Bluestocking Week 2020 : Women, Work & COVID

Helena Spyrou, Education & Training Organiser

The impact of COVID-19 on women in higher education was the theme for this year’s Bluestocking Week (31 August–4 September) now in its 8th consecutive year.

The Australian higher education sector has been and is in crisis. The high level of insecure employment in the sector and the inequalities that women in particular experience were there long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

The challenges faced by women right now are intensified as our work, community and caring responsibilities collide in this time of crisis. With mass redundancies, a growing gender pay gap, insecure work, and an antagonistic Federal Government, Bluestocking Week 2020 has focused not only on recognising, applauding and celebrating women in higher education but also on encouraging all members to work together to build a better working life on the other side of the crisis for women in higher education.

This year in the time of coronavirus has been challenging for all in the sector with the vast majority working off-campus for many months and many, like our colleagues in Victoria, still doing so.

Despite the limitations presented in this time of crisis, Branches and Divisions still held Bluestocking Week events – some small, some not so small, some on campus, most online. There were petitions and songs and discussions and cupcakes.

Here are the highlights of the events held across the country.

Traditional Bluestocking cupcakes on offer in Darwin this year.

SA Division

Acknowledging how COVID-19 has disproportionately affected women and how the Federal Government’s funding proposals will have a negative impact on vulnerable and insecure workers at universities, the SA Division ran a number of small events during Bluestocking week. Together with the student union, members participated in feminist conversations and cupcakes. Being able to congregate on campus, the Division also saw this week as an opportunity to talk with members about the importance of blocking the Tehan Higher Education Support Amendment (Jobs-Ready Graduates and Supporting Regional and Remote Students) Bill 2020.

The Division also initiated a Women of Letters project asking 30 women to write a letter about what education means to them and how COVID-19 has affected their lives and their work. The letters will be collated in a small PDF publication and will also be posted on the NTEU SA Division page sometime in early October, so keep an eye out at www.nteu.org.au/sa.

In mid-October, the SA Division WAC, are planning a cocktail hour/ seminar in honour of Bluestockings and will include women from the Australian Black Lives Matter/Deaths in Custody movement as speakers. This event will also be a fundraiser for SA women’s support services

Cheryl Baldwin, Cécile Dutreix, Juliet Fuller and Jess Jacobson on the Barr Smith Library stairs at the University of Adelaide

NT Division

Charles Darwin University (CDU) celebrated Bluestocking Week with a live stream seminar. It highlighted the impact on the mental health and wellbeing of many women in higher education who have been simultaneously working from home, caring for children (and, for many, their partners) and dealing with excessive workloads, all whilst undergoing university restructures and mergers. Speakers Amanda Brain and Sylvia Klonaris highlighted the challenges women are facing, and how we can stay healthy. This was followed by a light lunch (and cupcakes).

National President Alison Barnes Zoomed into the CDU Bluestocking Week live seminar from lockdown in Melbourne. Janine Oldfield from Batchelor a member of the Women’s Network Group of the NT Division participated and Opened the BSW event with acknowledgment to Traditional Custodians of the Larrakeyah People.

Queensland Division

During Bluestocking Week, Queensland Division invited NTEU woman member to write a short piece on the impact of COVID-19 on their lives (see pp.11–13) which were sent in a daily Meet a Member email to all Qld members.

The Division also held a trivia quiz and an eclectic Division-wide Zoom event called ‘Politics Matters’. This event was an information session and celebration of why women join unions. Susan Lamb (Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at QUT) provided the key note address. The event was bookended by a group sing along, lead by Se Monk, of the famous suffragette political slogan and consequent poem and song, Bread and Roses and Helen Reddy’s iconic 1970s anthem for the feminist movement I am Woman.

L–R: NTEU Industrial Officer, Noeline Rudland, Retired NTEU Griffith member and Emma Miller Award recipient, Sue Monk, and USQ Organiser, Patsy O’Brien started the Bluestocking Week meeting with a rendition of ‘Bread & Roses’, a song inspired by a quote from women’s suffrage activist Helen Todd.

National Seminar

Bluestocking Week culminated in a national seminar on Women, Work & COVID-19. Over 300 NTEU members attended via Zoom. NTEU National President, Alison Barnes, set the context for the event and introduced the two special guest speakers Professor Rae Cooper (Gender, Work and Employment Relations and Co-Director of the Women, Work & Leadership Research Group) and Sarah Mosseri (Postdoctoral Research Associate in Work and Organisational Studies).