Novelist, Publisher, and Poet completes PhD in Gender and Womens' Studies

Michael O'Leary aka the Earl of Seacliff was capped on May 18th 2011 at Victoria University, Wellington, after three and a half years studying, researching and writing his Doctoral thesis, the subject of which is:

Social and Literary Constraints on Women Writers in New Zealand 1945-1970 by Michael O’Leary:

the abstract for his reads - 

This study explores the reasons why so few women writers in Aotearoa New Zealand appear in the literary scene from the end of World War Two up to the feminist momentum in the 1960s and 1970s, revisits the Modernist/Georgian debate including poets, novelists, and includes writers on Māori and lesbian issues at the time. The findings showed most struggled to be published and that only later, if at all, were many of these writers recognised. The findings clarify issues of gender inequality within NZ society as mirrored in NZ literature of the time. It expands and illuminates existing ideas and understanding of the issues.

 The photo shows Dr. O'Leary flanked by his two supervisors, Dr. Alison Laurie, Adjunct Professor Prue Hyman, with course conveynor Dr. Lesley Hall.

Dr. O'Leary's thesis was written through the Gender and Womens' Studies Department which was regretably disbanded last year. His thesis was one of the last to be finished in that department.