NTEU WOMEN’S JOURNAL

Www.NTEU.org.au/women bluestocking week revival of a celebration of educated women

bluestocking week events across the country equity in higher education bargaining through a gender lens our brilliant careers

ISSN 1839-6186 Volume 20 September 2012 NATIONAL TERTIARY EDUCATION UNION MEMBERSHIP FORM  I want to join NTEU  I am currently a member and wish to update my details The information on this form is needed for aspects of NTEU’s work and will be treated as confidential. Women’s Action Committee (WAC) YOUR PERsONAL DETAILs The NTEU Women’s Action Committee (WAC) develops the Union’s TITLE |SURNAME |GIVEN NAMES work concerning women and their professional and employment rights. HOME ADDRESS The WAC meets twice a year. Its role includes: • Act as a representative of women members at the National level. CITY/SUBURB |STATE |POSTCODE • To identify, develop and respond to matters affecting women. 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Cover: Launch of Bluestocking Week 2012 at the State Library, Melbourne. Photo by Paul Clifton. WWW.NTEU.ORG.AU/WOMEN

Volume 20, September 2012

Travelling the research road editorial with women 11 a timeless battle 2 Virginia Mansel Lees reports on the NTEU Deakin NTEU National President Jeannie Rea. Branch Bluestocking Week event: ‘Deakin women as supervisors and PhD students: Equity, Diver- my career sity, Difference and Respect in our relationships NEWS with each other and our research participants.’ Vic TAFE cuts stop women’s access Bluestockings, surfing and From limited term contract to to education 3 canons 12 continuing full time on soft Workplace Gender Equality Act From stockings to surfboards and back again, money 20 Jeannie Rea explores 130 years of women in 2012 to replace EOWW Act 3 Karen Ford is an Administration Officer at the Australian universities. University of Wollongong. NTEU Gender Equity Audit underway 3 gender equity in tertiary Roller coaster ride from casual education 14 teaching to full time student inequity still limiting women’s Professor Sharon Bell reflects on the widespread liaison officer 20 careers 4 belief that our aims of women’s participation and Cheryl Forrester is Student Liaison Officer, Gnibi, success in higher education have been achieved College of Indigenous Australian Peoples, South- How did it come to this? Women – perhaps even over-achieved as women are ern Cross University. and the casualised academy 4 seen to ‘dominate’ much of higher education. gender and higher education in Racism meets the patriarchy on From mature age entry to australia: the stats 5 campus 16 associate professor with luck, gumption & hard work 21 On the surface, it appears we have much to celebrate with Indigenous women’s participa- Alison Bartlett is an Associate Professor in Gender tion in higher education, but when drilling down Studies, University of Western Australia. further Celeste Liddle finds the results raise a few jenny strauss’ brilliant career 22 questions. bluestocking week From a childhood on a dairy farm to graduating from the University of Melbourne with a BA Hon- ours in English Language and Literature, all the way to Associate Professor and Honorary Senior bluestocking revival 7 Research Fellow. NTEU and NUS have revived Bluestocking Week with staff and students joining in seminars, bargaining edna chamberlain social work debates, music, luncheons, rallies, forums and pioneer 23 games on campuses around the country. Professor Edna Chamberlain was a pioneer for social work who used her training and her life blue stockings in JAPAN 8 Domestic Violence is an industrial issue 17 experiences to ensure that service delivery was Donna Weeks tells of the Japanese Bluestocking tied to policy deliberations. women who championed the rights of women As a result of WAC’s advocacy, National Council 100 years ago. agreed to the proposal that NTEU develop a bargaining claim for rights and entitlements for feminisM AIN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE 9 employees affected by domestic violence. If you ever wondered where feminism was at, the looking at nteu agreements Bluestocking Week panel ‘Feminism ain’t what it through a gender lens 18 used to be’ at UWA was a good place to find out. activism Sarah Roberts outlines NTEU’s new bargaining revival started by La Trobe claims which, if achieved, will reduce barriers to student 10 women’s career progression and help to close the Clare Keyes-Liley, La Trobe Student Union Presi- gender pay gap. nus women’s department 24 dent ran a small revival of Bluestocking Week in With almost no money, the women’s student May 2011. movement has had to get a lot smarter about how it runs campaigns. editorial a timeless

jeannie rea battle [email protected] with launch Week Bluestocking at the Rea Jeannie Noni Sproule. Officer Women’s NUS When the NTEU Women’s Action Committee (WAC) invited the National Union of Students (NUS) Wom- en’s Department to join us in reviving Bluestocking Week, we were pleased to discover that they were already committed to the same plan. Like many student initiatives, Bluestocking Week had disappeared because of the Howard Government’s anti-student organisation legislation. This was a real loss because Bluestocking Week drew attention to what women had won and were still fighting for in higher education.

Reviving Bluestocking Week in 2012 was quarter of the professoriate. Consequently, A number of branches showed Dr Clare an opportunity to recognise the pioneering we eagerly await the recommendations of Wright’s recent documentary Utopia women that came before us, to celebrate the NTEU partnered ARC Linkage project Women, which tells another neglected women’s scholarship and participation in on Gender and Employment Equity, which story, that of women’s long campaign for higher education and to continue cam- aims to devise practical strategies (see p.4). the vote. I reminisced at the NUS launch paigning around issues preventing full Professor Sharon Bell interrogated the of my own sexist university experiences gender equity. It was not just about access proposition that women are now over-rep- in the 1970s (see p.12). We were taught and numbers of women at universities, resented in higher education in a Blue- by a famous male historian that there was but also about what was being taught and stocking Week address at Charles Darwin no struggle for the women’s suffrage in researched, and by whom. University (see p.14). Australia – ‘the vote was handed to women on a plate’. He claimed there was no story When we talked of themes for 2012, the NTEU has commenced a new round of to tell. He was wrong, as were others who students immediately focussed upon the bargaining, where the focus is upon getting ignored the horrific history of race relations. ‘male canon’, as despite the work develop- careers started and getting ahead. The claim It took another 20 years for the writings ing the canon in women’s, gender and for general staff, two thirds of whom are of feminist Indigenous historians to be diversity studies over the past decades, women, concentrates on career develop- published, telling the stories of Indigenous young feminists still saw male experience ment and progression (see p.18). The women confronting the racism of white and male power at the centre of higher claim for academic staff is about regulating women, who were silent or collaborators education teaching and research. Their teaching hours, to bring workloads under with white men in rape and then stealing of university experience was still physically control. A major impediment to academic Aboriginal children. hazardous as they campaigned for safety women being promoted is that they are on campus. They were acutely aware that concentrated in teaching work, leaving little The Bluestocking imagery started many con- women academics were doing much of the opportunity for research. The academic versations and internet searches. Rather than teaching, many on casual conditions, while claim also seeks to introduce new ongoing getting absorbed into the debate about ori- men dominated in the high end of research, teaching scholar positions to assist in get- gins, NTEU explained that ‘bluestocking’ was and most of the administrative and service ting some of the women and men stuck in a term for an educated, intellectual woman staff were women. They knew that their casual teaching onto a career path (see p.4) (though, until the late eighteenth century, male peers would get higher salaries on it referred to learned people of either Rather than being dispirited by the ongoing graduation and pay off their HECs earlier. gender). The term later became pejorative challenges, we had much to celebrate in (see gender stats, p.5) and was used to dismiss the first genera- Bluestocking Week, which was enthusiasti- tions of women university students and staff. To me this highlighted the continuum of cally taken up with events on campuses Scholarly women reclaimed the title with women’s experience in universities from the around the country, some of which are pride, and the term continued to be used by pioneers of the late 19th century, through featured in this issue of Agenda. academic women well into last century. to the central role of the second wave Getting ready for Bluestocking Week was women’s movement in opening up higher Bluestockings were very fond of publishing an impetus for many to begin looking for education, and today’s ongoing struggle for magazines. I hope you enjoy this second the history of women in universities. It was gender equity for all women. Today women edition of Agenda, throwing the gender lens evident that while something was known of are the majority of university students and on the policies, strategies and politics of the the early and more recent higher education staff, but numbers are clearly not enough. NTEU. heroines in some places, there is much be While women are approaching half of retrieved, analysed and published. Jeannie Rea is NTEU National President and editor the senior general staff, we are only one of Agenda.

2 VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 NEWS Vic TAFE cuts stop women’s access to education Workplace Gender The impacts of massive cuts to TAFE funding in Victoria are being felt deeply through urban and rural areas, as Equality Act 2012 to courses close and people lose their jobs. The economic and social effects are crippling communities. replace EOWW Act Communities expect TAFE to provide vocational and further education to young adults, as well as to people needing to retrain. In regional areas, New legislation on equal opportunity has with lower school retention rates, TAFE has been relied upon as a way been drafted and is now being debated back to education and training. With widespread government job cuts in Parliament. If passed, the new Bill will and private businesses collapsing, more and more people need retraining opportunities. amend the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 (the EOWW Act) TAFE has always been particu- larly important for women – to reflect a new focus on improving gender including economically poorer, equality in the workplace. Specific recogni- Indigenous and immigrant tion is made of equality in remuneration women – to get into education and training to open up access and the centrality of family responsibilities to decent jobs. For so many to the achievement of gender equality. women, TAFE has not been the second chance after leav- The Bill also seeks to change the name of the Equal ing school, working and then Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency needing further training: TAFE (EOWA) to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency and has provided the first chance, the title of the Director of the Agency to the Director of the access to basic education Workplace Gender Equality. to get started on improving life In the 2011 issue of Agenda, we reported on the Govern- choices. Success stories abound ment’s Review of the EOWW Act and the EOWA. The of women who started with a purpose of the Review was to examine both the effective- literacy and language course ness and efficiency of the Act, and to consider practical Helen Brady and Nicole Bremner from and worked their way through ways of improving the equal opportunity framework. to well-credentialed and inter- GippsTAFE at the Traralgon TAFE rally on 5 NTEU has been involved at all stages of the process, June 2012. Photos: Justin Westgate esting careers. and we are very excited to see the new, substantially We have heard many of these enhanced, gender equity legislation now before Parlia- stories at meetings and rallies around the State as the NTEU, with the ment. For a full report on the new rules around equal Australian Education Union (AEU) and local community organisations have opportunity and what these mean, please go to: organised public meetings, petitions and rallies to protest to the Baillieu www.nteu.org.au/women/publications/extra Liberal Government that these cuts have gone too far. The NSW and Queensland Liberal Governments are looking to copy Victoria’s deregulation and blatant program of decimating public post-secondary education. www.nteu.org.au/tafe NTEU Gender Equity Audit underway NTEU’s first internal Gender Equity Audit is currently underway. The Audit is the first step in a broad review by the Women’s Action Committee (WAC) to determine how success- ful NTEU has been in implementing gender equity and women’s empowerment, both within the union and our workplaces. The Audit examines a number of areas relating to gender equity and NTEU’s approach to both representation and activism by women. It is intended to not only update current information the Union has on gender equity, but to also expand current knowledge and examine culture, practice and attitudes to equity within the Union. Most importantly, the Audit is a mechanism for conversations within NTEU, and to establish women’s perspectives as to how they feel they are perceived by the Union. The Audit has been sent to all Branches and Divisions of the Union, and initial results will be presented at the National Council in October. For further information on the Audit please see the extended report online: www.nteu.org.au/women/publications/extra

VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 3 Gender

NEWS inequity still limiting women’s careers The first cut of the findings of the recent survey on Work and Careers in Austral- ian Universities reveal that women’s and men’s experiences of working in universities continue to be distinctly differentiated by gender. However, the gender gap is closing on some aspects of recruitment, career progression, workloads and job satisfaction. The survey conducted in 19 universities asked, in separate questionnaires, general, academic and casual academic staff a broad range of questions on their jobs, income, satisfaction, security, promotion, reclassification, and retirement income, as well work and family issues including parental leave and flexible work. The response rate was 35% for academic staff, 32% for general staff and 12% for casual academic staff. From the vast amount of data collected, there is now an opportunity to interrogate what is really going on in terms of gender and employment equity. The survey is part of an ARC Linkage Project on Gender and Employment Equity: Strategies for Advancement in Austral- ian Universities. Along with UniSuper and Universities Australia Executive Women, NTEU is a partner to the project led by Professor Glenda Strahan of Griffith University. The project includes further components focussing upon senior women, general staff careers and academic casuals, which is being researched by Robyn May as a PhD project (see story below). The project seeks to provide detailed explanations of the underlying influences on the (re)production of gender pay inequity in universities, with specific attention to the gendered impact of recent changes in the sector and the ways in which these intersect with gender equity and work/family policy innovations. A first reading of the survey findings indicates that the policies and practices for gender equity are having an impact. However, inadequate sector funding, excessive workloads, widespread job insecurity and an explo- sion of precarious working arrangements are mitigating the impact of positive changes. The project always aimed to devise practical strategies to promote gender equity in modern univer- sities. The survey results indicated that we need these strategies. How did it come to this? Women and the casualised robyn may academy [email protected] Twenty years after a study of casual academic staff at the University of New South Wales raised concerns, based on their findings, that there were structural barriers to women’s advancement in academia, it is depressing to see that not only has little changed, things have in fact become worse. The authors of that study reflected that for many women ‘casual employment may constitute their actual career’. In 2012, casual aca- demic employment does appear for many women to be their actual career, and it’s not the career of their choosing. My research, based on a survey of casual academic staff at 19 universities during 2011, finds that only a small minority of casual academ- ics are ‘casuals by choice’, and men are just as likely to say they prefer casual work as women. My case study research also finds very low levels of preference for casual work, and for the few who do prefer casual work there is often ambivalence associated with their choice. One interviewee described her time of casual teaching as a ‘career plateau’, something that filled what would have otherwise been a ‘black hole in a CV’. Since the early 90s women have made inroads into the academic hierarchy, but progress has been slow and the academic profession has changed rapidly. Career entry points are no longer clearly signposted. As women have taken to higher degree study in ever greater numbers, casualisation of academic teaching and, to a lesser extent, research has rapidly expanded to the extent that casual staff now perform most of the undergraduate teaching in our universities. Women comprise almost 60 per cent of casual academic staff in Australia, and around 45 per cent of ongoing academic staff. Many of these casuals are questioning whether their aspirations for an academic career will ever be fulfilled, and my study finds much higher levels of pessimism about career prospects amongst women, particularly those with PhDs. A number of the casuals I have interviewed report exhaustion from the uncertainty of work and unevenness of work- load; one tells me that casual work has made her poor, whilst the students she works with are often well-off, and that she identifies with ‘educated middle class women who had few options but to serve as governesses to rich families in England’. In the context of an ageing academic workforce, and with much talk of national skills shortages, the scenario that faces so many of our most educated, women in particular, is a national disgrace, and deserving of far more attention than it is currently receiving. Robyn has a PhD Scholarship on an ARC Linkage, Gender and Employment Equity, Strategies for advancement in Australian Universities. NTEU along with Unisuper and Universities Australia Executive Women is an industry partner on the project.

4 VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 NEWS

gender and higher education in australia: the stats history

First Australian First women enrolled at First Indigenous woman to 45% of 58% of university university opens an Australian university graduate from a university, university students are women (Sydney) (Melbourne) Margot Weir (Dip Phys Ed, students are (55% undergraduates, Melbourne) women 52% postgraduates) 1850 1882 1885 1959 1980 2010 1884 1987 Edith Dornwell graduates First graduates, Bella First woman Vice-Chancellor, (Science, Adelaide) Guerin & Lydia Harris Professor Di Yerbury appointed (BA, Melbourne) at Macquarie University enrolments vice-chancellors Emrolments continue to be largely clustered in what are seen as ‘feminised’ disciplines: Female Male 73% health 74% education 16% engineering 19% i.t. qualifications women in the university workforce 25-29 year olds with a bachelor degree australians with a phd academics professors

30% 33% 27% 41% 44% gender pay gap hecs debt general staff academic casuals At 45-50 yr: 17.5% 1 2 3.1 26.7% 67% 57% Due to career breaks, family demands and occupational segregation, women take 3.1 years longer to repay their HECS debt. senior general staff The number of women in senior general staff on graduation 3 years after graduation positions has doubled in last 15 years. This is a $2000 $7000 $2000 45% great positive outcome, due mostly to the institution of gender equity programs and structural changes that work against systemic and cultural discrimination Management & Commerce Education against women.

VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 5 BLUESTOCKINGS

6 VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 BLUESTOCKINGS BLUESTOCKING celebrating at the DARWIN bluestocking event @ CDU REVIVal When the first generations of women burst into universities in the late 19th century they were dismissively called ‘bluestock- ings’. This was meant to be a slur on being scholarly, serious and intellectual women. Not surprisingly university women wore the bluestocking label with pride. Over 20 years ago, Australian women students organised Bluestocking Week to celebrate women’s achievements in higher education and to campaign for more. In 2012, NTEU and National Union of Students revived Bluestocking Week with staff and students joining in seminars, debates, music, luncheons, rallies, forums and games on campuses around the country. mary kelly speaks at the bluestocking morning tea @ qut More photos throughout this issue of Agenda and online: www.nteu.org.au/women/bluestockingweek wac at bluestocking week launch in Melbourne

bluestocking concert @ uq march to commemorate the names of inspirational women @ curtin

VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 7 bluestockings

donna weeks blue [email protected] stockings in JAPAN The revival of Bluestocking Week here in Australia afforded me a moment to reflect on one longstanding aspect of my work – women in politics in Japan. The typical generalisa- tion about Japanese women, the ‘two steps behind’ compliant wife, is a stereotype, and one which resists destabilising challenges. But Japanese history is in fact replete with bois- terous and remarkable women with robust political agendas. The cover of the first issue of the magazine ‘Seito’ (Bluestocking). ‘Seito’ magazine issue of the first of the The cover

In 1911, a group of women launched a It was not until the first post-war election in The bluestockings spirit arguably lives on feminist monthly journal Seito (Bluestocking), April 1946 that Japanese women achieved now as we witness growing protests and a direct reference to their British sisters of universal suffrage as part of the democratic activism by Japanese people, led largely by the time, and whose courage we have just reforms. And despite some reasonable young women worried about the fallout— celebrated here again in 2012. Amidst an success in representation in that election, it actual and political—of the Fukushima era of a new internationalist Japan bent on wasn’t until 1989/90 that we saw women nuclear disaster. Their medium today is emulating military triumphs, the Bluestocking return in numbers to parliament, in a phe- Twitter and their concerns about those who women, led by Hiratsuka Raicho and Yosano nomenon known as the ‘Madonna whirl- make decisions echo down through the Akiko, championed the rights of women. wind’, led by Doi Takako, the then leader of century since Hiratsuka and Yosano. Japa- the Japan Socialist Party. She later went on nese women continue to exert a feminist Although it only lasted until February 1916, to become speaker of the lower house and response to the politics of our time. it remains a key milestone in the history of now, in her 80s, continues to advocate for political women in Japan and subject of Donna Weeks is Lecturer in Japanese Studies and spirited women. much recent and renewed analysis. International Relations at USC, NTEU USC Branch President and WAC representative, Queensland. NTEU UQ Branch Bluestocking Week cake. Week Bluestocking UQ Branch NTEU

8 VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 bluestockings feminisM

ALISON BARTLETT AIN’T [email protected] WHAT IT USED TO BE If you ever wondered where feminism was at, the

Bluestocking Week panel ‘Feminism ain’t what it screen. Riot members on the Pussy with at UWA panellists Week Bluestocking used to be’ at the University of Western Australia was a good place to find out. Stacked with a Baby Boomer, a GenX and GenY feminists (in the form of an Arts/Law student, a mid-career lecturer and a professor), this panel was bound to be infective if not invective, especially as it was to be hosted by local comedian Laura Davis. Additionally, it was the day the Pussy Riot punk feminist poets were due to be sentenced for performing in an Orthodox church in Moscow, and their larger-than-life image was projected above the panel on the lecture theatre screen.

Despite the generational stacking, everyone and the joys of teaching such writing. She should more regularly revisit the canon of was very amenable and agreeable in decid- reported graduates finding exciting places to feminist thinkers. There were questions from ing that feminism ain’t what it used to be use their feminist knowledge as an AusAID the audience about how young women in and neither should it be. Professor Philippa intern, for example, working with women’s the academy were affected, how to engage Maddern vehemently argued that patriarchy policy, or in a script-writing team for Neigh- (non-feminist) men with feminism, and ain’t what it used to be either: patriarchs bours television drama. what kind of future masculinities would be used to be the easily identifiable old men reconcilable with feminism. There was some There was some disagreement around social in suits telling sexist jokes, whereas modern pondering of the compromises involved networking as an effective medium for patriarchs are more sneaky, appropriating when feminists occupy bureaucratic posi- distributing feminist material or a fictional the language and policies of fake liberalism tions of power, and this turned to the community that doesn’t compare with being while carrying on practices that allowed compromises of parenting, and the extra at a protest or rally. Chantal’s anecdote women to ‘choose’ to inhabit low paying, kudos men accumulated for parenting (like of sharing a Guardian story on Facebook low status, short terms jobs as a lifestyle being helped onto a bus with a pram, while about the medical dangers of removing choice. women with prams were given a wide berth pubic hair turned the discussion to hair by everyone). Student Zoe Bush talked about the chal- depilation and celebrity. Another worth- lenges for feminism to negotiate queer and while anecdote from Zoe was that scientific This was feminism in an hour: interactive, black feminism as well as postfeminism and studies have found that women with botox provocative, consensual, divided, emotive neoliberalism, and how she finds inspiration in their face are not only unable to express and thoughtful, as always. in socialist feminism, local action, and care some emotions facially but are also unable Alison Bartlett teaches Gender Studies at UWA, feminism, which explains her involvement in to ‘feel’ those emotions they can’t physically currently researches Australian feminist history, the local student Feminist Action Network. form. and is president of the Australian Women’s and Gender Studies Association, and an outgoing Dr Chantal Bourgault remembered being The recent ‘turn’ to emotions prompted a member of the Women’s Action Committee. inspired by reading the French feminists and reminder that feminists have been thinking thinking ‘Wheeee, can writing be like this?’ about these ideas for a long time and we

VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 9 ACTIVISM revival started by Melbourne. 2012 launch at the on display Bluestockings

clare keyes-liley La Trobe student [email protected] Like many good feminists the women in my life are my inspiration. My mother is an academic and I have witnessed firsthand the struggles of working in the competitive arena that is academia. When I took over the Women’s Department research because of other commitments, or all participants in higher education. Only at La Trobe University in January 2011, the being left out of important decision making united will we be able to achieve real results office had fallen into disuse and the space bodies because your position isn’t quite for the future. was a nirvana of old NUS materials dating senior enough despite the fact everyone in Clare Keyes-Liley, La Trobe Student Union Presi- almost 20 years. In my exploration I found the room is a man. dent some Bluestocking 1998 stickers. After The importance of having the support from much Google searching (which turned up a Editor’s note: NTEU gives particular thanks to Kate students, academics and all university staff is couple of sorority like groups in the US and Makowiecka, WA General Staff representative on so important to achieve any kind of change WAC, for initiating NTEU’s Bluestocking Week European websites that looked older than for women in higher education. Bluestock- revival and providing so much energy and com- the sticker) I asked my mother what it was. ing empowers women to seek support from mitment to making it a success. Her response was ‘Oh, NUS used to do that all the time in 90s, it hasn’t been done for years.’ So I decided to run Bluestocking Week at La Trobe in May 2011. It was small and I never imagined it could have been picked up with such enthusiasm on a national scale in 2012. It is important that as students and academ- ics and staff in universities we work together to overcome the challenges that lay before us. Whether it is not getting called upon to speak in your tutorial, being overlooked for a promotion because you simply haven’t had the time to complete the required

Danielle Green, Victorian Shadow Minister for Women, Child Safety, Disability Services and Health Promotion; Jane Garrett MP, Member for Brunswick; Noni Sproule, NUS Women’s Officer; Jeannie Rea, NTEU President; and Clare Keyes-Liley, President, La Trobe Student Union at the NUS Bluestocking Week launch at La Trobe University.

10 VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 bluestockings Travelling the research road with

virginia mansel lees women [email protected] The research journey was the focus of NTEU Deakin Branch Bluestocking Week event. National Presi- dent Jeannie Rea opened the seminar ‘Deakin women as supervisors and PhD students: Equity, Diversity, Difference and Respect in our relationships with each other and our research participants.’ She noted the critical importance of gender research and the contribution of feminist research methodologies to qualitative research.

Dr Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli, Senior Lecturer to research highlights the importance of negativity or questioning that other research in the School of Health and Social Devel- working with women in ways that allow us may not necessarily have been asked. It was opment at Deakin University framed the to hear their stories rather than imposing a most lively and engaged discussion and discussion using the metaphor that we are structured questioning that can change the highlighted the many strands that we weave all travellers. How and where we travel and context. together in our daily lives and in our collec- the connections we make with each other tive research on gender. Julie Peters then spoke about her research are what make the journey sustainable and as a transgender woman and how her Perhaps the most important aspect of the inviting. enquiry had led to very different under- day for me was the way in which the Georgia Birch spoke next on her doctoral standings of gender non-conformity. Julie conversations between all of the women research with a group of older Somali outlined her own life journey and how that present were able to unfold with many women and their health needs. Much time had been the catalyst for her research and questions and observations being made. I was spent by Georgia with the women that this journey was continuing to evolve truly felt at the end of the afternoon that a developing the research project rather as she made further explorations of gender journey had certainly begun and that there than just going in and attempting to ask and its many variants. was much left to explore with this group on questions that most likely would not have our collective quest to unravel gender. One of the over-arching themes to emerge been answered and certainly would not was that regardless of the topic, gender Virginia Mansel Lees, who chaired the seminar, is have given the wonderfully rich tapestry of research was often questioned during the the NTEU Victorian Division President, lectures at experiences that women have now shared ethics approvals processes meeting with La Trobe University Albury Wodonga and is also of their journeys. For me, this approach President of the La Trobe NTEU Branch. Bluestocking Week event at Deakin event Week Bluestocking University, Burwood Campus.

VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 11 bluestockings Bluestockings, surfing and

jeannie rea canons [email protected] 130 years of women in Australian universities www.flickr.com/people/58847482@N03/ Kenwrick, Matthew Photo: In1884, after Australia’s secular and publicly funded universities had been directed by the colonial parlia- ments to enrol women, Bella Guerin and Lydia Harris were conferred with Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Melbourne. The following year Edith Dornwell achieved a science degree from the Univer- sity of Adelaide. They were Australia’s first women university graduates. Dr Margot Weir was the first Indig- enous woman university graduate in 1959, when she gained a Diploma from the University of Melbourne.

Those first women graduates of the late they were also told, had smaller brains so girls got stuck in the horrible sexual politics 19th century were followed by a small but must be less intelligent and couldn’t cope depicted in the 1979 book by Kathy Lette steady stream of women pioneers making with too much learning. Women students and Gabrielle Carey (currently screening as a their way through the disciplines and into and staff were harassed, ridiculed and television series) some of us got to university. the professions. But their numbers remained continually challenged in the classroom Like the Puberty Blues girls, my friend Sue limited and most women did general arts and on campus. Opponents would use all and I had tried surfing, but the boys cut (and sometimes science degrees), with the sorts of excuses such as claiming concern us off every time we tried to catch a wave. main professional outcome being school for women’s fragile temperaments, or they We also were not allowed to join the surf teaching. Very few women moved onto didn’t have the facilities to accommodate lifesaving club. With only one quarter of higher degrees or into academia, and any women, or – a favourite – that they would the kids in my first form at a suburban high that did were unlikely to gain permanent distract the men. school even getting to sixth form and a positions or promotion. Not surprisingly, In response to these stories, particularly handful going further, the focus was still this meant that women’s experience was younger staff and students expressed on girls getting a job until marriage, and largely ignored and even ridiculed in teach- surprise at the virulence of male opposi- avoiding pregnancy until then. Even at the ing and research well into the latter part of tion. They also commented that this history selective academic girls’ high I moved onto, the 20th century. helped explain why women still have not some girls had to argue to their parents to In speaking to university students and staff achieved equity in higher education and let them go to university if only to find a during Bluestocking Week, I often began by that decision making power continues to be better class of husband. talking about the original Bluestockings, the stuck in a masculinist construct. We were very fortunate to be at university women who enthusiastically burst into uni- at a time of rapid change for women. The versities bravely declaring their right to be Whitlam Labor Government had abolished there and to actively engage in their learn- Puberty Blues goes to university tuition fees and introduced a student living ing. While they did have male supporters, These conversations had me reflecting further allowance scheme which meant that more the first generations of girls and women upon what had happened between 1882 women could go to university. It may not seeking an education had to deal with and 2012 for women in higher education. I have opened up higher education to the bizarre theories like the one that women decided to add to the story through the lens working class, but it did mean the sisters shouldn’t study because all the energy in of my experience as someone who went to of the boys going got to go too. By 1980, their bodies would move to their brains university in latter part of the 1970s – the 45% of undergraduates were women. There and their wombs would atrophy. Women, Puberty Blues generation. For while many had been a rapid expansion of university

12 VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 bluestockings

At the same time Women’s and Gender Studies courses and research are losing management support and resources, despite being popular with students. So the opportunities to devote teaching and research to investigate and debate the issues of gender and power have diminished. The latest research indicates that young women are put off embarking upon a research degree and entering academia, because the current reality is that most will languish in casual teaching and contract research posi- tions. However, young women (and male) students and staff are making it clear that they will not accept this. One hundred and thirty years later, Bella and Lydia would hardly recognise their university. Today there are more women than men in universities, both as staff and students. The feminisation of higher educa- Bella Guerin’s graduation, 1883. Source: www.lib.unimelb.edu.au [Ernest Scott, A history of the tion has obscured the reality that although University of Melbourner, MUP, 1936, opposite p. 124] we have the numbers, we do not have gender equity. and college places and of jobs requiring and the patriarchal control of university man- On reflection, I see five clear connections degrees. Mature women also started going agements and governance was challenged. between the experiences of the original back to school and university. They were By 1986 we had our first woman vice-chan- Bluestockings, the Puberty Blues genera- the annoying ones who had always done cellor and more followed. However, now tion and contemporary university women. the reading and spoke up in the tutes, but only nine of the current 39 vice-chancellors Firstly, we still have to negotiate male oppo- we grudgingly admired them. But having are women. As the first generation of 1970s sition and resentment. Secondly, women your Mum holding court with your friends feminist activists retire, we worry whether still have to be pioneers opening up new in the student caf was pretty embarrassing! women’s advancement into the top jobs has areas. Thirdly, higher education encour- stagnated. Many clever and capable women The importance of the women’s movement ages independence and introduces women are quite reluctant to seek senior positions, in advocating for radical and reformist social to new ways of seeing the world that may when the structure and processes remain so change should not be underestimated for challenge their upbringing and preconcep- unfriendly to women. the first generation of university women, tions about their life paths. Fourthly, shifting but even more so for my generation. As the male canon and the centring of middle teenage undergraduates we supported Women have the numbers class white male experience is an ongoing the women faculty members who were project. And finally, just like their foremoth- challenging both the male canon and their The 2012 ABS gender indicators confirm ers, who understood their good fortune inferior professional status. We knew we that more girls than boys are finishing of going to university, and often commit- were supposed to get equal pay for equal secondary school. There are now more ted their professional and personal lives to work, but knew our career prospects were women university graduates, with 41% of progressive social change and justice, so do shaped by our gender. women aged 25-29 holding a bachelor today’s feisty young women. degree compared to 30% of men. But men We argued with male students and tutors are still able to find work more readily, and With the National Union of Students who still thought that women were intel- they are paid more and promoted over (NUS) we organised Bluestocking Week to lectually inferior to men and dragged out just as able women colleagues. Whilst the celebrate what we have achieved and to dodgy theories to support their assertions. gaps have lessened, the median starting remind us to be ever vigilant in advocat- We still had to deal with young men and salary for recent young female graduates in ing women’s rights to higher learning in women who thought that girls shouldn’t 2011 was still $2000 less than their male all areas, at all levels and for all women. show off their brains. We protested against counterparts. (This no doubt contributes to Bluestocking Week 2012 achieved the aim the lecturers who told sexist jokes and then why it takes women 3.1 years longer to pay of creating a (colourful) space to again put ignored the women students, except when off their HECS debt.) The dream of gender women’s experience in higher education in they sexually harassed them. When we pay equity is still years away, with women the spotlight. organised women’s collectives on campus still having to work 64 more days this year Jeannie Rea is NTEU National President and the national Australian Union of Students to earn the male median wage. (AUS) Women’s department, the opposition was even more vitriolic as men tried to break up our meetings and screamed abused at us. We It was not safe on campus then, and it is sad argued with male students and that this is still the case. tutors who still thought that women were intel- With active feminists amongst staff and lectually inferior to men and dragged out dodgy students, huge changes were made to who was at university and to what was taught and theories to support their assertions. by whom. New fields of research opened up

VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 13 bluestockings Gender Equity in

Tertiary event. Week Darwin Charles Bell University at the Bluestokcing Sharon

sharon bell DVC Research & Interna- Education tional, CDU In the post-Bradley world one might surmise that our attention to equity groups, including women, might flourish. We need to remember, however, that Professor Bradley, in tandem with all the other major reviews instigated by the current Federal Government, takes the participation and success of women in our sector as a given. There is a widespread and oft publicised belief that our aims have been achieved when it comes to women’s participation and success in higher education – perhaps over-achieved as women are seen to ‘dominate’ much of higher education. In Australia in the higher education equity Commerce (49%) and Creative Arts (63%) ceremonies they are surprised to find there policy space, with the exception of EOWA hover around 50-60%. This uneven repre- are so many senior males who also inhabit compliance, gender equity has virtually sentation of women in the different areas of their scholarly universe. fallen off the policy table. Subsequently, education (and the workforce) is known as In October 2009, under the banner head- reporting on women’s participation is not horizontal segregation (FASTS Women in Sci- line ‘Women no longer the second sex?’ a performance indicator in Mission Based ence in Australia, 2009). University World News published a special Compact agreements (2011-2013) in terms Moreover, the period of significant growth report arguing that if you look to many uni- of either undergraduate participation or in in the participation of women in all fields of versities around the world you’ll see women relation to research training or the Higher education was in the decade 1983 to 1993 outnumbering men. The publication’s inter- Education Participation and Partnerships – the decade of institutional amalgamations national evidence was based on UNESCO’s Program (HEPPP) that replaces the Higher and incorporation of Nursing and Teacher Global Education Digest 2009 which reports Education Equity Support Program (ESP). Training. Since 1993 participation has that in terms of graduation, ‘women outnum- In this context we should ask the ques- continued to grow but at a slower rate with ber men in 75 of 98 countries with available tion: are women over-represented in higher the exception of the broad field Agriculture, data’ (University World News, 2009, Issue education? Environment and Related Studies. 0098). Yet UNESCO’s Global Education Digest 2010 notes that ‘despite the improved Women make up approximately 55% of If we try to see the sector through the eyes of access to tertiary education globally, women all undergraduate students and 52% of our students, many of our students undoubt- face considerable barriers as they move up postgraduate students. However, the number edly experience gendered, indeed feminised the education ladder to research careers of female students is not evenly distributed institutions – institutions that are, through and in the labour market. At the Bachelor’s between the different fields of education. The their eyes, dominated by women: from the degree level, most countries reporting data Health and Education fields have the highest administrative staff who handle recruitment have achieved gender parity in terms of numbers of female students at 73% and and enquiries, the casual teachers in the graduates. Women are more likely to pursue 74% respectively. This is in marked contrast large cohort disciplines in which many study, the next level of education, accounting for to the fields of Engineering and Information the professional support staff in libraries, 56% of graduates with Master’s degrees. Technology where the numbers of female counselling services and equity offices. They However, men surpass women in virtually all students make up only 16% and 19% are unlikely, until post-graduate studies, to countries at the highest levels of education, respectively. Other fields such as Natural and gain entrée to the male dominated world of accounting for 56% of all PhD graduates and Physical Sciences (52%), Management and university research. Perhaps at graduation 71% of researchers.’

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In this context it is interesting to ponder the Our aim, ironic twist documented in the recent Grattan articulated in ‘A Institute report Graduate Winners: Assess- Fair Chance for ing the public and private benefits of higher All’ (1990) was education. Author Andrew Norton confirms more nuanced that for women the median bachelor degree and strate- holder earns roughly $800,000 in a lifetime gic: ‘women, more than a year 12 graduate. For men the particularly in figure is $1.1 million. ‘In most but not all non-traditional disciplines (IT, Nursing, Education, Humani- courses and ties and Performing Arts) men have higher post-graduate net private benefits than women’. study’. We aimed to Closer to home the Go8 recently found have women women’s participation in post-graduate participate in degrees newsworthy. Under the curious those fields of headline ‘Australia’s women earning higher education or degrees’ the Go8 reported (October 2010) levels of courses that the number of women completing post- in which the graduate degrees in Australia has increased proportion of significantly over the past 15 years. Unfortu- including: participation and success in a women was less than 40%: Agriculture and nately, the report failed to contextualise this range of disciplines including ‘non-traditional’ Animal Husbandry; Architecture and Build- by noting that the 2006 Census indicates (research intensive) disciplines; participa- ing; Business Administration and Commerce; that two-thirds of the people with doctoral tion and success in all types and all levels of Engineering and Surveying; and Science. qualifications in Australia are male. Moreover, research from institutional based programs to the distribution of the doctoral population is We were also insightful enough to have our national competitive programs; participation clustered in a small number of disciplinary eyes on the (still) male dominated research and success in those programs targeting the groupings dominated by the Natural and space. Yet we have barely paid attention to highest levels of research excellence, and Physical Sciences, a field in which women that initial objective of achieving equity for representation in leadership comparable to constitute less than 50% of doctoral comple- women in post-graduate study, particularly in participation in the sector across a range of tions in 5 of 6 Narrow Fields of Education, research-intensive disciplines. Moreover, our institutional types from comprehensive to the exception being biological sciences. overall achievement in undergraduate par- research-intensive. Importantly, Society and Culture is the ticipation is clustered in traditional disciplinary Change to this experience inevitably second ranked grouping and recent comple- groupings, particularly health and education demands systematic organisational cultural tions are growing significantly in this field. with some notable recent ‘break-throughs’: change, ensuring that ‘women have no architecture, law, medical science, veterinary In the policy space gender equity has doors closed to them that are open to men’ science, and environmental sciences. been overtaken by other priorities – most (Cockburn, 1991, 31). This is a move from particularly the participation and success of Those with a broader interest in equity as ‘accommodation’ of women to ‘reframing’ the Low SES students. This policy drift is evident measured by participation more generally, professional environment – a move that also in the Bradley and Cutler Reviews and now and particularly in the context of the lack calls into question conventional masculinities. translates into the framing of Mission Based of progress in the participation of Low SES (Williams, 2000, 271) This change is critical, Compact Agreements and funding through students in higher education may ask ‘Does not just for women, but also for many of the HEPPP. discipline matter?’ or is it a question of vive la disadvantaged students who are entering the différence? deregulated higher education as we move to The shift in our priorities occurs at a time a much more open and less selective system. when worldwide interest is focusing on the If we attempt to articulate what equity might Policy settings that lack nuance and focus participation and success of women in the look like beyond numerical targets, it is a rea- only on one dimension of the academic workforce and in corporate leadership. Why sonable assumption that women who enter enterprise – undergraduate participation then are we off the pace when it comes to the tertiary sector should be able to aspire to – can blind us to entrenched patterns of gender equity? I would argue that over the levels of achievement comparable to males in inequality that, despite the banner headlines, past 20 years we have become confused the sector. That given similar levels of capa- remain firmly in place. about our own intent in terms of gender bility (evidenced by undergraduate, honours equity in higher education. The gender and post-graduate completions) their life Professor Sharon Bell is Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and International, Charles Darwin Univer- equity target in higher education was never circumstances and the organisational culture sity. This article is based on the speech Sharon gave to achieve population parity in undergradu- of the sector should not be an impediment at the NTEU CDU Branch Bluestocking Week event. ate education – that was taken as a given. to reaching the highest levels of success

Why i do what i do – donna weeks, usc The privilege of serving union members on WAC is equalled only by the privilege of learning and sharing with wise women of the union movement, its history, our purpose and a strengthening of our collective will to ensure a better society.

VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 15 indigenousSECTION

celeste liddle Racism meets the [email protected] patriarchy on campus NTEU is very proud of the high percentage of Indigenous academic staff that are union members. At this point in time, it is estimated that of our Indigenous academic staff across the country, 54% of them are union members and 12% of them are level D or E academics. Of the members, 72% are women.

On the surface, it appears we have much filled, and women are strongly represented campus and provide ways forward. Indig- to celebrate, but when drilling down in most Divisions and at the National level. enous women are essential to the academy further the results raise a few questions. It We also welcome our first Indigenous and it is my hope that through the address- is interesting, for example, that despite the female Division President in the Northern ing of both racism and sexism on campus overwhelming majority of the member- Territory, Helen Bishop As we enter the we see many more of them elevated to ship being women, a slight majority of the next round of collective bargaining, it will leadership positions in the future. level D and E positions are held by men. In be particularly interesting to see how the Celeste Liddle is NTEU National Indigenous addition, it seems that men are more evenly white patriarchy within the tertiary educa- Organiser. distributed throughout the increments, whilst tion industry responds to the demands of many more women are clustered at the top the black matriarchy and of their level, and have been there for quite whether, with this amount of a while. For all of our recent high-level Indigenous female influence, senior management Indigenous appoint- a couple of embedded struc- ments within the various universities, only tural inequities are challenged two of these positions have been filled by leading to a more collegial women despite our women being in such environment for all. an extraordinary majority. Perhaps this is a pipe dream, This breakdown of statistics paints a but as feminists such as Audre number of very interesting pictures. For Lorde and Carol Adams have one, Indigenous women are more likely argued, racism is a product to join the Union than their male counter- of the white patriarchy, and parts. Granted, there are more Indigenous having so many strong Indig- women than men in the sector, but the enous women at the forefront mainstream statistics show roughly a 50% in the next bargaining round male membership. For another, it potentially provides an opportunity to indicates that Indigenous men, despite them challenge both. having issues with regards to institutional It will be interesting to racism when undertaking their work as see whether the report of clearly outlined in the NTEU’s report I’m National Review of Indig- Not a Racist, But..., seem to progress more enous Higher Education, freely through the academic ranks that their due for release soon, will female colleagues. cast further light on race and So when it comes to Indigenous women in gender issues on campus. the academy, are we just seeing institutional Whilst it is guaranteed to racism at play, or are our women being hit highlight a number of dispari- with the double-whammy of racism and ties on campus for Indigenous the patriarchy? Are our women joining the Australians in comparison with NTEU at a significantly higher rate simply their colleagues, one has to because they are more committed to union- wonder whether it is almost ism in the workplace, or is it because they more important to highlight are significantly more likely to experience the internal disparities as well adversity on campus? Or both? within our mob. One positive out of all this is that in the Doing this would provide an recent NTEU elections a majority of the opportunity to best ana-

Indigenous representative positions were lyse the structural issues on in Melbourne launch Week Bluestocking at the Liddle Celeste

16 VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 bargaining Domestic Violence is an industrial issue In 2011, the Women’s Action Committee (WAC) reported to NTEU National Council on the achievement of the first ever Family Violence Clause negotiated by the ASU at the Surf Coast Shire Council in Victoria. Since this time there is increasing interest amongst other unions in pursuing such clauses more broadly, a move supported by the ACTU and its Women’s terri macdonald Committee, the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse (ADFVC) (based at [email protected] UNSW) and the WAC.

As a result of WAC’s advocacy, National Council agreed to the proposal that NTEU NTEU to Push for ‘Best Practice’ Economic impact develop a bargaining claim for rights and Domestic violence significantly affects entitlements for employees affected by Domestic Violence Clauses Australia’s economy. It is estimated that in domestic violence. A model clause that Where Branches have chosen to pursue 2002-2003, domestic violence cost the seeks to develop an advocacy and action a domestic violence clause, the emphasis economy $8.1 billion. Access Economics campaign around the elimination of domes- must be for a quality outcome; it is vital reports that the annual cost of lost produc- tic violence, focusing upon the workplace, that the claims negotiated are seen as ‘best tivity due to domestic violence for Australian has now been established, and is part of the practice’ in terms of coverage, effect and businesses in 2002-03 was $484 million, 2012 NTEU Bargaining Kit. outcomes, as these will provide a bench- and that the amount of management time mark in further bargaining rounds. The out- spent on dealing with absenteeism equated NTEU’s Model Clause comes of our domestic violence claims will to $14.2 million in 2002-03. be assessed against the outcomes achieved Replacing staff who were fired, or left due NTEU’s claim is intended to address the by other unions and the ACTU, as well as to domestic violence, is costly as well, with need to support staff who are dealing with best practice models set by the Domestic the same report estimating that costs of re- the consequences of domestic violence, Violence Clearinghouse. including the provision of special leave and hiring or replacing staff as $36.6 million in flexible working arrangements. It has been 2002-03. determined that the clause must include an Education of management and agreed statement of principle on deal- Conclusion ing with the impact of domestic violence, members and provide for the joint development of It is clear that domestic violence is not only For Branches arguing for the claim, it will policies and protocols to address matters a societal issue; it is an industrial concern as be vital that both management and mem- arising from, or as a result of, an employee well. It is NTEU’s view that unions, employ- bers are educated on impact that domestic being impacted by domestic violence. ers, government and the community need violence has in the workplace. The statistics Importantly, the clause should also include to ensure there are mechanisms to assist on domestic violence are chilling, but referral to relevant agencies for support and those affected by domestic violence, and illustrate well just why domestic violence is a counselling, and education around domestic that we are educated more broadly on the workplace issue; two thirds of women who violence issues (of both management and impact of domestic violence. suffer the effects of domestic violence are in staff) is an integral component. paid employment, and research has shown The WAC has put forward a motion to this Any domestic violence related clause must that maintaining the link with paid employ- year’s National Council that NTEU imple- also ensure that no employee is disadvan- ment is a key pathway for women seeking ment an education campaign to support tages in their employment as a consequence to leave a violent relationship. those Branches that plan to pursue a of dealing with issues and consequences of domestic violence claim. This program However, despite the importance of this domestic violence, and that sufficient special should compliment and support the prin- link, many women find themselves fired leave can be granted for the purposes ciples of NTEU domestic violence model or having to resign because of the impact of dealing with matters either arising or clause, and be designed to assist Branches domestic violence has on their work. Such a resulting from domestic violence (such as and Divisions seeking to inform both mem- result has negative implications not only for seeking safe housing, attending counselling bers and management about the impacts of those directly affected by domestic violence, or medical appointments, court hearings, domestic violence in the workplace. but more broadly as well. family/carer obligations, providing support Terri MacDonald is a Policy & Research Officer in networks etc.). the NTEU National Office.

VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 17 bargaining looking Cronin Jess Photo: at nteu agreements through a gender

sarah roberts lens [email protected] In the last round of bargaining in universities (Round 5), NTEU achieved impressive salary outcomes and a range of important improvements in conditions of employment. The Union also gained improvements in parental leave and carers’ leave and the right to request flexible work which will have the real and direct effect of helping to assist women return to the workforce after child rearing, and relieve the burden in relation to caring for dependents that has traditionally been ‘women’s work.’

As well as the Union’s claims on domestic over the last 15 years. of bargaining, NTEU is claiming that all violence (see article on page 17), in Round Agreements include: Women are consistently underclassified – 6 of bargaining the Union is making a whether due to an entrenched culture of • A clear entitlement that general staff range of further claims which, if achieved, patriarchy, women clustering in feminised be classified at whichever classification will reduce barriers to women’s career (devalued) roles, or internalised reluctance corresponds to the work performed. If progression and help to close the gender to apply for reclassification. The academic achieved, this will ensure that staff who pay gap. studies tell us that women are likely to be perform work at a higher level will be significantly more qualified than their male classified at the higher level. Improvement in general staff counterparts before considering applying • Improved classification procedures, for promotion. including agreed position descriptions, classifications One thing the Union can do to improve this regular access to independent review of their classifications, timely assessment In 2010, women make up 67% of uni- situation is to ensure classification criteria and decision-making on classifications versity general staff but hold only 45% of and processes for general staff are fair, independent of budgetary considera- senior positions, with this figure doubling transparent and enforceable. In Round 6

18 VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 bargaining

Why i do what i do – barb williams, nteu organiser I have always been inspired by people working together to achieve great things. Especially inspirational are the women in my life I will call “pioneers”. However, what motivates me are the “pioneers” to come and I count myself as a very fortunate person having the opportunity to work with, support and watch these women take their place in the labour movement.

tions. This should ensure the reclassifica- 45-50 years, the gap widens significantly: contracts extended so that they can access tion of many staff, particularly women, women are paid 26.7% less than men. full paid parental leave entitlements. who may not otherwise have applied for While clearly NTEU’s claims are no silver Clearly, if achieved, these claims will reclassification. bullet, we know that more staff develop- directly improve entitlements for women. ment opportunities and improved career Furthermore, we know from research (since Staff Development and General progression will improve women’s access endorsed by the Commonwealth Govern- to senior positions and ultimately help close ment with its development of the Com- Staff Secondment opportunities the gender pay gap. monwealth Paid Parental Leave Scheme) that career breaks are one of the most important NTEU is making a further suite of claims for causes of the gender pay gap. general staff that focus on staff development Parental leave opportunities. They are: We also know that better paid parental Since the early 2000s, NTEU has been a leave improves women’s attachment to the • The establishment of a Staff Development leader on parental leave. The higher educa- workforce and the incidence of returning to Fund equal to 1% of general staff sala- tion sector provides the best parental leave work after child rearing, which reduce the ries, earmarked for the provision of staff arrangements to its staff due to the work incidence of long-term career breaks. And development and training opportunities, of the Union. Over successive bargain- of course, the gender pay gap is directly tuition costs, and backfill for study leave. ing rounds, we have built on our success narrowed as a result of paid parental leave Importantly, this Fund is to be used to to further improve conditions and increase because women who would otherwise not pay for development opportunities that parental leave entitlements. be paid are paid their normal wage during will improve general staff careers – not their time out of the workforce. on-the-job training that the university In Round 5, we achieved: should be providing anyway. • Up to 36.8 weeks paid parental leave. Over many bargaining rounds, the Union has been able to build on our achievements • The establishment of a Staff Mobil- • Reductions in minimum service require- in bargaining through strong local and ity Program to give general staff the ments for eligibility. opportunity to have short-term internal national campaigns conducted by NTEU • Improved primary carer leave. developmental secondments and job women activists. By continuing to build exchanges. This will have the effect of • Improved paid partner leave. and support these networks, we will be well broadening general staff skill sets and • Paid parental leave for casual staff (at placed to develop innovative claims and enhancing careers. some institutions). achieve real workplace reform for women workers in the future. These claims are important for women In Round 6, NTEU intends to achieve further general staff in particular because the lack improvements, specifically by improving Sarah Roberts is NTEU National Industrial Coor- of career progression is one of the key paid parental leave to 36 weeks where dinator. reasons for the still gaping gender pay gap the institution currently provides a lesser in Australian workplaces. The Australia-wide entitlement, and by ensuring staff on fixed gender pay gap has stagnated at 17.5%. At term contracts who are pregnant have their

For all the news on bargaining, plus background information to nteu’s key claims, visit our bargaining website: universitybargaining.org.au and sign up to our bargaining e-bulletin to get the latest round 6 news delivered to your inbox once a month: universitybargaining.org.au/ebulletin

VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 19 mySE careerCTION CAREER PROFILES Whenever women in universities start discussing our work and careers, it is clear how our own stories tell the bigger stories of how gender discrimination may mark our lives, but also how women’s personal victories contribute to collective change. From limited term contract Roller coaster ride from to continuing full time on casual teaching to full soft money time student by KAREN FORD Karen Ford is an Administration Officer at the University of Wollongong. liaison officer My conversion to a continuing by cheryl forrester Cheryl Forrester is Student Liaison Officer, appointment is unusual and I Gnibi, College of Indigenous Australian Peo- would like to share my journey. ples, Southern Cross University. In 2006, my first role was casual, two days a week, job sharing I grew up in a small central west town in New as the administration assistant to the Head of School. This lasted South Wales. I was good at school until I started two weeks, as I moved into a 6 month limited term full time admin assistant with another Head of School. At this point I was not in the high school and got in with the wrong crowd. I Union, even though my family came from a trade union back- left school at the end of year 9 and got a job as a ground. telephonist at the local post office. I worked there In this short amount of time I soon realised that I loved working at for a year and left to live and work in Sydney. the university and my goal was to become a permanent employee. I understood that I needed to pursue roles that were permanent or I worked in administrative positions for many years before heading fixed term. This was not going to happen with my role at Biology as up to the North Coast to live where I met a partner and had two I was filling a seconded position. I managed another 9 months then children. I decided to go back to TAFE and study Information Tech- successfully applied for a fixed 2 year term position in a research nology, then my year 10 Certificate. While studying, I accepted an strength area of the university. Now I emphasise the research offer to become the Aboriginal Student Support Officer for Ballina/ strength, as in most universities, these research areas are funded Wollongbar campuses. by soft money. It was when I moved into this new position that I A friend suggested I try out for university to do an education became a member of the NTEU. The role was great, performing degree. I really thought I did not have a chance at all, however I higher duties for most of the contract, however when it was time participated in a test and was accepted into UTS in Sydney to do to ‘renew’ was told that the project that I was working in was being the Bachelor of Education (Adult). When I completed my BEd I restructured, bye bye. commenced casual teaching and course coordination at TAFE along As soon as I joined the NTEU, I became involved in campus activi- with my Student Support position. During the next few years my ties and joined the general staff bargaining team. Being part of position of student support was restructured and I, therefore, lost my bargaining team has helped me to gain a more knowledge of our permanent part-time hours. Agreement. Casual teaching was a roller coaster of uncertainty with no guaran- When my contract finished I moved into a temporary role, and tee of hours. I found it difficult to manage financially and to bring whilst I was there, applied for my current position. This again was up my teenage children. in a research strength area, so again, my salary is soft money. The I applied for an administration position as a Personal Assistant at role was limited term for two years, and when it was time to renew, SCU because it offered me full time work. My role now is Student I was advised that I was going to be made permanent. I was told Liaison Officer at the Indigenous College and I find it challenging this the day before my 50th birthday, so it was a wonderful present. and rewarding. I continue to casually teach a group of Indigenous I am currently 1 year on now as a permanent employee and I can men at a rehabilitation centre in literacy, numeracy and computing, say that it is wonderful! and that makes my journey in education all worthwhile.

20 VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 my career

published a monograph and two edited collections, then applied for promotion. I was unsuccessful, and was told this usually happened From mature age entry to the first time. So I applied again, and was again unsuccessful. I wrote another monograph and secured a publishing contract and applied again (surely four books over 9 years would do it!). associate professor with I also applied for a Level C position at a sandstone university without much hope but a lot of cheek I thought – and got it. A week later, my promotion application came back as unsuccessful. So I moved luck, gumption & hard work across the country with my family to take up a four year fixed term contract at Level C, not necessarily for the promotion but in the by ALISON BARTLETT hope of finding an environment that valued my work (which is, after Alison Bartlett is an Associate Professor all, what promotion does). in Gender Studies, University of Western Australia. It’s hard work changing institutions. When I began, a senior woman advised me to apply for promotion in my third year, because if it I went to university as a was successful I could request the support of my Head of School to ‘mature-aged student’ at the convert my contract to a tenurable position. This went to plan, so I now have a coveted permanent position at Level D. When I see grand old age of 26, because I highly capable graduates struggling to secure any work at all, I feel was bored waitressing. I loved lucky. Women are renown for delaying promotion applications long learning, and whizzed through an honours degree after they’re eligible, and I certainly wouldn’t have sought Level D so and doctorate in literature over the next 8 years. soon without the possibility of job security on offer. It’s turned out that my career progression has been more effective When I emerged in the mid-1990s jobs were scarce, but I was in using chutzpah rather than stolidly plodding on doing more in an limbo for only 9 months before I was offered a tenurable Level B unreceptive environment. One of the ‘problems’ with my work in my position in my field at a regional university. One of my postgraduate first university was that I was producing interdisciplinary research in supervisors had relocated to this university, and I still feel indebted a traditional discipline; now that I’m located in an interdisciplinary to them for championing me at that crucial time. I often attribute my field my publications are much more acceptable as output. Some academic career to luck and serendipity, and have been soundly academics are more astutely strategic in positioning their research, told that this is disingenuous and diminishes my capabilities, but it which is probably advisable, but I still get a great deal of intrinsic feels like so many factors are beyond control. reward from my research, which rarely aligns with national research When I began, my Dean advised that I’d have to publish three priorities, so I just do it. And I’m lucky to be able to do that. books before I’d be eligible for promotion, so I duly set to work and

Top: Celebrating Bluestocking women at Curtin University. Bottom: SA Division’s Bluestocking Week forum ‘Safe Spaces: Domestic Abuse and the Workplace.’

VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 21 my career jenny strauss’ brilliant career As the daughter of a failed dairy farmer, I only got to be a university bluestocking through the intro- duction of Commonwealth Scholarships, being one of the initial 1951 recipients. I graduated from the University of Melbourne with a BA Honours in English Language and Literature.

I have spent all my working life (apart from sympathy for this, I needed to get them to the women’s alliances of NGOs funded by a brief stint of school teaching in England) change. This led rapidly to being on the the Government to give policy advice and as a university academic: University of New Committee (and negotiating that maternity carry out projects on behalf of women. In England, Melbourne, Monash from 1964 leave), then SAMU President, Chair of the 2010, I was elected a Vice-President of – as Lecturer, Senior Lecturer (1971), Asso- Association of Victorian Staff Associations the International Federation of University ciate Professor (1992), Honorary Senior and a FAUSA Vice-President. As FAUSA Women. Research Fellow (1998-2008). Vice-President I was one of the negotiators Do I belong to other organisations: Yes! in the merger that produced the NTEU (of As an academic I taught Medieval Literature Amnesty, PEN, ANtaR, Refugee Council of which I’m a Life Member). and Australian Literature and was one of the Australia, Victorian Council for Civil Liber- people who introduced courses in Wom- ties, GetUp –mostly I’m afraid I just pay en’s Writing and Feminist Criticism ...I my subscription and sign internet into the curriculum, as well belonged to the second genera- petitions. I sponsor one child as being a founding tion of university bluestockings who weren’t going with the Smith Family’s member of the Monash to accept that they must give up marriage and moth- Educate program and Centre for Women’s Stud- one in Africa through Plan ies. I published numerous arti- erhood for an academic career. International cles, wrote books on the poets Judith Have I had a personal life? Yes: I belonged Wright and Gwen Harwood, co-edited to the second generation of university blue- The Oxford Literary History of Australia, and stockings who weren’t going to accept that edited The Oxford Book of Australian Love I served three three-year terms on the they must give up marriage and mother- Poems, Family Ties: Australian Poems of the Monash University Council as an elected hood for an academic career: I married a Family and the two-volume Collected Verse academic staff representative and sat on fellow academic in 1958 and we had three of Mary Gilmore. I have also published four more committees than I can remember (but sons, born in 1959, 1963, 1967 (all at the collections of my poems. the finance one was a bit of a revelation). end of the academic year). So I know about I was a member of the academic union, I also became active in the 1980s in the being a working mother – especially as my but only became active in the 1970s Australian Federation of University Women husband died suddenly in 1978. when I decided it was time for Monash to and was twice Victorian President and twice Jenny Strauss is an NTEU Life Member. have paid maternity leave. Since the Staff National President. I currently represent Association Committee of the time had little them in the Equality Rights Alliance, one of

22 VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 my career edna chamberlain social work pioneer Professor Edna Chamberlain (1921-2005) was a pioneer for social work who used her training and her life experiences to ensure that service delivery was tied to policy deliberations, thus ensuring structural change was made possible. She was also an academic leader and role model for many women seeking an academic career in a profession, although feminised, largely dominated by male hierarchical structures. Edna was born in Brisbane and grew up In these roles she was heavily involved in Although Edna retired in 1986, she during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the continued development of research and remained involved in various research and the experiences of which influenced her assisted many graduate women seeking postgraduate programs, particularly the later commitment to social justice. In 1943, careers in academia. Indeed, one of the socio-therapy program for people with Par- she won a scholarship to study one of the many legacies from Edna’s time at UQ is the kinson’s disease. She passed away in 2005 few post graduate courses in Social Work ‘Edna’ register, a mentoring program that at the age of 84, but her legacy continues, (offered at the University of Melbourne). enables staff to receive short-term assistance both within the social welfare movement This was the first step in a long and illustri- from a senior staff member to assist with and for women in academia. ous academic career that, in many respects, their professional development. By Virginia Mansel Lees & Terri MacDonald broke new ground for women academics Emeritus Professor Chamberlain’s many and researchers. contributions to professional education and References In 1967, after returning from further stud- community service have been recognised Cooper, L. (2009). Edna Chamberlain (1921-2005): A ies at the University of Chicago, Edna was by numerous awards and honors, includ- Leader through Times of Transition and Change in Social employed at the University of Queensland ing the Member of the Order of Australia Work & Society International Online Journal vol. 7, no 1. (UQ) and became Head of Department in in 1988 and Doctor of Philosophy honoris www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/51/353 1973. The following year, Edna became causa (UQ) in 1995. She was also Presi- Green, S. (1994). Edna Chamberlain: In retrospect, the first woman appointed as Professor in dent of the Australian Association of Social Australian Social Work, vol. 47, no.3, pp. 3-11. http://. any field of social work in Australia. She was Workers, the Australian Association of Social dx.doi.org/10.1080/03124079408410952 later appointed as foundation Dean of the Work Educators and the Asia Pacific Asso- Faculty of Social Work, becoming the first ciation of Social Work Education. female Dean at the University. Why i do what i do – jo ann whalley, murdoch University I come from a family with strong pro-union convictions. The University sector faces difficult challenges right now and the union is vital to help balance out the competing needs of economic reality and worker’s rights. I’m on the Murdoch Committee to help keep that balance.

VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 23 students nus women’s department noni sproule The National Union of Students (NUS) is the peak representative body for university students in Australia. We represent more than a million students across Australia. Following the introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism the student movement, particularly the women’s student movement, had to get a lot smarter about how they were going to campaign, with many women’s departments having no money at all to run campaigns.

This year, the national women’s department In 2012, it’s been harder and harder to Bluestockings was a perfect example of has functioned with a campaign budget of engage women students on these issues, as everything NUS now needs to be. It was $4,000. With that amount we have printed many young women have become hostile collaboration between the department and and distributed materials to all affiliate to the ‘old ways’ of feminism. This has meant the NTEU, it effectively engaged with social campuses, run events and participated on a that we need to stay true to our values but media and online modes of communica- national stage. In order to achieve this, we change the message and method of deliv- tion and it focused on celebrating how far have been able to work with others, cam- ery in order to get women’s attention. women have come in higher education- paign on the cheap and utilise new media. while not ignoring how far we have to go. Feminism and women’s departments are Despite the financial restraints on the also facing significant opposition and back- I would to thank Jeannie and the women department, we often manage to punch lash on campus from men’s groups. of WAC for all their assistance, and I look above our weight, both in the community forward to working with them in future. With all this in mind it is more important and in the women’s sector. than ever that we run campaigns that Noni Sproule is National Women’s Officer of the This year, the NUS Women’s Department appeal to students and their ideals around National Union of Students. created a website plus Facebook, Twitter equality, moving away from what has been www.unistudent.com.au and YouTube accounts, utilising written, oral called ‘victim feminism’ toward campaigns Editor’s note: It was NTEU WA Division women and video content to get our message out that celebrate how far women have come. proposed reviving Bluestocking Week to the WAC to students. this year.

Amy Talbot, NTEU Industrial Organiser; Selma Lexalliex; Guest speaker Dr Angela McCarthy; and Dr Anne-Marie Hill, NTEU Notre Dame Branch President at the Bluestocking Week ‘Blue Brunch’ at Notre Dame University, WA.

24 VOLUME 20 SEPTEMBER 2012 NATIONAL TERTIARY EDUCATION UNION MEMBERSHIP FORM  I want to join NTEU  I am currently a member and wish to update my details The information on this form is needed for aspects of NTEU’s work and will be treated as confidential. YOUR PERsONAL DETAILs

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You may resign by written notice to the Division or Branch Secretary. Where you cease to be eligible to become YOUR EMPLOYMENT CATEgORY AND TERM a member, resignation shall take effect on the date the notice is received or on the day specified in your notice, whichever is later. In any other case, you must give at least two weeks notice. Members are required to pay dues and  fULL TIME  PART TIME HoUrS PEr WK  sEssIONAL ACADEMIC levies as set by the Union from time to time in accordance with NTEU rules. Further information on financial obligations, including a copy office use only: Membership no. CONTINUINg/ fIxED TERM  gENERAL/PROfEssIONAL sTAff CAsUAL of the rules, is available from your Branch.   DATE oF ExPIrY PERMANENT CONTRACT If YOU ARE CAsUAL/sEssIONAL, COMPLETE PAYMENT OPTION 4 ONLY OPTION 4: CAsUAL/sEssIONAL ONLY 1. Choose your salary range. 2. Select 6 month or 1 year membership. If YOU ARE fULL TIME OR PART TIME, PLEAsE COMPLETE EITHER PAYMENT OPTION 1, 2 OR 3 Membership fees = 1% of gross annual salary 3. Tick the appropriate box. OPTION 1: PAYROLL DEDUCTION AUTHORITY office use only: % of salary deducted 4. Pay by cheque, money order or credit card. Salary range 6 months 12 months I hereby authorise the Institution or its duly authorised I INSErT YoUr NAME STAff PAYROLL NO. IF KNoWN servants and agents to deduct from my salary by regular $10,000 & under: $27.50 $55 | instalments, dues and levies (as determined from time to   time by the Union), to NTEU or its authorised agents. All $10,001–$20,000:  $38.50  $77 Of YoUr ADDrESS payments on my behalf and in accordance with this author- ity shall be deemed to be payments by me personally. This Over $20,000:  $55  $110 authority shall remain in force until revoked by me in writ- HEREBY AUTHORISE INSTITUTIoN ing. I also consent to my employer supplying NTEU with updated information relating to my employment status.  PLEAsE ACCEPT MY CHEqUE/MONEY ORDER OR CREDIT CARD:  MAsTERCARD  vIsA SIGNATURE |DATE NAME ON CARD OPTION 2: CREDIT CARD Processed on the 16th of the month or following working day I hereby authorise the Merchant to debit my Card account with the amount and at NAME ON CARD intervals specified above and in the event of any change in the charges for these goods/ CARD NUMBER services to alter the amount from the appropriate date in accordance with such change. This authority shall stand, in respect of the above specified Card and in respect of any Card CARD NO. issued to me in renewal or replacement thereof, until I notify the Merchant in writing of its — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — cancellation. Standing Authority for recurrent Periodic Payment by Credit Card. ExPIRY $ ExPIRY |  MASTERCARD  VISA |PAYMENT:  MONTHLY  QUARTERLY  HALf-YEARLY  ANNUALLY | SIGNATURE SIGNATURE DATE | Description of goods/services: NTEU DATE Membership Dues. To: NTEU, Po Box OPTION 3: DIRECT DEBIT Processed on the 15th of the month or following working day 1323, Sth Melbourne VIC 3205 I hereby authorise the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) APCA ‡Associated bodies: NTEU (NSW); University of Qld Academic Staff Asso- I INSErT YoUr NAME User ID No.062604 to arrange for funds to be debited from my/our ciation (Union of Employees) at UQ; Union of Australian College Academics account at the financial institution identified and in accordance with the (WA Branch) Industrial Union of Workers at Edith Cowan University & Curtin terms described in the Direct Debit request (DDr) Service Agreement University; Curtin University Staff Association (Inc.) at Curtin University; Staff fINANCIAL INSTITUTION Association of Edith Cowan University (Inc.) at ECU Full text of DDR available at www.nteu.org.au/ddr BSB |ACCOUNT NO. REGULARITY Of PAYMENT: MAIL TO:  MONTHLY  QUARTERLY NTEU National Office BRANCH NAME & ADDRESS  HALf-YEARLY  ANNUALLY PO Box 1323, South Melbourne VIC 3205 T (03) 9254 1910 ACCOUNT NAME 5% DIsCOUNT fOR ANNUAL DIRECT DEBIT F (03) 9254 1915 SIGNATURE |DATE E [email protected] Women too often carry the burden of social inequities. These women are working to change that.

L-R: Jessica Sequeira, Abelita da Silva, Ricar Pascoela, Ana Of the world’s poorest people, it is estimated that 70% are women. Filomena Mariano and Henyta Casimira - some of the founding With the support of Australian unionists and unions, Union Aid Abroad- members of the Working Women’s Centre Timor-Leste. Photos by Shabnam Hameed. APHEDA is working to redress this appalling gender imbalance. Almost three-quarters of our projects are aimed at improving opportunities for women and, by doing this, improving their families’ lives too. In Timor-Leste, we are supporting women like Jessica, Abelita, Ricar, Ana and Henyta in a vital poverty reduction initiative. These community-minded women helped form the Working Women’s Centre Timor- Leste, which is working to increase women’s workforce participation and improve incomes and working conditions.

Union Aid Abroad APHEDA Your solidarity will make a difference. The overseas humanitarian aid agency of the ACTU You can support initiatives like this by becoming a Global Jusice Partner. Visit www.apheda.org.au or call 1800 888 674 to learn more.

Since 1958, the Australian Universities’ Review has been encouraging debate www.aur.org.au and discussion about issues in higher education and its contribution to Australian public life.

vol. 53, no. 2, 2011 Published by NTEU

ISSN 0818–8068

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vol. 53, no. 1, 2011 Published by NTEU

ISSN 0818 –8068

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