Our research

• ARC Discovery Project, 2022-2024. Chief Investigators: Elizabeth Hill, Rae Cooper, Ariadne Vromen, Meraiah Foley. Title: “Understanding gender inequality in the post-pandemic future of work”.

This project examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis on the working futures of young women and men in three advanced market economies where the pandemic hit with varying degrees of severity. Young people have experienced the greatest upheaval of all workers, and the impact has been gendered. Recovery strategies will have lasting consequences for women’s and men’s working futures. The project will produce macro-level mapping of post-pandemic national work/care regimes, and micro-level survey data on young people’s experience of and attitudes to the future of work in Australia, the UK and Japan, to deliver insights on the gendered economic and social impact of the pandemic and inform a more inclusive global recovery. (Project ID: DP220100657)

• ARC Future Fellowship, 2022-2026. Chief Investigator: Rae Cooper. Title: “Smashing Glass Walls: Building gender equality in male-dominated jobs”.

This project investigates gender segregation, which is a remarkably resilient problem in the Australian labour market, despite women's increasing labour force participation and strong educational attainment. It examines this problem with a focus on women’s careers in very male-dominated occupations. In these contexts, women enter in low numbers, find it difficult to progress, and face extremely hostile working environments. Adopting a career stage, a worker- and industry-engaged, and a comparative design, the project will generate new insight into where and how sustainable careers for women are challenged in these contexts. This knowledge will inform strategies to build gender equality in jobs at the heart of the economy. (Project ID: FT210100356)

• ARC Linkage Project, 2020-2023. Chief Investigators: Rae Cooper, Ariadne Vromen, Meraiah Foley. Title: “Designing Gender Equality into the Future of Work”.

This project aims to investigate how women and men understand and experience the changing nature of work and their hopes and fears for the future. This project expects to generate new knowledge about the gendered dimensions of workplace change using an innovative and engaged research design that focuses on retail and the law, two areas where women are increasingly dominant but which are located at distinct ends of the labour market. Expected outcomes of this project include an enhanced and coordinated capacity to build gender equality into the future of work. This should provide significant benefits such as better living standards for individuals and families and improved profitability and productivity for businesses. (Project ID: LP190100966)

• ANROWS Sexual Harassment Research Program, 2022-2024. Chief Investigators: Rae Cooper, Elizabeth Hill, Meraiah Foley, Briony Lipton. Title: “Understanding and addressing sexual harassment in the Australian Retail Sector”

This project will investigate how employees and managers in the Australian retail sector understand, experience and manage sexual harassment at work. This research will inform targeted actions to address and prevent sexual harassment in retail workplaces through collaboration with key sector stakeholders.

• JMI Policy Challenge Grant 2022 - 2023, Chief Investigators: Rae Cooper, Elizabeth Hill, Talara Lee, Charlie Hock. Title: “Forging a gender equitable future of work in NSW"
  
  This project will translate an extensive body of established research into new, evidence-based principles to support the NSW Government in building a gender-equal future of work. It aims to provide evidence to integrate gender equality into recovery policies and long-term economic planning, and develop innovative gender-responsive policymaking that will boost productivity, economic growth, and the well-being of all people in NSW.
  
• Investment NSW Boosting Business Innovation Program, 2023 - 2023. Chief Investigators: Rae Cooper, Elizabeth Hill, Suneha Seetahul, Charlie Hock. Title: "Improving workforce participation of women on the Central Coast: A qualitative study of what women want & need for a productive future at work."
  
  This collaborative research project will provide research insights to inform action, advocacy and investment in women’s labour force participation on the Central Coast and will identify key barriers and interventions among women not participating in the workforce, provide qualitative insights into barriers and enablers, and provide key recommendations to improve women’s economic opportunities and productivity in the Central Coast City.
  
  This project is proudly funded by the NSW Government.