Women Working as Casual Academics: A Marginalised Group

Abstract

Organisations are becoming increasingly flexible in staffing, often using a small core of permanent staff and a peripheral contingent of contract, casual and temporary employees. Recent Australian and overseas studies suggest that this is also true in the higher education sector, with a casualisation of the academic workforce, particularly in the lecturer and below range. This is creating a large group of marginalised academics, the majority of whom are women. Such academics' opportunities may be limited because of the values implicit in the university culture. The possibility of a model of permanent academics on the one hand and a ‘casual’ underclass on the other has the potential to cause significant problems and to affect the quality of education provided.

Contract academic staff career development: An oxymoron?

“…2. Low morale and frustration also occurs when there is a perception that inequality exists in the way contract and permanent staff are treated (Bassett 1998). Inequitable access to internal research grants and to many government and charity developmental grants is a major example of this.…”