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GENDER AND GENERATIONAL EQUITY AT THE ANU IN A TIME OF CRISIS
Dear Colleagues and Friends of the ANU Gender Institute,
It has been a year of cascading crises at the ANU and as Interim Dean of the College of Asia and the Pacific Sharon Bell recently expressed it, we perhaps feel like we have been running a triathlon. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been deeply felt in the restructuring of both our work and domestic lives and in the University’s financial situation. The recent announcement of the ANU Recovery Plan envisages the loss of about 215 academic and professional jobs. Hopefully the pace of voluntary separations will increase. This of course raises big questions about gender and generational equity. So, we thought it was important to share with you a great powerpoint presentation prepared by Fiona Jenkins, Convenor of the Gender Institute, and shared with both the IDEA Committee and the Senior Management Group. Although this was first presented back in May its insights are still timely, especially on the need to protect our Early Career Academics in this time of crisis. The presentation has been uploaded to Resources on our website and is available by clicking this link.
Warmly,
Margaret
IN MEMORIAM
Again this week we mourn the loss of another formidable woman leader and feminist icon, the Hon Dr Susan Ryan AO. In her tribute, the Hon Senator Katy Gallagher observed that Susan Ryan not only led the way but created the path for other women to follow. Susan was the first woman Senator for the ACT from 1975 to 1988 (first elected when she was 33 years old and a single parent) and then the first woman appointed to Cabinet in the Hawke Labor government – serving in ministries engaged with education, youth affairs and women’s status. She was a fierce champion for gender equality, introducing into the Federal Parliament the Sex Discrimination Act of 1984 and instrumental in the Affirmative Action Act of 1986. She and former Liberal Senator and ANU Chancellor Professor Peter Baume reflected on that experience and her later experience as the first Age Discrimination Commissioner (2011-2016) for the Foundation Day Lecture at ANU in August 2018. As our Vice-Chancellor, Brian Schmidt has observed in his heartfelt tribute to her, Susan was awarded a Doctor of Laws honoris causa by the ANU in 2017 ‘for her exceptional contribution to the advancement of human rights, particularly in the areas of ageing, disability discrimination and equal opportunity’. Susan Ryan was surely one of ANU’s greatest alumna and an inspiration to us all.
The Hon Susan Ryan AO
We have just heard news of the death of another feminist icon, Helen Reddy in Los Angeles. Helen was an Australian singer, actor and activist. Born in Melbourne to parents involved in show business she early appeared on radio and TV, winning a talent contest on the pop music show Bandstand. She moved to the United States and in the 1970s had a series of hit single records, won a Grammy Award and featured on Broadway and in several movies. She is most renowned for her song ‘I am Woman’, which became a global feminist anthem. In her tribute to Helen on ABC News, the Hon Julia Gillard stressed how Helen remained committed to feminist struggles over the arc of her life. She observed that every word of that song is still relevant, voicing the pain as well as the joy in feminist struggles, but ultimately insisting on women’s strength, invincibility and loving connection. Vale Helen.
Helen Reddy [Bettmann/Corbis, 1973]
GI EVENTS
WEBINAR
Event date: 6.30-7.45pm, 7 October
Australia has a sexual harassment problem. The Australian Human Rights Commission's 2018 national survey found that almost three-quarters of Australians had experienced sexual harassment in their lifetime – in any given year, one in five women will be sexually harassed in their workplace. The impact on human rights, dignity and workplace productivity is severe.
Kieran Pender and Australia's Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins will discuss how Australia and Australians can effectively address sexual harassment in our workplaces, as well as the recommendations from Kate Jenkins' Respect@Work report, insight from their respective stakeholder consultation campaigns and practical steps organisations can take to promote positive change.
Australia's leading anti-discrimination law researcher, Emerita Professor Margaret Thornton FASSA, FAAL, will introduce the webinar and offer some opening remarks to provide context for the conversation.
Kate Jenkins became Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner in 2016. She is leading a number of projects at the Australian Human Rights Commission, including the National Inquiry into sexual harassment in Australian workplaces and the Commission’s collaborative project on cultural reform with the Australian Defence Force.
Kieran Pender is a senior legal advisor with the International Bar Association (IBA) Legal Policy and Research Unit in London, and a Visiting Fellow at The Australian National University (ANU) Centre for International and Public Law.
Professor Emerita Margaret Thornton is a socio-legal and feminist scholar whose work on the legal academy and the legal profession is internationally recognised. She is regularly invited to participate in international projects.
» Register here
Proudly co-sponsored by the ANU College of Law and the ANU Gender Institute
WEBINAR 2
Event date: 5.30-6.30pm, 8 October
2020 marks the 20th anniversary of UN Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on women, peace and security (WPS), and the anticipated announcement of the Australian government’s 2nd National Action Plan (NAP) on WPS.
How has Australia advanced the WPS agenda, particularly in focusing on gender equality, human security, and sustainable development and working with civil society? How effective has Australia been in linking WPS and the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 5 (gender equality and women’s empowerment) and 16 (promote peaceful and inclusive societies)? What are the prospects for Australia’s 2nd NAP?
Claire Moore has been a member of WILPF since the mid 1990s when she went to the Beijing Women’s Conference. She was a member of the Senate in the Australian Parliament from 2001 to 2019. Prior to that she worked in the Australian Public Service and the trade union movement. She is interested in women’s history particularly in activism around equality, peace and social justice.
Dr Anu Mundkur is a strategically focused senior women peace and security advisor, gender and development/humanitarian technical specialist with extensive experience in the not-for-profit and government sectors. She has worked for organizations like CARE Australia as their Head of Gender Equality and was seconded from Australian Council for International Development to the Australian Civil Military Centre where she focused on developing capacity on gender-responsive approaches to prevent, prepare for and respond more effectively to humanitarian crises (conflict and disasters) overseas. She also has over fifteen years of professional experience, including on gender projects funded by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Dr Ludmilla Kwitko has worked on women, peace and security and gender equality, international aid and development issues over the last 30 years. She is currently Associate Professor (Honorary) at the Gender Institute, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU. She is also a Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Australia Board member.
Proudly co-sponsored by the The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Australia and the ANU Gender Institute
SEMINAR SERIES
Event dates: 10am-12.30pm, 9 October & 10am-12.30pm, 23 October
Female-Identifying Researcher at ANU?
Interested in building your creativity, communication & confidence?
Want to look at your research from a new perspective?
The ANU Gender Institute, the ANU Medical School and the ANU School of Art and Design present Imperfect Bodies of Research: an interdisciplinary, integrative workshop series for female-identifying researchers. These are a series of cross-disciplinary workshops for female-identifying researchers that target creativity, confidence, risk-taking and well-being.
The workshops commenced in February but, as a result of the global situation, we’ve had a few spots in the program open up.
ANU EVENTS
WEBINAR
Event date: 10-11pm, 1 October
Join Mark Kenny as he talks to three of the world’s leading voices on poverty measurement, research, and eradication about creating a post-COVID future without poverty. Is such a future possible? Why is it important to understand and measure multidimensional poverty? How can data on the gendered nature of poverty help inform policy responses to end poverty for all? What steps must the world take now to end poverty in all its forms, everywhere, by 2030?
Philip Alston is professor of law at New York University and recently ended his term as United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights.
Sabina Alkire is director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at Oxford University. With her colleague James Foster she devised a new method for measuring multidimensional poverty.
Sharon Bessell is the Director of the Poverty and Inequality Research Centre at The Australian National University and heads the Individual Measurement of Multidimensional Poverty Program.
Mark Kenny is a director of the National Press Club and a Professor in The Australian National University Australian Studies Institute.
» Register here
ONLINE BOOK LAUNCH
Event date: 6.30-7.30pm, 6 October
The Philosopher's Daughters is a lyrical tale of two very different sisters, whose 1890s voyage from London to Australia becomes a journey of self-discovery. When Harriet Cameron follows her beloved sister Sarah to the harsh Australian outback - as dangerous as it is beautiful, as mysterious as it is wild - she is alienated by the casual violence and great injustices of outback life. Harriet’s recovery begins with her growing friendship with an Aboriginal stockman and her increasing love for the landscape. But this fragile happiness is soon threatened by murders at a nearby cattle station and by a menacing station hand who is seeking revenge
An Australian novelist with a keen interest in history, Alison Booth is an ANU-based Emeritus Professor of Economics. She is a regular contributor to academic journals and has previously published four novels, Stillwater Creek, The Indigo Sky, A Distant Land, and A Perfect Marriage.
Professor Frank Bongiorno is Head of the ANU School of History. He is the author of the award-winning book The Sex Lives of Australians: A History and The Eighties: The Decade That Transformed Australia.
Dr Andrew Leigh MP is the Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury, Shadow Assistant Minister for Charities and Federal Member for Fenner in the ACT. He is a former economics professor at the ANU, and author of Battlers and Billionaires, The Luck of Politics, Randomistas with the latest (out September 2020), Reconnected: A Community Builder's Handbook.
» Register here
ONLINE PANEL
Event date: 6-7pm, 7 October
Only 17% of Australia's STEM-qualified workforce are women. With the Australian space industry set to triple in size in the next ten years, what can we do to make sure women are included and that diverse viewpoints are commonplace in this growing sector?
Join today's female leaders of the space industry as they discuss this challenge.
Professor Anna Moore is at the forefront of the expansion of Australia's space industry. She is director of the ANU Institute for Space (InSpace), the Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre and the National Space Test Facility at the ANU Mount Stromlo Observatory.
Michelle Gilmour is the Director of Communications at Gilmour Space Technologies, a leading Australian space company that's developing a new breed of hybrid rockets that will launch small satellites to space.
Flavia Tata Nardini began her career at the European Space Agency as a Propulsion Test Engineer. She then joined TNO, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research to work on advanced space propulsion projects. In 2015, Flavia co-founded Fleet, a connectivity company set to maximise the resource efficiency of human civilisation through low cost, low power remote massive IoT.
Aude Vignelles is the Executive Director, Program and Capability, of the Australian Space Agency. As part of the senior executive team, Aude leads and is responsible for writing the civil space strategy roadmaps, scoping and managing the Agency's space programs and delivering on domestic and international activities.
» Register here
ONLINE PANEL
Event date: 6-7.30pm, 13 October
The ANU Women’s Department is proud to announce their latest panel: Failure to Launch. This panel is part of the Women’s Department campaign or semester 2 2020, revolving around sexual assault and sexual harassment advocacy in the student space and broader Australian society. The question they will explore, one that is at the heart of this panel and their campaign is “Why Has #MeToo Not Taken Off in Australia?”
At the ANU Women’s Department, this matter touches the core of their community and they firmly believe that it is an issue of great importance that should be discussed in an accessible and intersectional manner.
Encompassed within this question are the themes of advocacy in this space, defamation laws and journalistic practices. They will be joined by four incredible women to discuss this question and shed some light on possible explanations. Confirmed panellists are Bri Lee and Nina Funnell. Please stay tuned for our remaining panellist and moderator!
» Tickets are free, but registration is necessary.
To all survivors, we see you, we hear you and we stand with you.
NEW GI MEMBERS
The Gender Institute has recently welcomed the following new members:
- Felicity Gray, PhD Candidate, Centre for International Governance and Justice (CIGJ), School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet)
- Jenna Harb, PhD Candidate, Justice and Technoscience Lab (JusTech), School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet)
- Ana Kolokihakaufisi, Graduate Student, Research School of Management (RSM)
- Michael Dunford, PhD Candidate, Anthropology, College of Asia and the Pacific
- Luby Simson, Manager, I.D.E.A (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access), Deputy Vice Chancellor (Student and University Experience) Portfolio
- Lisa Kewley, Professor and Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3-D (ASTRO 3-D), Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics
» Our full membership list is available here
» Become a member: membership is open to current ANU researchers, staff, HDR students and visitors
PUBLICATIONS BY GI MEMBERS
An emerging scholarship indicates that the
negative educational gradient in fertility preference has reversed in some low-fertility societies in the West.
This paper by Iwu Dwisetyani Utomo, Terence H Hull et al., explores the association between education and fertility preference in Greater Jakarta.
Although anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental health disorder among Australian men, very little is known about men’s experiences of living with, and seeking help for, anxiety. This article by Brett Scholz et al., examines how male users of an online discussion forum for “anxiety” describe their anxiety in their opening posts. Of particular interest is how such descriptions attend to issues of authenticity and the types of support that men appear to be seeking online.
» Access here
RESEARCH PROJECTS | SURVEYS
This research project is about how work – paid and unpaid – is changing due to the social and economic disruptions caused by COVID-19/Coronavirus. Specifically, how COVID-19 is affecting how men and women are managing paid work, housework and caring responsibilities for children, older people and other family members. The aim is to understand the issues and challenges faced during this period to inform research and policy.
» Take part in the survey
This study aims to assess the impacts of the 2019/20 bushfires and more recently COVID-19 on the health and well-being of pregnant women, new mothers and their babies.
The Australian 2019/20 bushfire season was long and severe with many people affected. The risks that bushfires and smoke pose on pregnant mothers and their unborn and newly born babies is not known. Following on from the bushfires has been the COVID-19 pandemic which changed the way of living for practically everybody, including mothers and babies.
» You are invited to participate in this survey if you were pregnant OR had a baby no older than 3 months on 1 February 2020 OR you became pregnant by 30 April 2020
The aim of this research is to investigate how social class background affects student experience for women who are engaged in postgraduate studies (or completed their postgraduate studies 2019 or later). Do women/womxn from varying class backgrounds feel different pressures in their studies? How do social class identities affect relationships within the university? How do other identities, perhaps relating to ethnicity, regional/urban cultures, or age affect experiences of social class at university?
» Take part in the survey
This project aims to research experiences and understandings of gender-based inequalities including everyday and structural sexisms within Higher Education. Particularly it aims to explore whether or not gender inequalities that already exist in Australian HE have been made manifest, deepened or worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. The work aims to address, challenge or raise the profile of these inequalities through arts-based interventions.
» Take part in the survey
RESOURCES
Ask a Feminist features interviews with leading feminist thinkers on feminist issues raised by some aspect of current political life or social justice issue. This allows Signs to create an ongoing conversation between and among feminist scholars, media activists, and community leaders, enhancing the journal’s role as a transitive space, percolating in and between the space of intellectual production and activist engagement.
» Access the interviews here
» Ask a Feminist is also available as a podcast here
The Gender Institute acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as First Australians and traditional custodians of the lands upon which we live, meet and work. We pay our respect to their elders past and present as well as emerging leaders and celebrate their expansive and ongoing contributions to the ANU and the Institute. We thank them for their continued hospitality on country.
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Events
COVID-19 and Women's Health and Wellbeing
Whilst confirmed cases of COVID-19 are distributed evenly between men and women, men account for about two-thirds of deaths. This has important implications for optimal clinical management and is one of the avenues of investigation for the Australian Human Rights Institute and The George Institute’s collaborative research project.
Event date: 6-7pm, 8 October
Registration: Eventbrite
The Rural Women with Disability COVID-19 Webinar
The discussion will cover some of the challenges facing women with disability living in rural Australia and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Event date: 1-2pm, 14 October
Registration: Humanitix
2020 Australia-Africa Women in Leadership Forum
You are invited to the 2020 Australia-Africa Women in Leadership Forum on empowering women during COVID-19 and Economic Recovery. The Forum provides a dedicated platform and space for business networking opportunity and empowerment through entrepreneurship.
Event date: 9am-4pm, 2 November
Tickets: Eventbrite
Know My Name Conference
Through keynotes, performances, panels, discussions and artist-led approaches, the conference will consider historical and contemporary experiences of gender and feminism in the arts to imagine new futures.
Event dates: 10-14 November
Registration: NGA
Sex and Gender Dimension in Frontier Research
The goal of the workshop is to raise awareness on how gender dimension, in the way research is designed, conducted and administered, influences the quality and usefulness of the results
Event date: 6.30pm, 16 November
Registration: EUSurvey
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Articles
» read more
Inside Poland’s 'LGBT-free zones'
In Poland, dozens of small towns have declared themselves free of "LGBT ideology". Politicians' hostility to gay rights has become a flashpoint, pitting the religious right against more liberal-minded Poles. And gay people living in these areas are faced with a choice: emigrate, keep their heads down - or fight back.
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Calls | Opportunities
Call for Papers - Complexities of Care and Caring
This special issue of Signs invites reassessments across disciplines, broadly questioning and complicating feminist histories, debates, and politics of care and caring. Deadline 15 December 2021.
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