in Australia.
Jane Caro | |
|---|---|
 Caro at the 2010 Global Atheist Convention | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Catherine Jane Caro 24 June 1957 London, England |
| Political party | Reason |
| Spouse | Ralph Dunning[1] |
| Children | 2[2] |
| Alma mater | Macquarie University (BA 1977) |
| Website | janecaro.com.au |
Early life and education
Caro was born in London in 1957 and emigrated to Australia with her parents as a five-year-old in 1963. She attended Macquarie University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with a major in English literature in 1977.[4]
Working life
Caro started her career in marketing, however soon moved into advertising.[4][5]
Caro has appeared on Channel Seven's Sunrise, ABC television's Q&A and as a regular panellist on The Gruen Transfer. Caro has worked in the advertising industry and lectures in advertising at the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at University of Western Sydney.[6] Caro was a speaker at the 2014 Festival of Dangerous Ideas.[7]
She is on the boards of the NSW Public Education Foundation[8] and Bell Shakespeare,[9] and is an ambassador for the National Secular Lobby.[10]
In Australia, Caro is represented by Wall Media management.[11]
A proponent of public education, Caro is also a feminist and atheist.[12][13] Caro had been tipped to run against Tony Abbott in the 2019 Australian federal election, for his long-held Sydney seat in the Australian House of Representatives, the Division of Warringah, but instead publicly advocated voting for the Australian Greens, Sarah Hanson-Young specifically.[14]
Caro stood as a Reason Party candidate for a New South Wales Australian Senate seat in the 2022 Australian federal election.[15]
Awards and recognition
In 2018, Caro won the Women in Leadership Award in the 2018 Walkley Awards.[16] She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours in recognition of her "significant service to the broadcast media as a journalist, social commentator and author".[17] In 2023 she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the B & T Women in Media Awards.[18]
Publications
- The Stupid Country: How Australia is Dismantling Public Education (co-authored with Chris Bonnor) (2007), ISBN 9781742246246
- The F Word. How we learned to swear by feminism (co-authored with Catherine Fox) (2008), ISBN 9780868408231
- Just a Girl (2011),[19] ISBN 9780702238802
- Chris Bonner & Jane Caro, What makes a good school?, New South Books (2012), ISBN 9781742241418
- Contributor to For God's sake: An Atheist, A Jew, A Christian and a Muslim debate religion (2013), ISBN 9781742612232
- Editor of Destroying the Joint: Why women have to change the world (2013),[20] ISBN 9780702249907
- Just a Queen (2015), sequel to Just a Girl, ISBN 9780702253621
- Plain-speaking Jane, biography and memoirs (2015), ISBN 9781743534847
- "Unbreakable" Women Share Stories of Resilience and Hope (2017),[21] ISBN 9780702259678
- Just Flesh and Blood (2018), ISBN 9780702260018
- Accidental Feminists (2019), ISBN 9780522872835
- The Mother (2022),[22] ISBN 9781760879662