Curtin University Gender Research Network Newsletter
October 2022, Issue 16
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Dear GRNers,
We hope you are enjoying the crisp weather and blue skies of Kambarang.
11 October marked the 10th anniversary of the United Nations International Day of the Girl Child and recognition that girls’ rights remain limited and girls continue to have their opportunities curtailed. The need for action is acute as an outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic is a reversal of some gains of the past decade. Considering the meaning of the day, Lisa Lim’s Language Matters column located how the word “girl” has been “reappropriated for empowerment” in popular culture and how that might flow through as a “global commitment to addressing the needs and challenges girls face is critical for promoting female empowerment and the fulfilment of human rights, through and beyond language.”
The call for empowerment of girls takes on particular significance in the context of the courageous and brave actions taken by women in Iran over the past month. The GRN stands in solidarity with the people of Iran, and in particular with women and girls, and we are in support of calls for change. We condemn the actions taken, the violent beating and murder of Mahsa Amini, and the retaliatory actions of the government against those who protest. Our colleague, Shaye Marefat, shared with us the following call to take action:
"After the brutal murder of Mahsa Amini by the so-called "Morality police" in Tehran on September 16th, the Iran women have risen yet again and the streets of Iran is full of courageous women and men protestors standing in the face of oppression. Mahsa Amini's name has become the code word for resistance and the people of Iran are voicing their rage and anger towards the 44-year rule of the Islamic regime that has no means of survival except violence, persecution, oppression, murder and corruption. Iranians are filling the streets of every village, town and city in Iran with one common demand; they don't want the Islamic regime any more. But the Islamic regime is responding with brutal violence, cracking down on unarmed citizens with live ammunition and hoards of thugs in plain clothes and uniform. The regime has shut down the internet that is reminiscent of their brutality when they murdered and arrested people during an internet black out.
We ask you to join the Iranian people in their call for freedom. We ask you to stand on the right side of history in the Iranian people's call for an end to the islamic republic regime. We ask you to use your voice and position to condemn in no uncertain terms, the barbaric actions of the regime. We ask you to stand with the Iranian people who chant on every street, WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM.”
We join with Shaye in making a call to action. Our colleagues at Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security suggest the following strategies: Amplify; Advocate and Donate. We also link here and here to two reports on the situation for women and feminists in Iran.
In the Australian context, we draw your attention to the Senate inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children. The Public Hearing was held on 5 October 2022. Submissions to the inquiry are open until 11 November 2022. We also recognise the work done by abortion rights campaigners this year and the current call for the harmonisation of abortion laws across Australia, protection of the right to safe abortion and for the decriminalisation of abortion. Catherine Kevin’s excellent talk outlined the tenacious history of the work done in this area and we invite you to sign the Amnesty campaign.
In all of these instances, and in many others, women and girls are still demanding for the right to self-determination, and for equity, making it an imperative that we take action from the local to the global.
As the year comes to a close we are looking forward to another Advisory Group meeting and Gender Research Champions meeting and we will call a General Meeting to discuss the direction of the GRN for the next year. We have also prepared a survey, which we will distribute shortly.
Samantha, Therese, Kelly and Liz
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Gender Research Network events
GRN Seminar Series: Kathryne Ford: Legacy, Letters, and Lunacy: Dickensian Afterlives Reimagined.
Charles Dickens sought to control the narratives of everyone he encountered, both in life and on the page. Dickens was captivated by the consequences of being (or not being) "the hero of my own life," to quote David Copperfield. He even edited his own identity by burning his life-writing. Nonetheless, despite Dickens's Victorian celebrity, he could not retain control forever, and his legacy is continually being re-imagined as new biographical details come to light. Kathryne's talk examines how the most significant women in Dickens life impacted him in the nineteenth century, and how their afterlives continue to influence his legacy today.
Date: 20 October 2022, 1:00-2:00pm AWST, via Teams. Please register your attendance.
GRN Seminar Series: Miriam Bankovsky: Social Problems and Family Economics: Recalcitrant Poverty and New Household Economics in Context.
The broad aim of this talk is to show how social and political concerns have historically informed how economists (accepted as such by the discipline) have studied families, with a focus on New Household Economics of the 1960s onwards. After a historical sketch of the late nineteenth century to the present, Miriam details how New Household Economists perceived recalcitrant family poverty as government-induced. Methodological innovations (stable preferences for fundamental commodities, shadow price for non-market commodities, and consumption capital) permitted family behaviour to be analysed deductively as responses to price incentives (Herfeld 2013). Early versions were associated with scepticism about welfare, institutions to keep family members to rational promises, low-interest loans for self-funding human-capital provision, and the rejection of progressive taxation, child allowances, and compensatory programs. Criticisms followed (feminist, gender diverse, and ‘poor’), driven by the problematisation of gendered injustices in economic outcomes, and a need to render social problems more precise and local, to permit empirical testing of the effects of incentives.
Date: 9 November 2022, 1:00-2:00pm AWST, via Teams. Please register your attendance.
GRN Gender Reading Group
The Curtin University Gender Research Network (GRN) Gender Reading Group seeks to encourage a culture of reading and critique, to help develop connection and community amongst GRNers across Curtin campuses. The group meets monthly online to engage in friendly discussion on seminal and more contemporary works on gender from a range of disciplines.
The next Reading Group session is scheduled to take place on the 2nd of November, although this is subject to change. To register your interest or for any further queries, please email Peta Dzidic.
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Recent achievements
Graduate Women WA Gala Day
The GRN would like to extend their gratitude to Gender Research Champion Professor Jaya Dantas (Dean International and Dean – Gender Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Faculty of Health Sciences) for her generosity in inviting GRN members to participate in the Graduate Women WA Gala Day. Jaya spoke about her own journey as a culturally and linguistically diverse woman and researcher and presented her research on refugee and migrant women. Jaya kindly offered to cover the ticket cost for 20 GRN members from CALD backgrounds. We recognise her efforts to facilitate equal access of opportunity for diverse women in academia.
Professor Jaya Dantas was also invited by Professor Linley Lord (PVC – Singapore) to be part of the Gender Panel at the Curtin Singapore ASEAN lecture. Jaya shared global evidence of the impacts on Gender due to COVID, the need for female leaders in Parliaments and as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and the importance of evidence of the role women play as primary caregivers at homes for the elderly and as health workers.
Teenage Dick - Apothetae Theatre Company
The GRN offers warm congratulations to Curtin Theatre Arts and the Centre for Culture & Technology for the success of their co-production of Yale graduate Mike Lew's play, Teenage Dick. In line with the Centre for Culture & Technology's research interests in disability representation in the media, the production is constructed to reflect the 'Disabled experience'. Directed by acclaimed neurodiverse director Dan Graham, and co-directed by CCAT researcher, Dr Suzanne Ingelbrecht, the play was made accessible for audience members through a fantastically clever and expressive AUSLAN-interpreted performance and an audio-description-supported option. Ex-Curtin theatre student Kate Mulvaney OAM mentored the majestic Crystal Nguyen for the production, and, like them, the rest of the cast are exceptional. Teenage Dick, with this cast, deserves to be recast on a larger stage.
As part of their wider research into disability representation in media and accessibility of artistic opportunity, CCAT researchers are conducting a short survey. Please click on the QR code below to participate in the survey.
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Recent publications
Bridging visa restrictions stop skilled migrant women from working in professional careers —Alicia Bridges
CHRE Co-Director Lisa Hartley was interviewed by the ABC on the barriers facing professional migrant women from working in their fields in Australia. Lisa has worked alongside the professional migrant women also interviewed in this article since 2020, an outcome of her advocacy-led research focused on opening up education and employment for women from refugee backgrounds.
View more details here
Language Matters: How the Spice Girls redefined girl power in the 1990s, reclaiming the word ‘girl’ for female strength — Dr Lisa Lim
On the International Day of the Girl Child, marked by the United Nations since 2012, we look at how the word 'girl', which can have derogatory connotations, is being redefined.
View more details here
Not Now, Not Ever: Ten Years on from the Misogyny Speech — Julia Gillard
Ten years after Prime Minister Julia Gillard's iconic misogyny speech in parliament, it's time to reflect on the speech itself and on the cultural ramifications of and connections to misogyny that brought about such an important moment in Australian political history. With fascinating contributions from Jess Hill, historian Mary Beard and political analyst Katharine Murphy, as well as recollections about the speech's impact on Australian society from influential voices like Cate Blanchett and Brittany Higgins, this is a barn-burning piece of Australian feminist history in the making. (Matilda, Better Read than Dead).
View more details here
Domestic, Family & Sexual Violence Reader - Spring Edition — CWSW
This is the first edition of the new seasonal Reader released by the Centre for Women's Safety and Wellbeing. The Spring edition focuses on sexual violence. It reflects on the national conversation on sexual violence which has taken place over the last two years, and governmental and institutional responses to address the need for systemic reform to sexual violence prevention and response.
View more details here
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Past Gender Research Network events
Parent’s views on the gendered dynamics of youth social media use, sexting, and sexual images: a shift needed from “risk” to “recourse” presented by Dr Amy Dobson
Please email to request a recording of the seminar or the slides
Navigating the academic journey as a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) woman presented by Professor Jaya Dantas and Dr Siddier Chambers
Watch the WebEx recording.
Understanding Gender Diversity summary (written by MX Misty Farquhar)
Please email to request a recording of the seminar or the slides.
In conjunction with Global Campuses Brown Bag Seminar Series: Capitalising on Board Gender Diversity: The Mediating Effect of Board Capital Diversity on the Relationship between Board Gender Diversity and Firm Performance presented by Dr Tien Nguyen
Watch the WebEx recording.
Changing the academic gender narrative through open access presented by Dr Katie Wilson
Watch the WebEx recording.
A Conversation on Emotional Silence presented by Dr Sally Lamping and Dr Saul Karnovsky
Watch the WebEx recording.
In conjunction with Athena SWAN: Career Break Management presented by Professor Helen Hodgson – ATHENA Swan Provost Fellow
Watch the WebEx recording.
Gender Through the Ages presented by Dr Joanne McEwan
Watch the recording.
Mauritius: A Gendered Landscape presented by Dr Myriam Blin
Watch the recording.
A Conversation with Professor Iain McCalman and Professor Andrea Gaynor
Please email to request a recording of the seminar.
"Finding Comfort Through Discomfort", Isaac Julien at the Perth Festival presented by Mandy Downing, Peta Dzidic, P. and Samantha Owen at the John Curtin Gallery
Including trans and gender diverse experiences in our approach to gender equality presented by ECU's Professor Braden Hill, Dr Fiona Navin and Mx Stevie Lane
Watch the recording.
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Internal events
Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Gender Equity Insights launch 2022.
Please join the BCEC for a special online report launch to present the new research findings by BCEC Director Professor Alan Duncan and BCEC Research Fellow Dr Silvia Salazar, with insights from WGEA's Director, Mary Wooldridge, and a panel of speakers.
Date: 20 October, 11am-12.30pm AWST. Further information available here.
Be There Bystander Training
As part of the 16 Days in WA campaign (intended to encourage change to stop violence against women), Curtin University and Griffith University are coming together to deliver Be There Bystander Training in Western Australia. Be There has previously been known as MATE Bystander but is in the process of being rebranded to Be There.
There is a Be There app https://bethereapp.com.au/ available to help empower, educate and support a loved one – or even a stranger – who is in an unhealthy or toxic relationship. Be There Bystander Training will commence shortly for Curtin staff – and as a commercial operation – and potentially for students.
Expressions of Interest are currently being sought for anyone who might be interested in participating in a 3-day Train the Trainer course— run from 21-23 November on Curtin campus.
Be There will be launched officially at the Silent March in the Perth CBD on Tuesday 29 November 2022 where Be There @ Curtin will have an information booth. Be There is intending to provide buses to transport staff from Curtin to the CBD (and return) to participate in the march (a limited number of T-shirts will also be available for the march).
For further information and all other inquiries, email Robyn Westgate, Project Officer Family and Domestic Violence here.
Expressions of Interest are invited from staff to join Curtin’s new Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee (DIBC).
The DIBC will play an integral role in guiding inclusion across the University, ensuring alignment between diversity inclusion and belonging activities and Curtin’s 2030 strategic plan and priorities – to help make a difference to our communities.
The Committee is seeking members with a broad range of expertise, skills and lived experience to promote deep insight and multiple perspectives which reflects the diversity of the University community.
Committee members will have the opportunity to participate fully in rigorous and informed debate, and in the decision-making process at each committee meeting.
Membership of the Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee is an exciting opportunity to directly support Curtin’s 2030 Strategic Plan, by providing the governance framework to deliver the aspirations related to diversity, inclusion and belonging. The DIBC will be particularly relevant for actualising objectives under the Community and Belonging focus area within the People theme. Further information
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External events
Safe and Equal @ Work program event: Workplace Supports for Family Violence Victim-Survivors
Join the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre at the Wheeler Centre to examine 'Workplace supports for family violence 'victim-survivors' with a brilliant lineup of keynote speakers and panellists including leading advocates, practitioners, and academics. Keynote speakers are Catherine Fitzpatrick—advisor to the Commonwealth Government on workplace and customer responses to domestic and financial abuse—and Niki Vincent—Victoria's first Commissioner for Gender Equality in the Victorian Public Sector.
Date: 14 October, 9am-5pm AEST. Further information available here.
‘How Many More Women?” – In Conversation with Jennifer Robinson.
Join Boffins Books and the University Club of Western Australia for an in-conversation event with internationally acclaimed Australian human rights, media lawyer and feminist Jennifer Robinson on her new book (co-authored with Keina Yoshida) ‘How Many More Women?’.
In this powerful and accessible exploration of our legal systems, two human rights lawyers break open the big judgements, developments and trends that have and continue to silent and disadvantage women. How Many More Women *have to be raped or abused before we act? * need to accuse him before we believe her?* will be failed by the criminal justice system?* need to say something before we do something?* will be sued for defamation for speaking out?* will be contracted to silence? From two internationally acclaimed lawyers comes a masterful and urgent exploration of the legal response to the MeToo movement in Australia and around the world.
Date: 27 October, 7.30pm AWST. Further information available here.
Brisbane Feminist Festival
The 2022 Brisbane Feminist Festival is a two-day event filled with interactive panel discussions, up-skilling workshops, exhibitors and stall holders, and discussion circles all focused on one thing: growing, supporting, and facilitating conversations around feminism.
Date: 15-16 October 2022, 10am-6pm AEST. Further information and registration here.
The Politics of Gender and Education
This RMIT event will bring together researchers from across Australia to discuss, debate and demonstrate the politics of gender and education. Keynote speaker Dr Roz Ward presents Trouble and Strife: Conservative backlash, Safe Schools, and the Importance of the Family. This keynote is accompanied by two scholarly panels on The Australian State of Play for Gender and Education Research, and Emerging Research in Gender and Education
Date: 21 October, 1pm-5pm AEDT. Further information available here.
Gender Equity in the Workplace: Intersectional and Gender and Sexuality
UniSA Justice & Society (JUS) cordially invites UniSA staff and students to attend the presentation of the recently released white paper Gender Equity in the Workplace: Intersectional and Gender and Sexuality by authors Lucy Nicholas (Western Sydney University) and Shiva Chandra (Western Sydney University).
Date: 28 October, 9am-11am ACDT. Further information available here.
Australian Women’s and Gender Studies National Forum
The Australian Women's and Gender Studies Association will run a national forum to bring together scholars to present their latest research and to provide networking opportunities. This two-day event will take place between the regular biennial conferences. It is scheduled to be part of the flagship Congress of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) that will take place in Melbourne that will bring together a series of events that highlight the work of this field. The AWGSA national forum will specifically highlight the cutting-edge research being undertaken in women's and gender studies across Australia and to participate in public engagement through promoting their work. Being part of this event will give delegates the opportunity to attend multiple CHASS events in Melbourne and to meet leading scholars across complementary disciplines.
Date: 28 -30 November 2022, University of Melbourne. Further information and registration here.
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External CFPs, submissions and opportunities
Women Writing Women’s Lives Kathy Chamberlain Research Awards
Women Writing Women’s Lives (WWWL), a women’s group dedicated to the writing of women’s lives, is pleased to offer five research awards to women who are furthering the group’s mission. Each recipient will be awarded five hundred dollars ($500) to help defray expenses incurred while working on a memoir or biography of a woman, in print or other media, such as film, podcast, bibliography, database, or website. Awardees will also receive a one-year membership in WWWL (including dues).
Applications close 1 November 2022. Further details are available here.
Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship
Valued at $20,000, this Fellowship supports Australian writers working on biography projects. The annual Fellowship commemorates the work of Hazel Rowley (1951–2011).
Applications close 16 November. Further information available here.
Women’s Grants for a Stronger Future Program
The Department of Communities is currently seeking applications for the Women’s Grants for a Stronger Future Program for 2022-2023. Funding for the Department of Communities-led Program has been increased this year from $85,000 to $335,000 to provide more opportunities to support a wider range of initiatives that advance gender equality and build a better, fairer and more equitable WA community. Projects with a particular focus on supporting Aboriginal women’s leadership and older women will be encouraged, as will projects that support the implementation of the recommendations of the Respect@Work: National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces.
Applications close 23 November 2022. Further information available here.
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Newsletter and submission deadline calendar
10 October [12 October 2022]
7 November 2022 [9 November 2022]
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