School of Social and Political Sciences - Research Publications
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ItemEqual Sharing of Care: Evidence Review(The University of Melbourne, 2024-05-01)Worldwide, societal norms traditionally assign distinct parenting roles to mothers and fathers, shaping their approaches and contributions to childcare. However, new fatherhood is challenging these historical perceptions of parenting by redefining and highlighting men’s capacity to provide nurturing and equally enriching care to young children as women. As this review will show, recent research indicates that the positive impact of engaged fathering extends beyond simply benefiting children and fathers themselves; it also positively affects their partners, communities, and workplaces. To achieve an equal sharing of care, men must step into these roles and become actively engaged fathers who are committed to challenging traditional gender norms and proactively participating in all aspects of caregiving.
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ItemSelf-managed Home Aged Care Support: Research Report(University of Melbourne, 2024)The study investigated the benefits and risks to: i) older people who self-manage their home care package; ii) their support workers; and iii) ways to mitigate these risks. The findings highlighted how older people can successfully self-manage their aged Home Care Package and how risks can be managed. While self-management is not wanted by everyone, those who chose to self-manage reported benefits. These included having more choice and control over their support, especially being able to select support workers. Interviewees felt much safer selecting support workers who matched their needs and interests compared to having unknown rostered agency staff come to their home. Contracted support workers often worked for one consumer for years. Modern technology was an asset that facilitated self-management. Technology assisted with recruiting support workers, scheduling work, managing accounts and payments, and enabling providers to monitor spending and be alerted to any unusual payments or fraud. Self-management occurred within a complex service system where there was inadequate funding for community services and Home Care Packages as well as workforce shortages. These challenges impacted on older people in the study who self-managed and their family representatives. While workforce shortages were a major concern across the sector, most interviewees used informal networks and online recruitment services to find satisfactory workers. However, recruitment was a challenge for some interviewees from time to time. Self-management required consumers and their family representatives to navigate complex family dynamics and manage support workers and other services. Some consumers had the confidence and skills to competently manage these situations after a lifetime of relevant experiences. Others were beginning to develop skills and sometimes felt challenged. Everyone needed access to information and advice from time to time, particularly those developing new skills. Interviewees discussed the need to balance consumer’s protection and care with their right to ‘dignity of risk’, to build their capacity, and to choose their lifestyle. Multiple risks were identified with all aged care services, including self-management. Older people can be vulnerable to perpetrators of abuse from within and outside their families. Their rights can also be overridden subtly by others with well-meaning intent. These include service providers who want to minimise risks, surveillance and tracking technologies that are not transparent, and by families wanting to protect. Strategies to mitigate risks need to be individually tailored, with diverse and individual safeguarding strategies developed. Restrictive strategies should only be imposed when proven necessary and expressly stated with necessary consents provided, if necessary, through appropriate Guardianship mechanisms.
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ItemMigrant and Refugee Women in Australia: A study of sexual harassment in the workplace(Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Limited (ANROWS), 2023)This is the first national study of migrant and refugee women’s experiences, understandings and responses to workplace sexual harassment of its type. This research was developed to support and enhance the Australian Government’s A Roadmap for Respect: Preventing and Addressing Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces (2021). Aligning with national commitments to report on and respond to sexual harassment in the workplace, this research fills a recognised gap in addressing the specificity of migrant and refugee women’s experiences. These are not adequately captured in national data currently collected by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). By building a detailed national picture of the experiences of a diverse group of migrant and refugee women, this research will inform more targeted engagement with women and workplaces regarding unacceptable workplace behaviour. The research employed a mixed methods approach comprising of two phases: a national survey and a national qualitative project talking to migrant and refugee women and stakeholders across Australia. This report details the findings from a survey of 701 migrant and refugee women. The survey adopted a behavioural approach to sexual harassment drawing largely on the AHRC’s Everyone’s Business: Fourth National Survey on Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces (2018) survey instrument, which detailed 15 behaviours that constitute sexual harassment. Conducted online from August to September 2022, the survey was made available in six languages: Arabic, English, Farsi, Swahili, Chinese (Simplified) and Dari. 11 per cent of respondents completed the survey in a language other than English. The research found that just under half (46%) of the migrant and refugee women in this study had experienced at least one form of sexual harassment in the workplace in the last 5 years in Australia. The women in this sample rarely experienced only one type of sexual harassment or reported only one incident. Men were most frequently the harassers in the workplace. Across all incident types, those in senior positions were reported as engaging in sexually harassing behaviour in the workplace most frequently, followed closely by clients. For each of the 15 types of sexual harassment, respondents were asked about their perception of the motivation for the harassment; gender and race were consistently perceived as the primary motivations for the incident. This finding illuminates the importance of addressing and understanding gender-based and sexual harassment as deeply connected to discrimination based on race and religion.
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ItemDeveloping a Career Access Program (CAP) for people with intellectual disability in the Victorian public sector: The evidence base to inform the development and implementation of CAP(Department of Health and Human Services and The University of Melbourne, 2019)
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ItemGender, sexual harassment, and violence in the hospitality industry(Newcastle Youth Studies Centre, University of Newcastle, 2023-08-22)This report shows that gender-based violence, particularly sexual harassment, is a serious and persistent problem in the hospitality sector. Gender-based violence refers to harmful acts directed at an individual based on their gender, and can include sexual, physical, mental and economic harm. It is rooted in gender inequality, the abuse of power and harmful norms (UNHCR 2023). This report draws from a program of empirical research with young hospitality workers to provide evidence of the impacts of gendered harms at work, and provides recommendations regarding required changes in the sector. While sexual harassment is an entrenched problem in many different workplaces and industries, the gendered dynamics of interactive service labour make the hospitality sector a particularly important site to address gender-based violence. This report centers the voices of young women, queer and nonbinary hospitality workers to illustrate how gendered dynamics underpin the problem of gender-based violence in the industry. Women, queer and nonbinary workers are central to maintaining hospitality venues as safe and enjoyable spaces for patrons, yet these workers are also most likely to suffer from harms related to gender-based violence. This report highlights the need to better understand and support the young workers in hospitality who are on the front line responding to, and managing, gender-based violence in their venues. There has been progress in recent years in efforts to address gender-based harms in the sector. For example, since 2021, 60 venues have signed up to a previous union-led “Respect is the Rule” campaign. However, further efforts are needed which address the underlying gendered norms in the industry which can enable discrimination, harassment and violence to flourish. For example, there remains pressure to serve offending customers and for staff to simply ignore gender-based harassment in their workplaces. The findings of this report highlight that gender inequalities underpin not only the attitudes and behaviours leading to violence in these workplaces, but also the manner in which they are frequently responded (Our Watch, 2021). This report provides recommendations drawn from the experiences of young workers in hospitality to suggest changes targeting employers, policy, and resourcing in order to create safe and respectful workplaces for all.
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ItemNo Preview Available'In Normal Circumstances': Understanding the Structural Nature of Racial Violence in the Northern Territory(Coroner's Court of the Northern Territory, 2023)
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ItemInquiry into the Migration Amendment (Evacuation to Safety) Bill 2023(Compartive Network on Externalisation of Refugee Policies, University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, 2023-02-23)
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Item2023 State of the Future of Work(Work Futures Hallmark Research Initiative, The University of Melbourne, 2023-03-01)The 2023 State of the Future of Work Report is the first report from the Work Futures Hallmark Research Initiative (WFHRI), a team of interdisciplinary researchers from The University of Melbourne. Drawing on data on the work experiences of 1,400 Australian workers since the pandemic, we identify four critical future of work themes: 1. Unsafe: Australians feel their work and workplaces are unsafe, sites of discrimination for women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, caregivers and people living with chronic illnesses. 2. Unwell: Work, as it currently stands, is making many Australians unwell, with many working harder and reporting greater exhaustion than prepandemic, especially those in their prime working ages. 3. Uncertain: Australian workers have a limited understanding of how the upcoming technological changes driven by automation and artificial intelligence will impact their jobs, creating greater uncertainty. Work, as it currently stands, is rapidly changing, with many Australians unclear on how to keep up. 4. Opportunity: Despite these massive issues, Australian workers see greater opportunity to support workers to build happier, more satisfied work lives especially through the rise of flexible workplaces and flexible work practices.
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ItemSecurity Through Sustainable Peace: Australian International Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding(The University of Melbourne, 2020)Review of the Australian Department of foreign Affairs and Trade's experience with conflict prevention and peacebuilding and recommendations for policy development and strengthening capacity.