Academic Staff on Insecure Contracts and the Interplay of Gender in Australian Universities

Abstract

This chapter examines the structuring of the academic workforce in Australian universities into two tiers of staff—permanent and insecure. It examines the impact of insecure employment on two groups of academics—fixed-term research staff and casual academic teaching staff—and uncovers the gender story. The experience of insecure academic work reveals high levels of insecurity and poor conditions of employment, lack of resources and support, which are consistent with jobs in the secondary labour market. The interviews reveal that the majority of insecurely employed academics have had to accommodate to employment insecurity, with little prospect of career advancement, because there are other few options for them in universities. Both casual and fixed-term contract interviewees appeared to have reconciled themselves to the insecurity of contracts and the resulting impact on their work, private lives and futures, including their competitiveness in seeking permanent employment, an issue found in the UK.