page_title: Clare Stevenson
section_title: Early challenges
hierarchical_section_title: Clare Stevenson / Director WAAAF / Early challenges
caption_attribution_description: English: MELBOURNE, VIC. THE AIR COMMANDANT OF THE WOMEN'S AUXILIARY AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE (WAAAF), HER EXCELLENCY LADY (ZARA) GOWRIE, WIFE OF THE GOVERNOR GENERAL, TAKES THE SALUTE DURING THE MARCH PAST. WITH HER IS GROUP OFFICER CLARE STEVENSON, CONTROLLER WAAAF; SQUADRON OFFICER M. F. MILLER, DEPUTY DIRECTOR.
context_page_description: Clare Grant Stevenson, AM, MBE was the inaugural Director of the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force, from May 1941 to March 1946. As such, she was described in 2001 as "the most significant woman in the history of the Air Force". Formed as a branch of the Royal Australian Air Force in March 1941, the WAAAF was the first and largest uniformed women's service in Australia during World War II, numbering more than 18,000 members by late 1944 and making up over thirty per cent of RAAF ground staff.
  Born and educated in Victoria, Stevenson was an executive with the Berlei company when she was appointed Director WAAAF. Initially ranked squadron officer, she rose to become group officer by April 1942. Stevenson resumed her civilian career following her discharge from the Air Force in 1946. Long active in adult education and social welfare, she helped form aid organisations including the Carers Association of New South Wales after retiring from Berlei in 1960. Stevenson was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire and a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to the community and to female veterans.
context_section_description: In her role as Director, Stevenson was responsible for training, morale and welfare of all WAAAF staff. Philosophically committed to equal opportunity regardless of gender and social background, from the outset she had to deal with discrimination by government authorities, many of whom had been against the creation of such a service. The Minister for Defence, Harold Thorby, declared that "aviation takes women out of their natural environment, the home and the training of the family", and several senior Air Force officers, including the man later known as the "Father of the RAAF", Air Marshal Richard Williams, and the Director of Personnel Services, Group Captain Joe Hewitt, also fought the proposal. The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett, a Royal Air Force commander who appreciated how the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) had proved itself during the Battle of Britain in 1940, supported its establishment but lost some interest after his preferred choice as Director, his daughter Sybil-Jean, a serving WAAF officer, was ruled out. The Federal government decreed that WAAAF staff would be paid two-thirds of what a male doing the equivalent trade received. They could be arbitrarily dismissed for disciplinary offences without recourse to a court-martial, could only enter RAAF messes by invitation, and could expect to be saluted as a courtesy, not as a rule. Author Joyce Thomson contends that such conditions made the women "uniformed civilians". Women were at first enrolled for renewable twelve-month periods rather than enlisted as permanent staff; only in 1943 did the WAAAF become part of the Permanent Air Force.
  Stevenson considered housing, uniforms, and recruit training to be her first priorities after taking up her appointment. On arriving at No. 1 WAAAF Depot in Malvern, Victoria, she was "shattered at the prison-like atmosphere of the place". She drew on her retail experience to organise the WAAAF and to design its uniform. Stevenson was promoted to wing officer on 1 October 1941, and group officer on 1 April 1942, which was to be the highest rank attained by a serving WAAAF member. She took an active interest in recruitment, her liberal social outlook evinced by her determination that single women with children should not be barred from entry to the WAAAF. To establish high standards, Stevenson personally interviewed all WAAAF officer trainees and briefed as many of them as possible before they were posted to a new job. She was quoted in the Adelaide Advertiser as saying, "When interviewing applicants, I always point out the hardships of the service, so that no one will come in on a rush of enthusiasm and regret it later." Stevenson also worked to maintain the morale of personnel, encouraging officers to attend group leadership courses and organise leisure and sporting activities for their staff. Colonel Sybil Irving, the head of the Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS), who observed first hand the WAAAF's training methods before large-scale AWAS recruitment commenced, later declared that Stevenson "did the most pertinent pioneering work" in gaining acceptance for women in the armed forces. For her part, Stevenson considered the role of Director "a difficult job and often a lonely one".
caption: Group Officer Stevenson (centre) with honorary Air Commandant of the WAAAF, Lady (Zara) Gowrie (left), and the Deputy Director WAAAF, Squadron Officer Miller (right), Melbourne, November 1942
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