Under Cover (ATOM Study Guide)

Hundreds of thousands of homeless people in Australia are hidden and go unrecognised as homeless. The majority of them are women. In fact, women over fifty are the fastest growing demographic of homeless in the developed world and are increasingly referred to as the ‘hidden homeless’. These women live in their cars, stay on friends’ couches or sofa beds, or live in short-term accommodation. They find themselves in this uncertain and terrifying position primarily due to the gender pay gap and the lifelong gendered expectation of unpaid labour; where women often find themselves left doing the caring roles in their homes, in their extended family and in their communities.

Under Cover follows ten of these women. For these women, life hasn’t panned out the way they expected. They’ve lived in nice houses, worked good jobs, educated their children and then suddenly, life unravelled and through no fault of their own, they found themselves unable to pay their rent or mortgage. The women featured in Under Cover are all over fifty and are a diverse group from varied backgrounds – wealthy, poor, middle-class, working, unemployed, migrant and Indigenous. Faced with the hardships of housing stress and ageing, these women are seeking to find a home to call their own, for the final chapter of their lives. They are complex and compelling stories that reflect the years of living ordinary lives, until a catastrophe or series of circumstances knocked them off their feet.

Curriculum Links:

Under Cover can be linked to the following subject areas Years 7–10 in the Australian Curriculum:

• Civics and Citizenship
• Economics and Business
• English
• Health and Physical Education
• Media Arts
• The General Capabilities of ‘Ethical Understanding’ and ‘Personal and Social Capability’

Under Cover can also be used as a supplementary text when studying a range of Senior School subjects, including:

• Business Studies
• Economics
• Ethics
• Health and Human Development
• Media Studies
• Legal Studies
• Politics
• Psychology