Academic women in neoliberal times: Gender, time, space and emotion in the contemporary Australian university

The neoliberal transformation of higher education has a significant impact upon the careers of academic women. Despite women's inclusion across the organisational hierarchy, neoliberal new managerialism in Australian universities exacerbates gender inequity and inequitable practices in the way it redistributes power and reproduces and reinforces traditional gendered patterns of inequality. A focus on increased gender representation obscures the fact that women's participation continues to be measured and evaluated in relation to male norms of participation, and achievements and women remain largely invisible as academic leaders and respected knowledge producers. This thesis is a feminist examination of key discourses, which constitute academic performativity and identity in the contemporary Australian university. In particular, how the discourses of neoliberalism and feminism are entangled in the structures, systems, operations, and cultures of the university, and how they constitute academic identity and performance. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with academic women in Australia and critical autoethnography, this thesis uses a mix of experimental methods to emphasise the performative and discursive decisions women make in regard to their academic careers. This thesis takes inspiration from Helene Cixous' (1987) ecriture feminine and Sara Ahmed's (2014) concept of 'willfulness' as a methodological approach that playfully displaces gender and sex in scholarly research and writing and allows for a re-imagining of the academic self

Pandemic Pressures: Job Security and Customer Relations for Retail Workers

This report offers insights into the challenges faced by retail, fast-food, and distribution workers during the pandemic and recent lockdowns. In focus is the impact on job security and worker-customer relations during the pandemic

Gender Equality and the Future of the Legal Profession

The legal profession is undergoing profound transformation, driven by new technologies and forms of legal service delivery that are upending the traditional organisation of legal work. These changes are disrupting career pathways and requiring lawyers to rethink the skills that will be required for future success. These changes are also occurring against a backdrop of existing gendered inequality, characterised by the persistent underrepresentation of women in senior leadership roles and, among other things, women’s disproportionate experience of harassment and workplace disrespect. The legal profession thus faces a challenge: how to harness and incorporate new innovations without further embedding gendered inequalities at work

Technology and skills in the future of retail work: A summary of findings

Retail work is undergoing profound transformation, with rapid changes including digitisation, the collection and use of big data, and automation reshaping the industry and the skills required to work within it. These transformations have the potential to entrench and even exacerbate existing inequalities within the industry. Based on interviews with 30 senior stakeholders in retail and retail-adjacent industries, and a representative retail, fast food and warehouse worker survey (n=1160), this report examines perceptions and experiences of intersecting technological transformations occurring in the Australian retail industry and the changing skills sets required for the future of retail work. The retail industry is Australia’s second largest employing industry, with its workers representing approximately 10% of the Australian labour force. A majority of retail employees are women, and it is the third most feminised industry in Australia. Younger workers are over-represented in retail, and over half of the retail workforce are employed on part-time or casual contracts

Gendered Disrespect and Inequality in Retail Work: A Summary of Findings

Retail is Australia’s second largest employing industry (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2022), with approximately 10% of the Australian labour force working in the sector (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2022a). The retail industry is characterised by a young, diverse workforce (Australian Human Rights Commission., 2019; Baird et al., 2018), most of which is employed on part-time or casual contracts (Australian Human Rights Commission., 2019). Fifty-seven percent (57%) of retail workers are women (Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), 2021), making retail the third most feminised industry in Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2020). Women are also fundamental to the success and profitability of businesses in the industry, as they make up approximately 75% of consumer spending decisions (Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), 2021) (see Figure 1). Yet, within the retail sector, there is clear evidence of gendered disrespect and inequality. Women are underrepresented in senior leadership roles within retail, holding only 27% of board positions and 17% of chief executive officer roles (Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), 2021). Women working in retail – who are predominately young, low paid, and insecurely employed (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2020; Australian Human Rights Commission., 2019) – experience disproportionate rates of incivility, abusive behaviour, harassment and violence (Australian Human Rights Commission., 2019; Korczynski & Evans, 2013; Tindell & Padavic, 2022). This report is the second of two reports that interrogate the ways in which women and men working in Australia’s retail industry understand and experience the changing nature of work in retail, and their hopes and fears for the future of the industry. In the first report, Technology and skills in the future of retail work: Summary of findings, we investigated worker experiences and perceptions of intersecting technological transformations occurring in the Australian retail industry and the changing skills sets required for the future of retail work. In this report, we examine retail workers’ experiences and perceptions of gendered disrespect and inequality. The findings summarised here are based on data collected in interviews with 30 senior industry leaders and stakeholders, including representatives from industry associations and unions, senior managers of major retail employers, retail consultants and other industry experts. It also draws upon the findings of a survey (n = 1,160) of Australian retail, fast food, and warehouse workers

Designing Gender Equality into the Future of Law: Final Report

The legal profession has undergone profound transformation over the past two decades, driven by new technologies and forms of legal service delivery that are upending the traditional organisation of legal work. These changes are disrupting career pathways and requiring lawyers to rethink the skills that will be required for future success. The COVID-19 pandemic spurred further integration of new technologies, and challenged long-held norms in relation to how and where lawyers should work. Collectively, these changes are occurring against a backdrop of persistent gendered inequality. It should be noted that there have been substantial improvements in women's numerical representation in the legal profession. Under current NSWLS leadership, a 20-year trend toward convergence in men's and women's participation in the Australian legal profession has been realised. For example, women now outnumber men in the legal profession in all states and territories across Australia, and in New South Wales, female solicitors have outnumbered male solicitors for a sixth consecutive year. While women remain under-represented in senior leadership roles including as partners, principals, barristers, and judicial members, over one third (35%) of private practice partners/principals in New South Wales are now women. In corporate and government legal roles, there is now an even split between women and men in senior roles. Numerical dominance aside, issues of gendered discrimination, disrespect, and harassment remain stubbornly entrenched in the profession

Homologous recombination DNA repair defects in PALB2- associated breast cancers

Abstract: Mono-allelic germline pathogenic variants in the Partner And Localizer of BRCA2 (PALB2) gene predispose to a high-risk of breast cancer development, consistent with the role of PALB2 in homologous recombination (HR) DNA repair. Here, we sought to define the repertoire of somatic genetic alterations in PALB2-associated breast cancers (BCs), and whether PALB2-associated BCs display bi-allelic inactivation of PALB2 and/or genomic features of HR-deficiency (HRD). Twenty-four breast cancer patients with pathogenic PALB2 germline mutations were analyzed by whole-exome sequencing (WES, n = 16) or targeted capture massively parallel sequencing (410 cancer genes, n = 8). Somatic genetic alterations, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of the PALB2 wild-type allele, large-scale state transitions (LSTs) and mutational signatures were defined. PALB2-associated BCs were found to be heterogeneous at the genetic level, with PIK3CA (29%), PALB2 (21%), TP53 (21%), and NOTCH3 (17%) being the genes most frequently affected by somatic mutations. Bi-allelic PALB2 inactivation was found in 16 of the 24 cases (67%), either through LOH (n = 11) or second somatic mutations (n = 5) of the wild-type allele. High LST scores were found in all 12 PALB2-associated BCs with bi-allelic PALB2 inactivation sequenced by WES, of which eight displayed the HRD-related mutational signature 3. In addition, bi-allelic inactivation of PALB2 was significantly associated with high LST scores. Our findings suggest that the identification of bi-allelic PALB2 inactivation in PALB2-associated BCs is required for the personalization of HR-directed therapies, such as platinum salts and/or PARP inhibitors, as the vast majority of PALB2-associated BCs without PALB2 bi-allelic inactivation lack genomic features of HRD

Development and validation of a targeted gene sequencing panel for application to disparate cancers

Next generation sequencing has revolutionised genomic studies of cancer, having facilitated the development of precision oncology treatments based on a tumour’s molecular profile. We aimed to develop a targeted gene sequencing panel for application to disparate cancer types with particular focus on tumours of the head and neck, plus test for utility in liquid biopsy. The final panel designed through Roche/Nimblegen combined 451 cancer-associated genes (2.01 Mb target region). 136 patient DNA samples were collected for performance and application testing. Panel sensitivity and precision were measured using well-characterised DNA controls (n = 47), and specificity by Sanger sequencing of the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Interacting Protein (AIP) gene in 89 patients. Assessment of liquid biopsy application employed a pool of synthetic circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA). Library preparation and sequencing were conducted on Illumina-based platforms prior to analysis with our accredited (ISO15189) bioinformatics pipeline. We achieved a mean coverage of 395x, with sensitivity and specificity of >99% and precision of >97%. Liquid biopsy revealed detection to 1.25% variant allele frequency. Application to head and neck tumours/cancers resulted in detection of mutations aligned to published databases. In conclusion, we have developed an analytically-validated panel for application to cancers of disparate types with utility in liquid biopsy

The FANCM:p.Arg658* truncating variant is associated with risk of triple-negative breast cancer

Abstract: Breast cancer is a common disease partially caused by genetic risk factors. Germline pathogenic variants in DNA repair genes BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, ATM, and CHEK2 are associated with breast cancer risk. FANCM, which encodes for a DNA translocase, has been proposed as a breast cancer predisposition gene, with greater effects for the ER-negative and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtypes. We tested the three recurrent protein-truncating variants FANCM:p.Arg658*, p.Gln1701*, and p.Arg1931* for association with breast cancer risk in 67,112 cases, 53,766 controls, and 26,662 carriers of pathogenic variants of BRCA1 or BRCA2. These three variants were also studied functionally by measuring survival and chromosome fragility in FANCM−/− patient-derived immortalized fibroblasts treated with diepoxybutane or olaparib. We observed that FANCM:p.Arg658* was associated with increased risk of ER-negative disease and TNBC (OR = 2.44, P = 0.034 and OR = 3.79; P = 0.009, respectively). In a country-restricted analysis, we confirmed the associations detected for FANCM:p.Arg658* and found that also FANCM:p.Arg1931* was associated with ER-negative breast cancer risk (OR = 1.96; P = 0.006). The functional results indicated that all three variants were deleterious affecting cell survival and chromosome stability with FANCM:p.Arg658* causing more severe phenotypes. In conclusion, we confirmed that the two rare FANCM deleterious variants p.Arg658* and p.Arg1931* are risk factors for ER-negative and TNBC subtypes. Overall our data suggest that the effect of truncating variants on breast cancer risk may depend on their position in the gene. Cell sensitivity to olaparib exposure, identifies a possible therapeutic option to treat FANCM-associated tumors