COVID-related changes have also hit universities very hard – leading to job losses and increased workloads for staff. Initial findings from a large-scale survey across 13 Australian and Canadian universities, designed to understand the impact of adapted working arrangements for university staff as a result of COVID-19, suggest that gender effects are more pronounced for academic than professional staff. This survey, which has been supported by CPOW, found that female academics are more likely to have experienced unmanageable workloads than male academics. The data also confirmed a negative impact on the research output of female academics. We will have a more detailed analysis of the Australian university findings in our final 2020 newsletter.

At the time of writing, CPOW’s performance over 2015-2019 is being reviewed by an independent panel convened by the College of Business & Law’s DPVC R&I, Professor Martie-Louise Verreynne. The panel, headed by Professor Therese Jefferson from Curtin University, is expected to report at the end of this month.

In this newsletter, we welcome new CPOW members Dr Naomi Whiteside (School of Accounting, Information Systems & Supply Chains) and RMIT Vietnam HDR student, Thanh-Hang Pham from the School of Business & Management. We also feature a recent conceptual publication by CPOW HDR student Laura McVey, who together with her supervisors, Lauren Gurrieri  and Meagan Tyler, takes up the structural oppression of women by online pornography markets.

We have been working over the last couple of months on refining our CPOW research themes to better reflect the research strengths of CPOW members. Welcome to Lauren Gurrieri who joins Meagan Tyler as a co-theme leader of a new theme of Gender Equality and to Lena Wang who is the new theme leader of Diversity & Inclusion. Vanessa Cooper and Elizabeth Tait have also been working on further developing the Digital Work & Society theme.

Finally, we bid farewell to Peter Fairbrother who was the driving force behind the establishment of CPOW back in 2009 in its earlier incarnation as the Centre for Sustainable Organisations & Work. Peter was founding Director from 2009-2016 and has been the Deputy Director since then. Peter’s contribution to the development of CPOW as a nationally and internationally recognised research centre has been enormous. He has been tireless in bringing new scholars to CPOW and in supporting applications for VC Fellowship positions for strong candidates who have, in turn, gone on to make significant contributions to the work and life of CPOW as well as to the College of Business & Law. As a former member of the ARC College of Experts, over a number of years Peter has provided dedicated mentoring and practical support to CPOW and other College academics in their applications for ARC grants. Fortunately Peter will remain connected to CPOW as an honorary professor. 

(Photo by Vlada Karpovitch/pexels.com)

For many of us, digital technology has offered an important lifeline during COVID-19 — one just has to pause for a moment and imagine the different experience we would be having living through this pandemic only two or three decades ago, prior to the Internet being as we know it today.  Yet digital technology does not always result in positive outcomes. Not all communities have equal access to technology or equal levels of digital literacy. Further, not all activities can be easily transported online.

In Australia, Melbourne has been at the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic. The second wave in Melbourne saw the highest case numbers reported in local government areas having significant migrant and refugee communities. Migrant communities were reeling when public housing towers were locked down within hours during the second wave. For many Australians watching events unfold on the news, it has highlighted the challenges that these communities face.

Migrant support services are facing unprecedented demand during the pandemic. Stage 4 lockdown in Melbourne has had a significant impact on the way they connect with migrant and refugee communities. They have become a holistic support service for the communities they serve, ensuring no one falls through the cracks. As with the hospitality industry, they have had to pivot overnight, moving community outreach services online, transforming the way their organisations work.

An important part of support service adaptation during the pandemic has been choosing the technology that stakeholder groups are comfortable with. Vicky Fisher, Team Leader, Settlement Services at the Migrant Resource Centre North West Region noted, “...we run a women's group and they were really comfortable with using Messenger... We tried several different platforms, but we found Zoom was the best platform for our [youth] group”.  

The move online has enabled service providers to connect with community members who had never engaged with their services previously. Many clients have a mobile nowadays and they provide migrants with access to critical information. However, service providers can’t reach all their clients. Some face digital literacy challenges and others prefer face-to-face engagement. Some are conducting telephone welfare checks, ensuring communities have the support and connection they need to make it through this challenging time.

Further research is required to understand the role of technology in connecting communities and responding to a pandemic and the team have recently been awarded funding to conduct research investigating the role of libraries to support refugee and migrant communities. The stories emerging from support services and migrant communities illustrate the challenges, but they also speak of resilience and connectedness – qualities we all need right now.

She is also examining the impact of digitalisation and industry 4.0 technology on the manufacturing sector in the post COVID-19 era. This initiative builds on her recent work with industry partners and RMIT colleagues exploring the challenges and benefits of Industry 4.0 technologies in the manufacturing sector.

In her study, she investigates how protean career orientation influences hospitality workers’ self-efficacy, job search activity, perceived employability, psychological well-being, and reemployment during and post-COVID-19. In the global context of unprecedented challenges for the industry due to the pandemic, the research is expected to have a contribution to the body of knowledge as well as providing important implications for individuals, managers, and policymakers.

(Photo by Maggie Zhan / Pexels.com)

Huan Vo-Tran, Naomi Whiteside, Elizabeth Tait and Vanessa Cooper have been granted external research funding from the Australian Library and Information Association. They will be working with Hume Libraries (and council) looking into Australia Public Libraries and the support services for newly settled refugees.

The aim of this study is to explore the role of Australian public libraries and their support services for newly settled refugees. In 2019, ALIA produced a report on the ’Services for Migrants and Refugees’ and the programs that were being implemented across Australia. We will extend this work by exploring the pivotal role that librarians play in implementing and sustaining such programs. The objective of this project is to identify, document and communicate a best practice framework for developing, delivering and sustaining digital literacy programs for newly settled refugees in Australian public libraries. This framework will allow librarians across the country to enhance support for refugee communities. Digital literacy is critical for new refugees as they must engage with government and support services that are increasingly provided online.

Laura McVey, Lauren Gurrieri & Meagan Tyler (2020) The structural oppression of women by markets: the continuum of sexual violence and the online pornography market, Journal of Marketing Management, DOI: 10.1080/0267257X.2020.1798714

(Photo: Laura McVey)

What is the research about?

There is an emerging body of literature that critically examines structures of power and dominance as manifest in markets; the dynamics and conditions of which work to marginalise certain groups. This has included an attention to populations that are often oppressed through the forced selling of labour power. However, largely missing from these conversations is a focus on women. Additionally, although discussions on women’s vulnerability to sexual violence have begun, further exploration is needed on how the structures of male dominance and markets can facilitate, and even be a form of, sexual violence against women.

Through applying Liz Kelly’s continuum of sexual violence framework to the online pornography market, we locate markets as perpetrators of sexual violence. In a two-part approach, we first find the market system (in commodifying women and their sexual labour) is perpetrating a complex range of (often difficult to define) forms of sexual violence. Then, we identify online pornography as sexual harassment. Our analysis of the online pornography market also highlights the utility of Kelly’s continuum in linking sexual harassment, men’s sexual entitlement, women’s inequality, and men’s violence against women.

Why is this important?

We intend our work to prompt scholars and policy makers to take more seriously the role of markets and marketing in sexual violence against women. While movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp have advanced our understanding of sexual assault as a systemic, cultural problem – quite publicly highlighting the experiences of women working in the entertainment industry – pornography is an industry that has largely evaded the cultural critique stemming from these movements. So too, although there is increasing international attention addressing a range of technology based sexual assault offences and image-based sexual exploitations, absent from the theorising on revenge porn, image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), and even technology facilitated coercive control (TFCC) is the coercion, abuse and force used by markets in sexual violence. We address these cultural silences and scholarly oversights to establish pornography as an especially pressing place for academics and policy makers to understand the complex range and evolving forms of sexual violence against women.

What was surprising?

As our paper reveals, the persistence of pornography in women’s everyday lives, which has become ‘almost a background of what going out of doors seems to mean’, also has important implications for women in their workplaces. Since 2010, Pornhub visits from mobile devices have increased 1424%, with over 80% of all their traffic now coming from smartphones and tablets. Further, nearly half of Pornhub users reported accessing the site during the typical work hours of 9am-6pm – prompting an article from the Financial Times on the role of pornography in the workplace. So, whether it is the ‘weaponised use of porn as a deliberate tool for creating a hostile work environment and to harass and degrade employees – predominantly women – at work’, or its more ‘incidental’ existence in public spaces; with the documented high levels of violence against women in pornography, pornography as harassment is becoming an increasingly public and pervasive form of violence against women.

Some CPOW HDRs may have participated in the research project conducted for the School of Graduate Research by scholars in RMIT’s Design Creative Practice Enabling Capability Platform on the issues facing HDRs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two reports from this research project have now been completed. The first report, In a time of uncertainty: supporting belonging and wellbeing for HDR students, was published in May and reviewed available research and knowledge.

The second report, HDR Belonging: Practices & Perceptions during COVID-19 was published in August and drew on interviews with 26 RMIT HDRs. It found that most respondents had both positive and challenging experiences during COVID, which were often highly dependent upon their role/s at RMIT (some are both staff and student), as well as their level of continued engagement with peers, supervisors and the RMIT SGR during the pandemic. Many of the HDRs interviewed found they needed to substantially modify their research themes and methods while experiencing a sense of loss, grief and confusion at the same time. However, many HDRs did find ways to increase their sense of ‘belonging’, including through the use of digital platforms and taking part in in more informal student-initiated groups. 

The Association of Industrial Relations Academics in Australia & New Zealand (AIRAANZ)  Best Postgraduate Student Paper Award will be awarded to a current postgraduate research student, or one who has completed their studies within the 12 months prior to 1 July 2020.

To be considered, nominees are required to submit an article on a topic relating to industrial/employment relations and/or work (broadly conceived) which has been accepted for publication in an academic journal in the 12 months preceding 1 July 2020. Only one version of the paper may be submitted (for example, a candidate may not nominate a soft-copy manuscript and resubmit the same manuscript once published in hard copy).  

This year, nominations will close on 13 November. The Award will be determined by a judging panel nominated by the AIRAANZ Executive Committee.

The judging panel will make its decision by 1 December, and the nominees will be notified as soon as possible after this date. The awardee will receive AUD$1000, which will come from AIRAANZ funds. They will be encouraged to attend the next AIRAANZ conference (See next AIRAANZ Conference call for papers below)) to receive their award and, if appropriate, to present their paper.

Please forward details of the nominee and their accepted article to: [email protected]

Back in September the NZ Work Research Institute co-hosted a care work webinar with the Centre for People, Organisation and Work (RMIT, Melbourne), for the Global Carework Network COVID response.

This webinar brought together trade union leaders from international, Australian and New Zealand trade unions to reflect on the challenges for care workers arising from the current crisis and to share knowledge and start a conversation about how we achieve change for justice and equity for paid care workers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Presenters:

• Sharan Burrow - General Secretary, International Trade Union confederation
• Sharan Burrow - General Secretary, International Trade Union confederation
• Natalie Lang - Branch Secretary, Australian Services Union NSW & ACT (Services) Branch

Extended call for expressions of interest from PhD candidates, Early Career Researchers and colleagues to present papers and host sessions, is now open. The current deadline for this extended call for EOIs i Friday, 23 October. The Conference will be held on: 

Wednesday 3rd to Friday 5th February, 2021, Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT).

PhD student and ECR papers – The Conference will host session(s) for PhD and ECR Papers. These sessions will be organised as follows: students/ECRs should submit an abstract by Friday 23 October. Each student/ECR will then submit a paper (up to 2,000 words max) one month before the conference (deadline: 6th January 2021). Students will give a 10-minute presentation of their paper at the conference session and a nominated Discussant will provide a 5 to 10-minute presentation of feedback/comment/discussion. (The discussant must receive the paper one-month prior to the conference). This will be followed by 5 minutes open-question time. 

As a reminder, we are also calling for EOIs to coordinate the following:

• Themed Session – a 1-hour session on a particular topic – to include three speakers (10 minutes each) and question time (facilitated by organisers);
• Themed Workshop – A workshop would be of 1 ½ OR 2 hours duration (please specify in EOI), and be configured by the organisers, to include short presentations, Q & As, and potentially other interactive processes (eg breakout discussions);
• Symposium - A half-day session (max. 4 hours) on a particular theme, including a broader range of presentations than a workshop, with organisers to configure session.

Please note: proposed convenors will be responsible for organising all contributions to their session(s). When submitting an EOI, we ask Proposed Convenors of Sessions to include the following:

• Type of Event - Themed Session, Themed Workshop or Symposium (other suggestions can also be considered subject to scheduling constraints)
• Title
• Names of Proposed Convenors and their Affiliated Institutions
• Other arranged or proposed speakers
• Brief Abstract Explaining Theme (150-250 words)
• Any other information you think the Committee needs to know about the proposed stream (maximum word limit applies).

Please email all abstracts and EOIs to [email protected] by 23rd October.

Speakers: 

Anthony Forsyth – Professor, Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University

Sara Charlesworth – Director, Centre for People Organisation & Work, RMIT University 

When: Monday 16 November 7 PM

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought rapid and far-reaching changes to how businesses operate and how – and where – people work. In this seminar, Professor Anthony Forsyth will explore the changes to our employment laws that have facilitated these new ways of working – through variations to awards and enterprise agreements – and the income support provided to those who have lost work through the JobKeeper scheme. Distinguished Professor Sara Charlesworth will move from this macro focus to consider the regulatory gaps in protection for home care workers highlighted by COVID-19 and the employment impact of government responses to COVID-risks in the home care sector.

This international free webinar on Women’s Rights, Care Work, and Policy during COVID is hosted by the US-based Southern Gerontological Society & the Carework Network, of which Work of Social Care theme leader Fiona Macdonald is a member.

When: Monday, November 2, 2020 from 4:00 - 5:00 pm  Eastern Standard Time

In Victoria and New South Wales this is Tuesday November 3 at 8am. 

This webinar will showcase two international scholars reflecting on the challenges for women in North and South America who are disproportionately affected by the current crisis.

• Professor Nancy Folbre will talk on the impact of COVID-19 on the US and other affluent countries and
• Dr. Maria Nieves Rico will describe how COVID-19 has specifically posed threats to women’s rights in Latin America.

The webinar will be presented live in English and Spanish with closed-captioning so that English and Spanish speakers may participate equally.

All RMIT researchers and HDRs are invited to attend this Professional Development training in ABS TableBuilder with ABS trainer. Talei Parker.

Online Training will run across 3 days, Monday 9, Tuesday 10 & Thursday 12 November 2020, 9.30-11.00am each day (Recommended to attend ALL 3 days).

Training content:

• Session 1, Monday 9 November: New ABS website
• Session 2, Tuesday 10: Break down of TableBuilder
• Session 3, Thursday 12: Follow-on questions from Session 2 and Q&A.

Peter Nowotnik, CPOW Administrator (Tuesday to Thursday): [email protected]

Sara Charlesworth, CPOW Director:  [email protected]

Joining CPOW: If you are an RMIT researcher whose current research addresses sustainable, fair and decent work and you are interested in joining CPOW, here is the link to our membership application form.

CPOW addresses inequalities in the world of work to create sustainable, fair and decent work for all

CPOW is an RMIT University Centre located in the College of Business & Law.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.