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About Me

I am a historian of modern America, women, gender, feminism, and media. I teach undergraduate history, public history, and gender studies, and I am actively engaged in public history writing. I have written scholarly and popular reviews of a diverse range of popular culture, engaging with contested histories of women, gender, and feminism. At present, I am a Research Associate in History at the University of Melbourne and a Casual Academic in History at the University of Sydney.

I received my Ph.D. in History from the University of Sydney. My first project, The Press for Equality: Women Journalists, Grassroots Activism, and the Feminist Fight for American Media reveals attempts by female journalists in the United States to create a more inclusive media landscape in the post-World War II years through feminist and labour activism, and legal strategies. My PhD was awarded an Honourable Mention for the 2021 Margaret A. Blanchard Dissertation Prize by the American Journalism Historians Association.

My research has been featured in Modern American History and Women’s History Review, as well as the Washington Post, The Conversation, Australian Book Review, and History Today. I was a 2018-2019 Endeavour Postgraduate Scholar at New York University. In addition, my work has been supported with funding from Monash University, the University of Sydney, the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University, the Australian Federation of Graduate Women-New South Wales Inc, the Australian Historical Association, and the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Recent Publications

Scholarly Articles

‘The “Old Girls’ Network”: Media Newsletters as Feminist Technologies in 1970s America,’ Women’s History Review, published online, July 2021, https://doi.org/10.1080/09612025.2021.1944349

‘“The worst divorce case that ever happened”: The New York Times Women’s Caucus and Workplace Feminism,’ Modern American History, vol. 3, no. 2/3 (2020): 153-174, https://doi.org/10.1017/mah.2020.14

Reviews

Review of Elizabeth Becker, You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War (Black Inc., 2021), Australian Policy and History, June 10, 2021, https://aph.org.au/2021/06/marama-whyte-reviews-elizabeth-beckers-you-dont-belong-here/

Review of Mrs. America (TV series, 2020), History Australia, vol. 17, no. 3 (2020): 562-564, https://doi.org/10.1080/14490854.2020.1796505

Review of Jessica Lake, The Face That Launched a Thousand Lawsuits: The American Women Who Forged a Right to Privacy (Yale, 2017), Australian Book Review, no. 401 (May 2018): 49, https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2018/221-may-2018-no-401/4747-marama-whyte-reviews-the-face-that-launched-a-thousand-lawsuits-the-american-women-who-forged-a-right-to-privacy-by-jessica-lake

Review of Hidden Figures (film, 2016), Australasian Journal of American Studies, vol. 36, no. 1 (July 2017): 155-159, https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy2.library.usyd.edu.au/stable/26532919

Public History

‘How women in media won some pay equality in the 1970s, and why they’re still fighting today,’ The Conversation, January 15, 2018, http://theconversation.com/how-women-in-media-won-some-pay-equality-in-the-1970s-and-why-theyre-still-fighting-today-89914

‘The media’s #MeToo problems will continue until its culture changes,’ The Washington Post, September 14, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/09/14/medias-metoo-problems-will-continue-until-its-culture-changes

‘Newswomen in Revolt,’ History Today vol. 67, no. 4 (May 2017): 8-10, https://www.historytoday.com/newswomen-revolt

Media Coverage

I have written for The Washington Post, The Conversation, ABR, Overland, and History Today. I have been a guest on Making Waves (Triple R).

Social Media

@maramawhyte

Country Focus

United States

Expertise by Geography

United States

Expertise by Chronology

20th century, 21st century

Expertise by Topic

Gender, Politics, Public History, Women