Negotiating Mothering and Academic Work: A Mixed Methods Intersectional Feminist Study

This Report details the results of focus group research carried out with academic mothers at WSU, as well as survey research from a national sample of academic mothers across Australian Universities. The results show that many of our most stubbornly entrenched inequalities do not simply follow gendered fault lines, but rather care fault lines; with mothers doubly disadvantaged in academia by their gender and caring role

Asian Australians' experiences of online racism during the COVID-19 pandemic

Between 13 November 2020 and 11 February 2021, an online national survey of 2003 Asian Australians was conducted to measure the type and frequency of self-identified Asian Australians’ experiences of racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey also aimed to gauge the relationships between racist experiences and targets’ mental health, wellbeing and sense of belonging. In this paper, we report findings on the type and frequency of online racist experiences and their associations with mental health, wellbeing and belonging. The survey found that 40 per cent of participants experienced racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Within that group, 66 per cent experienced racism online. The demographic pattern of those most likely to experience online racism were younger age groups, males, those born in Australia, English speakers at home, non-Christians, and migrants who have been in Australia less than 20 years. Analysis also found a strong correlation between Asian Australians’ experiences of online racism and poor mental health, wellbeing and belonging. The relationship between experiencing racism, non-belonging and morbidity were more pronounced for those who experienced online racism compared to those who experienced racism in other offline contexts. This points to the corrosive nature of online racism on social cohesion, health and belonging

Vice-Chancellor's Gender Equality Fund Final Report 2019: Redressing the Promotion Gap: Practices and Processes to Minimise Gender Disparities in Academic Advancement

Like many universities in Australia and internationally, women at Western Sydney University (WSU) remain under-represented in senior academic positions. In addition, there is a persistent gender pay gap for female academic staff across the institution. Despite the robust literature, researchers and higher education institutions have struggled to understand how vertical gender segregation might be alleviated in academia, and to establish effective gender equity programs which target gender differences in promotion. In addition, little research has evaluated the impact of existing programs beyond the individual level and in comparison to other institutional initiatives. The degree to which gender initiatives are effective in making change is one of the most important and challenging questions in striving for gender equity in contemporary universities, yet this has been inadequately addressed by researchers. There are two key research questions for this project: how does WSU’s promotion policy and process compare with other Australian institutions, and; how might WSU alter current policy and practice to reduce the gender promotion gap? Data was collected through interviews with women academics who had progressed to Professor or Associate Professor whilst at Western Sydney, and both internal and external members of the Western Sydney University Academic Promotions Committee. The research also included an assessment of the WSU promotions policy and relevant promotions and gender equality process documents, and a comparison was carried out between WSU and two other institutions. We find that women are at a disadvantage in achieving measures of excellence in academic competitions for promotion. What is more, gender bias also works around these measures, so that even when women do successfully compete in terms of the metrics, they are blocked by institutional gatekeepers or marginalized and stigmatized for attempting to play a game for which they are seen to be corporeally mismatched. These processes were recognized by the women who bid for promotion but also by several of the promotions committee members. Although there is some useful policy and processes in place in our institutions in relation to promotion, gender bias continues to work through cultural practices. There is also evidence of a reticence to see the metrics of excellence, that serve academic capitalism very well, as anything but neutral or to see gender inequities as systemic. In order to redress the promotion gap, we therefore need to challenge these perceptions and look to cultural and educative solutions. This project provides recommendations for increasing women’s promotion rates, which will also assist in reducing the gender pay gap

Racism in Australia : a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Racism has been identified as a major source of injustice and a health burden in Australia and across the world. Despite the surge in Australian quantitative research on the topic, and the increasing recognition of the prevalence and impact of racism in Australian society, the collective evidence base has yet to be comprehensively reviewed or meta-analysed. This protocol describes the first systematic review and meta-analysis of racism in Australia at the national level, focussing on quantitative studies. The current study will considerably improve our understanding of racism, including its manifestations and fluctuation over time, variation across settings and between groups, and associations with health and socio-economic outcomes. Methods: The research will consist of a systematic literature review and meta-analysis. Searches for relevant studies will focus on the social and health science databases CINAHL, PsycINFO, PubMed and Scopus. Two reviewers will independently screen eligible papers for inclusion and extract data from included studies. Studies will be included in the review and meta-analysis where they meet the following criteria: (1) report quantitative empirical research on self-reported racism in Australia, (2) report data on the prevalence of racism, or its association with health (e.g. mental health, physical health, health behaviours) or socio-economic outcomes (e.g. education, employment, income), and (3) report Australian data. Measures of racism will focus on study participants’ self-reports, with a separate analysis dedicated to researcher-reported measures, such as segregation and differential outcomes across racial/ethnic groups. Measures of health and socio-economic outcomes will include both self-reports and researcher-reported measures, such as physiological measurements. Existing reviews will be manually searched for additional studies. Study characteristics will be summarised, and a meta-analysis of the prevalence of racism and its associations will be conducted using random effects models and mean weighted effect sizes. Moderation and subgroup analyses will be conducted as well. All analyses will use the software CMA 3.0. Discussion: This study will provide a novel and comprehensive synthesis of the quantitative evidence base on racism in Australia. It will answer questions about the fluctuation of racism over time, its variation across settings and groups, and its relationship with health and socio-economic outcomes. Findings will be discussed in relation to broader debates in this growing field of research and will be widely disseminated to inform anti-racism research, action and policy nationally. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42021265115

Educational psychology and psychological literacy in higher education : developmental and cultural aspects of racial diversity

Positive psychology has been defined as the scientific study of the conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups, and institutions (Gable & Haidt, 2005). An underlying premise of this science is that mental health is more than the absence of mental illness and therefore it is valid and important to enhance well-being and cultivate positive emotions (Keyes, 2007). Noble and McGrath (2008) claim that many of the components of positive psychology are not new; however, Linley and Joseph (2004) believe that it is a useful umbrella term that has the potential to unite a range of related but disparate directions in theory and research about what makes life worth living. Positive psychology can be differentiated from previous "positive" approaches in psychology because it is firmly grounded in empirical research (Seligman, 2007)

[In Press] Faculty perceptions of work-life balance : the role of marital/relationship and family status

This study examined correlates of work-life balance perceptions for faculty from various marital/relationship and family statuses, using data from the multi-institutional survey of faculty from the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) project at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. Indicating lower work-life balance among single (rather than married/partnered) faculty, our findings call for colleges and universities to directly address the work-life struggles of single faculty members with and without children. Our findings also underscore the central importance of institutional support for making personal/family obligations and an academic career compatible for all faculty, supports that are correlated with better faculty work-life balance at the level of both individual faculty and the institution. In addition, we argue that institutional supports are particularly important for early-career faculty, who assessed their work-life balance consistently lower than faculty at higher ranks

Personal and institutional predictors of work-life balance among women and men faculty of color

This study examines predictors of perceived work-life balance among women and men faculty of color using data from the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE). Asian American men faculty report higher perceived work-life balance, while African American women faculty report lower perceived work-life balance as compared to other faculty members. Findings from multivariate analyses show that the strongest, most consistent positive predictor of perceived work-life balance was the faculty perception that the institution does what it can to make personal/family obligations and an academic career compatible. The findings offer important implications for institutional and departmental climate and policy

The impact of student experiences with diversity on developing graduate attributes

While the emerging body of international research suggests that students' experiences with diversity impact positively on student learning and their preparation for entering a diverse workforce and society, no similar research is available in relation to students in Australian universities. Many of these outcomes, such as problem-solving, ability to work with others, and appreciation of and respect for diversity, are attributes that most - if not all - Australian universities value and work hard to instil in their graduates. This study explored whether student experiences with diversity impact on the development of selected graduate attributes and whether this relationship differs between international and local students at one Group of Eight (Go8) university. The findings demonstrate that student experiences with diversity positively impact on problem-solving, ability to work with others, and appreciation of and respect for diversity. The magnitude of these relationships, however, differs between international and local students

Entering first-year students' openness to diversity : a comparison of intended engineering majors with other majors within an ethnically diverse institution

The lack of diversity within engineering is well documented. While increasing the proportional representation of engineers is a great concern, of equal concern is preparing future engineers who have the skills to engage effectively with an increasingly diverse society. Monitoring engineering students' ability to see the world from another's perspective and ability to work cooperatively are a few of the necessary skills they will need to function effectively in a diverse society. The purpose of this study is to determine how much variation in perceptions of diversity exists between engineering majors compared to other majors and to assess whether perceptions vary over time after controlling for student demographic and pre-college experiences. This study uses three years of survey responses from an ethnically diverse institution to assess freshman perceptions of diversity. Ordinary least squares regression provides additional information about the relationship between demographic characteristics, pre-college experiences, intended major, and perceptions of diversity. Findings suggest differences in perceptions of diversity for some but not all years. Pre-college experiences with diversity such as the ethnic composition of the neighborhood are less predictive of current perceptions of diversity after controlling for student demographic characteristics and pre-college experiences. Within an institution with great ethnic diversity, engineering majors vary from other majors in their perceptions of diversity. While the concern about creating more ethnic diversity in the student body persists, there is also a need to ensure that engineering majors' attitudes toward diversity remain open and positive

Latent class analysis in higher education : an illustrative example of pluralistic orientation

Although used frequently in related fields such as K-12 education research, educational psychology, sociology, and social survey research, latent class analysis (LCA) has been infrequently used in higher education. This article provides higher education researchers with a pedagogical application of LCA to classify entering freshmen based on their pluralistic orientation. This study utilized data on entering freshmen at a racially diverse institution on the West coast. LCA was used to estimate latent profile probabilities, classify freshmen into latent classes, and relate latent class probabilities to covariates. The findings indicated that a four-class model was the best fitting model: high pluralistic orientation; high-disposition, low-skill; low-disposition, high-skill; and low pluralistic orientation. Similar to previous research, the findings indicated that the probability of being classified into one group versus the other was dependent upon a student’s race/ethnicity and intended major. This approach can aid college administrators in their program planning and targeted interventions around issues of diversity