Re-storying precarious employment: Sharing strategies that allow all to flourish in academia

Over the last four decades, universities have become increasingly corporatised. Managerialist cost-minimisation measures dominating this industry have increased precarious employment among academic staff, often women, in order to meet the current demands for teaching and research. Many people in precarious employment with short-term or casual contracts are unseen. They often are not integrated with permanent academic staff, such as through professional development, email lists, meetings, and social events. In this presentation, we will: (a) share themes from a co-operative inquiry into how precarity may be experienced by academic women in Australia, and (b) consider collegial actions that can help address the challenges of precarity. Our presentation aims to empower all in the university system; question myths such as ‘people should be grateful for the opportunity to work for less’ and narrate stories from respected colleagues from research in precarious employment. Strategies will be offered regarding how to address precarious work in academia and discourage segregation between colleagues in precarious and permanent positions. We advocate for a new workplace narrative that supports people in permanent academic positions and in precarious positions so all can stand together and be respected, and that encourages just outcomes where all can succeed.

This research was produced for the chapter ‘Precarious academia: women’s employment in Australian Universities’ submitted for publication in forthcoming book Gender, Feminist and Queer Studies: power, privilege and inequality in a time of neoliberal conservatism.