ELECTION: Academic reps on the National Women’s Committee

Cat Pausé

Massey University

I am committed to gender equity, and to advancing opportunities for women and girls across Aotearoa New Zealand. I believe that if men made 12% less than women in pay, then the wage gap would not be considered a gender issue, but THE issue to be resolved. I served on the Pay and Employment Equity Review at Massey University, and drafted a proposal for a Gender Equity Advisory Group, which was approved and implemented by the University. I am currently the Academic Women’s Rep for the MU branch. I enjoy working with others on social justice issues, and I would like the opportunity to serve the larger TEU on improving gender equity across the sector.

Alex Sims

University of Auckland

I have been on the Women’s Committee, Te Kahurangi Māreikura as an academic representative since 2009 and I am currently the Women’s VP. At times there have been statements from some members of the TEU that there is no longer a need for the Women’s Committee as women are well represented at all levels in the tertiary sector. Such sentiments are thankfully not shared by the majority of members and are not borne out by the facts. Women continue to be underrepresented at senior levels in the tertiary sector. For example, in my own institution the increase in the percentage of female professors can at best be described as glacial. A strong voice for women is still required. Moreover the Women’s Committee is not so narrow as to focus only of issues that are of relevance simply to women; rather a holistic view is taken. For example, the work that saw an introduction of a reduced rate for casual workers benefits both women and men as does our ongoing work to address and reduce the bullying and harassment that is sadly occurring all too frequently in our workplaces, see http://bullyfreeworkplaces.org.nz/.

The Women’s Committee has worked well with its mix of general/professional staff, academic staff and Hui-ā-Motu representation, not too mention that its members come from across the tertiary sector spectrum. I would like to continue to contribute to the TEU by serving on the Women’s Committee.

Susan Bennett

Wintec

I have been the branch president of the Wintec TEU branch for three years.   During 2011 I was an academic representative on the ITPSG.  I now wish to continue my work within the union to address the challenges faced by women working in tertiary education.

I feel two major challenges facing women TEU members are pay equity and job security.  I believe there is still pay disparity for women in the tertiary sector as a result of recruitment practices used by our institutes.  In addition I have concerns about the increasing levels of “casualisation” in the ITP sector.  Women are more likely to be effected by an increase in this type of employment (hourly-paid) with its lack of security and often reduced pay levels.

I would like to see the Women’s Committee and the Industrial and Professional Committee developing policy and lobbying tertiary sector funding bodies to address these issues.  I feel there needs to be recognition of these issues during negotiation rounds for our collective agreements.

Additionally I would like to see a strong communications framework established that encourages women members to participate and voice their concerns at all levels within the union.

I believe I have the energy and motivation to assist these committee’s with working on these and other issues that arise.

Contact Details

Phone: (07) 834 8800 Extn 8393

Email: Susan.bennett@wintec.ac.nz

Lorna Johnson

UCOL

Hi, I’m Lorna Johnson from UCOL (ITP sector) in Palmerston North. I am a veterinary surgeon by trade, currently employed for the last nine years as a lecturer on the Diploma of Veterinary Nursing. I am a mother of three and grandmother of one.

I am Women’s Rep for my branch and I am actively involved in both local issues and national TEU campaigns. This year my focus has been on supporting the campaigns to extend Paid Parental Leave and Keep Our Assets.  I have taken action both personally in terms of making submissions to parliamentary select committees, collecting signatures etc, and in the wider sense of encouraging an understanding of issues and motivating the participation of others in the campaigns through public meetings and information sharing.

I am seeking election to the National Women’s Committee Te Kahurangi Māreikura because I believe strongly in a fair and just society and want to play a part in achieving that. A voice for women in our union is essential and I believe I have the energy and drive to work hard on issues that are important to women.

I am happy to be contacted by email on l.johnson@ucol.ac.nz if there is any further information you would like.

Anne-Marie Brady

Canterbury University

Women and Academia

I’m a daughter of the feminist revolution. A child of the “girls can do anything era”. I’m a well-published, high profile specialist in a male dominated field and yet I still find it hard to get ahead in my career. There are many more women academics working in universities than when I was a student. But few are professors or even associate professors. Most senior academics and managers are male and they work 60-80 hour weeks. Their wives do the unpaid work which underpins the university and our modern economy. As Marilyn Waring has noted, “it counts for nothing” in traditional economic terms, but the university (and society) couldn’t function without it.

Some writers on women in academia say getting women into leadership positions is just a numbers game; that once you have 30 or 40% senior positions held by women there will be a cultural shift. But getting women into leadership roles is not just a matter of numbers. In fields where women already dominate such as nursing, their scholarship is often not valued as much as “harder” fields, which just happen to be dominated by men.

Women face additional barriers as academics, which reflect traditional measures for rating female “success”. According to research, women academics are often judged by students and colleagues as much, if not more for their appearance, as they are for their scholarship or other contributions. Women academics are also expected to follow female stereotypes of being “nurturing”. Yet, contrarily, women who do invest time in supporting their colleagues are not taken seriously as academics. Similarly, women who focus on teaching are accused of neglecting their research, while women who are high-profile researchers are assumed to have neglected their teaching and admin.

The answer to just how women will get in to more leadership positions in academia is not just a matter of us women working harder at our research or teaching, or taking on more administrative work. We need to be more strategic about ranking our activities and acquire the ability to say “no” to tasks which keep us from our main goals. Those of us who are mothers need to bring up our children to take an equal role in family responsibilities. We need to encourage our male colleagues to take up the right to parental leave and work with them to create family-friendly work places. We should be activists for greater diversity in the workplace. Diversity will help to break up the old gender norms, which often tend to be culturally specific. We also need to have the courage to take on management positions within our institutions and help change the institutional culture.

Change will come, as society changes and eventually embraces the potential of the slogan that so captivated me as a young woman: girls can do anything, and women can and will step in to the leadership positions of the future, and in doing so, help to create a better society for all.

Francie Oberg-Nordt

CPIT

Kia Orana,

I have been a TEU member and senior academic staff member at CPIT School of Food and Hospitality for the past  18 years.  It is only recently that I have become more actively involved in the Union.  Initially  this was through participating in the TEU Pacific Forum in Auckland earlier this year and more recently through my involvement with the National Women’s Committee. I happily agreed to filling a vacant seat for the last four months of the year.

Currently I a member of the CPIT TEU Executive Committee and I have just been elected CPIT’s Women’s Representative. I work with a fantastic group of Restaurant, Wine and Bar tutors who recently received the Ako Aotearoa Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award.

I would like the opportunity to be part of a team that will actively work towards improving working conditions for women.

Being a working mother of Cook Island descent and an academic staff member for the past 18 years I feel I can bring valuable experience and perhaps a slightly different perspective on women’s issues to the table.

I would like to wish all our nominees good luck.

Francie