The “slow” career crisis for women in Australian regional universities:  Place, travel, and agency

Anitra Goriss-Hunter; Kate White; Gail Crimmins; Sarah Casey; Nadya Rizk; Petrea Redmond; Kate Ames; Cate Thomas; Agli Zavros Orr; Stuart Levy

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-98941-4_3

The “slow” career crisis for women in Australian regional universities: Place, travel, and agency

Anitra Goriss-Hunter
, Kate White
, Gail Crimmins
, Sarah Casey
, Nadya Rizk
, Petrea Redmond
, Kate Ames
, Cate Thomas
, Agli Zavros Orr
, Stuart Levy

Federation University
University of Sunshine Coast
University of New England
University of Southern Queensland
Torrens University Melbourne

Research output: Book chapter/Published conference paper › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

Abstract

Our research team, comprised primarily of academic women from the Australian Regional University Network (RUN), formed a group named Gender Regionality and Inclusion in Teaching (GRIT) to investigate women’s working conditions and career progression. This chapter draws on autoethnographic narratives to report on the nuanced challenges experienced by women working in regional universities. Findings indicate there is a slow crisis in regional universities encroaching on women’s abilities to agentically progress their careers. Continued underfunding of regional universities impacts the resources, facilities, and professional development opportunities available to staff, and the consequences for women are exacerbated by their desire to maintain family and community ties in regional areas. In addition, the staff requirement to travel between dispersed campuses makes little allowance for women with caring and other responsibilities and further reduces agency in their career trajectory.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Gender and higher education management in times of crisis
Editors	Sarah Barnard, Angela Wroblewski
Place of Publication	Cham, Switzerland
Publisher	Springer Nature
Chapter	3
Pages	47-74
Number of pages	28
ISBN (Electronic)	9783031989414
ISBN (Print)	9783031989407
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-98941-4_3
Publication status	Published - 2025

Publication series

Name	Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education
Volume	Part F968
ISSN (Print)	2524-6445
ISSN (Electronic)	2524-6453

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 4 Quality Education
SDG 5 Gender Equality
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-031-98941-4_3

Cite this

Goriss-Hunter, A., White, K., Crimmins, G., Casey, S., Rizk, N., Redmond, P., Ames, K., Thomas, C., Zavros Orr, A., & Levy, S. (2025). The “slow” career crisis for women in Australian regional universities: Place, travel, and agency. In S. Barnard, & A. Wroblewski (Eds.), Gender and higher education management in times of crisis (pp. 47-74). (Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education; Vol. Part F968). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-98941-4_3

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title = "The “slow” career crisis for women in Australian regional universities: Place, travel, and agency",

abstract = "Our research team, comprised primarily of academic women from the Australian Regional University Network (RUN), formed a group named Gender Regionality and Inclusion in Teaching (GRIT) to investigate women{\textquoteright}s working conditions and career progression. This chapter draws on autoethnographic narratives to report on the nuanced challenges experienced by women working in regional universities. Findings indicate there is a slow crisis in regional universities encroaching on women{\textquoteright}s abilities to agentically progress their careers. Continued underfunding of regional universities impacts the resources, facilities, and professional development opportunities available to staff, and the consequences for women are exacerbated by their desire to maintain family and community ties in regional areas. In addition, the staff requirement to travel between dispersed campuses makes little allowance for women with caring and other responsibilities and further reduces agency in their career trajectory.",

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Goriss-Hunter, A, White, K, Crimmins, G, Casey, S, Rizk, N, Redmond, P, Ames, K, Thomas, C, Zavros Orr, A & Levy, S 2025, The “slow” career crisis for women in Australian regional universities: Place, travel, and agency. in S Barnard & A Wroblewski (eds), Gender and higher education management in times of crisis. Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education, vol. Part F968, Springer Nature, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 47-74. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-98941-4_3

The “slow” career crisis for women in Australian regional universities: Place, travel, and agency. / Goriss-Hunter, Anitra; White, Kate; Crimmins, Gail et al.
Gender and higher education management in times of crisis. ed. / Sarah Barnard; Angela Wroblewski. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, 2025. p. 47-74 (Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education; Vol. Part F968).

Research output: Book chapter/Published conference paper › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

TY - CHAP

T1 - The “slow” career crisis for women in Australian regional universities

T2 - Place, travel, and agency

AU - Goriss-Hunter, Anitra

AU - White, Kate

AU - Crimmins, Gail

AU - Casey, Sarah

AU - Rizk, Nadya

AU - Redmond, Petrea

AU - Ames, Kate

AU - Thomas, Cate

AU - Zavros Orr, Agli

AU - Levy, Stuart

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - Our research team, comprised primarily of academic women from the Australian Regional University Network (RUN), formed a group named Gender Regionality and Inclusion in Teaching (GRIT) to investigate women’s working conditions and career progression. This chapter draws on autoethnographic narratives to report on the nuanced challenges experienced by women working in regional universities. Findings indicate there is a slow crisis in regional universities encroaching on women’s abilities to agentically progress their careers. Continued underfunding of regional universities impacts the resources, facilities, and professional development opportunities available to staff, and the consequences for women are exacerbated by their desire to maintain family and community ties in regional areas. In addition, the staff requirement to travel between dispersed campuses makes little allowance for women with caring and other responsibilities and further reduces agency in their career trajectory.

AB - Our research team, comprised primarily of academic women from the Australian Regional University Network (RUN), formed a group named Gender Regionality and Inclusion in Teaching (GRIT) to investigate women’s working conditions and career progression. This chapter draws on autoethnographic narratives to report on the nuanced challenges experienced by women working in regional universities. Findings indicate there is a slow crisis in regional universities encroaching on women’s abilities to agentically progress their careers. Continued underfunding of regional universities impacts the resources, facilities, and professional development opportunities available to staff, and the consequences for women are exacerbated by their desire to maintain family and community ties in regional areas. In addition, the staff requirement to travel between dispersed campuses makes little allowance for women with caring and other responsibilities and further reduces agency in their career trajectory.

KW - Gender

KW - Higher Education

KW - Crisis

KW - Regionality

KW - Autoethnographic

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ER -

Goriss-Hunter A, White K, Crimmins G, Casey S, Rizk N, Redmond P et al. The “slow” career crisis for women in Australian regional universities: Place, travel, and agency. In Barnard S, Wroblewski A, editors, Gender and higher education management in times of crisis. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature. 2025. p. 47-74. (Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education). doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-98941-4_3

The “slow” career crisis for women in Australian regional universities: Place, travel, and agency

Abstract

Publication series

UN SDGs

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