Greer, Germaine (1939-…), is an Australian writer and intellectual. She won international recognition as an outspoken, often controversial, feminist writer and social critic after the publication of her first book, The Female Eunuch (1970). The book calls upon women to liberate themselves from traditional social roles and from control by men. Greer also has written about other social issues in addition to sex and gender.
Greer was born on Jan. 29, 1939, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She received a teaching certificate from Star of the Sea College, in Brighton, Victoria. Greer graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne. She went on to receive a master’s degree in romantic poetry from the University of Sydney, where she also taught English. Later, Greer completed a doctorate at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.
Before becoming an author, Greer worked as a magazine editor and a university professor. After The Female Eunuch was published in 1970, the Australian and British media regularly interviewed Greer about feminism. She became an international advocate for women’s rights and freedoms. Greer returned to academic research in the mid-1970’s. She later worked at the University of Tulsa, in the United States; and at Cambridge University.
Greer’s later works include Sex and Destiny (1984); Daddy, We Hardly Knew You (1989); The Whole Woman (1999); and Shakespeare’s Wife (2007), a scholarly analysis of the life of Anne Hathaway, the wife of the English playwright William Shakespeare. Greer’s essay Whitefella Jump Up: The Shortest Way to Nationhood (2004) discusses the roles of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Australian society. Her book White Beech: The Rainforest Years (2013) explores issues around environmental conservation. Greer also has written columns and reviews for newspapers, including The Sunday Times of London, England.
