After leaving politics she served as the Age Discrimination Commissioner from 2011 to 2016, within the Australian Human Rights Commission.

She was the daughter of Florence Ena (née Hodson) and Arthur Francis Aloysius Ryan;[2] her mother worked as a sales assistant and her father was a public servant.

[3] Ryan worked as a schoolteacher until the birth of her first child in 1964, later running a small business, the Living Parish Hymn Book Publishing Company, from her home in Cremorne.

They returned to Australia in 1969 and Ryan resumed her studies at ANU, also tutoring part-time at the Canberra College of Advanced Education.

In 1970 they moved to New York for another of Butler's diplomatic postings; however, the marriage broke down and Ryan returned to Australia the following year.

Ryan was also a foundation member of the Belconnen branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Women's Electoral Lobby.

She lost the education portfolio in the third Hawke Ministry and was instead given a much reduced role as Special Minister of State, with responsibility for the ill-fated Australia Card.

In 2016 she participated in the 30th anniversary celebrations of this breakthrough, held at the RJ Hawke Centre, University of South Australia.

[10] In July 2011, Ryan was appointed as Australia's inaugural Age Discrimination Commissioner with the Australian Human Rights Commission for a 5-year term.

[16][17] She had fallen ill after going for a swim on 25 September, and had been in intensive care at Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick since then.