Gender Equity Initiative
The Gender Equity Initiative is an initiative coming out of the University of Melbourne’s Future of Work Lab. It is committed to harnessing cutting-edge research to empower individuals, for-profit organisations, and governments in making informed decisions that contribute to a more equitable and inclusive future of work for women.
A key mission of the initiative is to bridge the gap between academia and practical application, ensuring that the benefits of ground-breaking research are accessible to all.
The Gender Equity team champions nurturing education and training products that reach women at critical points in their educational and career trajectory with a focus on future of work skill building.
We are committed to a future of work that is inclusive of and designed for women.
Listen to our podcast
We run a series of talks and masterclasses that examine important topics on gender and mental wellbeing in the workplace, such as:
- The Mental Load
- The Future of Work
- Understanding and Correcting (Gender) Data Bias
Mental Load
Are your employees staggering under their mental load?
1 in 3 working mothers are considering downshifting or stepping out of the workforce.
Mothers and caregivers carry greater mental loads. But all employees carry mental loads of varying heaviness. And the challenge of managing hybrid, flexible and remote workforces have intensified these burdens.
Understanding the mental load can help your workplace maintain a diverse and healthy workforce.
We can help you organisation understand the mental load
The mental load is the invisible work of managing a household. It can also be unrecognised extra responsibilities in the workplace.
The University of Melbourne’s Gender Equity Initiative helps individuals, companies and governments make more informed decisions for a more equitable and inclusive future of work for women.
We are developing a tool to measure mental load. We can help your organisation understand:
- The latest research on mental load
- The impact of the mental load on burnout and mental health amongst your employees
- How you can help your employees manage their mental loads and engage more equally in work
- Related topics relevant to your workplace.
“I wanted to see some ‘ah ha’ moments, and this was absolutely the case. People were disappointed the presentation didn’t go longer.” – Cleone Shannon, Strategy and Consulting Manager, Accenture
The Future of Work
Work is changing. Can your workplace adapt?
Work isn’t working for women.
4 in 10 women experience gender discrimination at work. Heavier caregiving loads and other gender biases make women more vulnerable to new remote ways of working, automation and the rise of artificial intelligence.
How will your organisation ensure women aren’t left behind?
We can help your organisation and employees prepare
The University of Melbourne’s Gender Equity Initiative helps individuals, organisations and governments make more informed decisions for a more equitable and inclusive future of work for women.
We research the impact of technological changes on the future of women at work. We can help you and your employees understand:
- Future of work trends and how they’ll impact women at work
- How these trends link to skills, jobs and careers
- How to build the four skills that will be key to the future of work
- Related topics relevant to your workplace.
“It was very empowering to hear how women are well positioned to thrive in the 'new' workplace." – Lucy Cooper, Strategic Talent, Culture and Business Partner, Woolworths
Understanding and Correcting (Gender) Data Bias
Are your data-driven decisions really unbiased?
Workplaces increasingly make decisions based on data – and supported by artificial intelligence.
Data is how we describe workplace success. It can be how we select people for jobs.
But even data can be biased. And that can skew decisions to disadvantage groups of people, including women. How will your organisation ensure it's making accurate and inclusive decisions?
We can help your organisation counter data bias
The University of Melbourne’s Gender Equity Initiative helps individuals, companies and governments make more informed decisions for a more equitable and inclusive future of work for women.
Our research program measures sources of discrimination and bias at work. We can help your organisation understand:
- How data drives decisions in the workplace
- How to identify types and sources of bias in data
- How bias can influence data in overt and covert ways
- How to mitigate gender bias in data
- Related topics relevant to your workplace.
The Gender Equity Initiative offers a range of training programs that can be tailored to suit the needs of your unique workforce.
These programs are developed to help your organisation gain a better understanding of the problems that need to be solved to achieve gender equity in your workplace.
We also have a focus on skill and capacity building to ensure all women are prepared for the future of work.
Parenting Work Skills Short Course
Intense periods of caregiving build key transferable skills that are essential for the future of work.
Parents re-entering the workforce after leave bring unique value to workplaces.
Let us help you tap into this potential by linking experiences in caregiving to building critical future of work skills.
Future Ready: Training for Young Women
Designed to train young women in Years 9 and 10 in digital and future of work skills, this program seeks to close the gap of knowledge and confidence many women face in the Future of Work.
This 5-week course highlights the importance of both STEM and Social Science skills to succeed in any line of work.
Internship
The Gender Equity Initiative hosts talented Master's student interns who lead projects across a range of gender future of work issues. The interns produce policy reports covering pressing and timely topics in this area. Our interns are trained in advanced analytical, research and report-writing skills as well as collaboration, teamwork and interpersonal skills.
The Gender Equity Initiative has three main research interests and a range of research programs that capture these themes.
Research Program 1 – The mental load
This research program is investigating the mental load; the thinking work we do that combines cognitive and emotional labour. While there are theoretical understandings of the mental load, there is a dearth of quantitative research. This project expects to develop a consistent and reliable measure of the mental load and an understanding of its impacts on Australian families and mental wellbeing.
Research Program 2 – The impact of technological changes on the future of women at work
Technological advancement, automation and artificial intelligence will be increasingly utilised in our day-to-day work lives. This research program aims to identify how women will be impacted by these shifts, and what skills they require to be competitive in the future of work. This includes the exclusion of young women in STEM. Understanding women’s unique experiences is critical given that the future of work will equate to job loss in specific industries and occupations, and shifts in tasks and skills and we know that women cluster in certain industries and occupations.
Research Program 3 – Measuring sources of discrimination and bias at work
Women and caregivers face bias at work in various ways. This research stream investigates how caregiving can have a significant impact on workplace inequality, how gendered myths limit workplaces' sustainable engagement with employees, and organisations' ability to meet future of work challenges, and how organisations can recognise and mitigate gender bias and in data to ensure effective decision-making.
Research Project – Puzzle Simulation
This research project involves simulating real-life situations where individuals solve short puzzles to evaluate their proficiency in problem-solving. Our goal is to assess how people tackle puzzles within real-world scenarios. You will choose a game - Sudoku, word search, or spot-the-difference - which should 10-15 minutes to complete.
PhD Research - Immigrant Mothers' Mental Load
This project investigates the experiences of immigrant mothers’ mental loads as they relocate from the Global South to the Global North in search of a better quality of life. Through a cross-disciplinary approach of sociology, gender, and migration studies, and community-informed research, this work will inform more equitable, sustainable and effective integration initiatives to better support immigrant mothers in their settlement in their new homes.
Prof. Leah Ruppanner is a Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab at the University of Melbourne, and was previously a Director of The Policy Lab at the University of Melbourne.
Her research investigates gender and its intersection to inequalities, technologies and policies. She is a leading expert on COVID-19 and its impact on gender inequality in US and Australia. She is also leading a project on gender bias in hiring algorithms to understand how gender bias limits women's access to employment. Ruppanner's research is published in varied prestigious publishers, including Demography, Journal of Marriage and Family, Sociological Methods and Research, European Sociological Review and Social Science Research. She also has expansive media coverage in the New York Times, Washington Post and the Guardian and external grant success including the ARC DECRA, an ARC Discovery on sleep and an ARC Linkage on women in local government.
Sophie Squires is a Research Project Manager. She is an anthropologist with a Master of Social Policy, and has an interest in systemic inequality, gender and technological disruption. She works across various social and gender equity projects, including evaluating equal opportunity policies of local governments, the mental load, technology education for youth and researching systemic barriers to women’s representation in public life.
Kate Dangar is a Research Coordinator and a former Fellow at the Future of Work Lab, and holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the University of Melbourne. She has worked on several projects tackling the persistent problem of women’s attrition in STEM fields, from their higher education journey to early career transitions. Kate has contributed to the development of programs, research papers, and resources aimed at revitalising workforce engagement in industries that have traditionally marginalised women. This includes designed and delivering a program to assist caregivers returning to the workforce following a career break. She has also extensively contributed to research and academic publications exploring equitable caregiving practices and the unique experiences of women at work.
Mira Gunawansa is a researcher interested in exploring gender equity and racial literacy in the field of sustainable development. Holding a BA in Politics and International Studies and an MA in Development Studies, Mira has previously acted as a key strategist in the development of intersectional, equitable and accessible outreach programs to communities and demographics of historic marginalisation, namely: working mothers, migrant women and young women. She has also led projects that have created resources for the employment of women seeking asylum, investigated caregivers’ gender equity within the Victorian Public Sector, and assisted in the decolonising of curriculum for the Master of Social Policy at the University of Melbourne. Mira is undertaking a PhD investigating the Mental Load of Immigrant Mothers at the University of Melbourne.
News
Publications
- Ruppanner, L., Squires, S., Dangar, K., & Gunawansa, M. (2024). Equal Sharing of Care: Evidence Review (PDF, 12.4MB). The University of Melbourne: Melbourne.
- Scarborough, W. J., Collins, C., Ruppanner, L., & Landivar, L. C. (2020). COVID-19 and the Care Crisis: An Evidence-Based Policy Recommendation for Supporting Families.
- Dean, L., Churchill, B., & Ruppanner, L. (2022). The mental load: Building a deeper theoretical understanding of how cognitive and emotional labor over load women and mothers. Community, Work & Family, 25(1), 13-29.
- Tan, X., Ruppanner, L., Maume, D., & Hewitt, B. (2021). Do managers sleep well? The role of gender, gender empowerment and economic development. Plos one, 16(3), e0247515.
- Tan, X., Ruppanner, L., & Wang, M. (2021). Gendered housework under China’s privatization: the evolving role of parents. Chinese Sociological Review, 53(5), 514-538.
- Landivar, L. C., Scarborough, W. J., Collins, C., & Ruppanner, L. (2022). Do high childcare costs and low access to Head Start and childcare subsidies limit mothers’ employment? A state-level analysis. Social Science Research, 102, 102627.
- Tan, X., Lee, R., & Ruppanner, L. (2021). Profiling racial prejudice during COVID‐19: Who exhibits anti‐Asian sentiment in Australia and the United States?. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 56(4), 464-484.
- Landivar, L. C., Ruppanner, L., Scarborough, W. J., & Collins, C. (2020). Early signs indicate that COVID-19 is exacerbating gender inequality in the labor force. Socius, 6, 2378023120947997.
- Hook, J. L., Ruppanner, L., & Casper, L. M. (2022). Occupational characteristics and parents' childcare time. Journal of Marriage and Family, 84(1), 210-229.
- Collins, C., Ruppanner, L., Christin Landivar, L., & Scarborough, W. J. (2021). The gendered consequences of a weak infrastructure of care: School reopening plans and parents’ employment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gender & Society, 35(2), 180-193.
- Ruppanner, L., Tan, X., Carson, A., & Ratcliff, S. (2021). Emotional and financial health during COVID‐19: the role of housework, employment and childcare in Australia and the United States. Gender, work & organization, 28(5), 1937-1955.
- Ruppanner, L., Maltby, B., Hewitt, B., & Maume, D. (2021). Parents’ sleep across weekdays and weekends: The influence of work, housework, and childcare time. Journal of Family Issues, 0192513X211017932.
- Landivar, L. C., Ruppanner, L., & Scarborough, W. J. (2021). Are States Created Equal? Moving to a State With More Expensive Childcare Reduces Mothers' Odds of Employment. Demography, 58(2), 451-470.
- Ruppanner, L., Tan, X., Scarborough, W., Landivar, L. C., & Collins, C. (2021). Shifting inequalities? Parents’ sleep, anxiety, and calm during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia and the United States. Men and Masculinities, 24(1), 181-188.
- Scarborough, W. J., Collins, C., Ruppanner, L., & Landivar, L. C. (2021). Head Start and Families' Recovery From Economic Recession: Policy Recommendations for COVID‐19. Family Relations, 70(1), 26-42.
- Milner, A., Scovelle, A. J., Hewitt, B., Maheen, H., Ruppanner, L., & King, T. L. (2020). Shifts in gender equality and suicide: A panel study of changes over time in 87 countries. Journal of affective disorders, 276, 495-500.
- Collins, C., Landivar, L. C., Ruppanner, L., & Scarborough, W. J. (2021). COVID‐19 and the gender gap in work hours. Gender, Work & Organization, 28, 101-112.
Internship reports
2024
- Rachmi, A, 'Empowering Women Entrepreneurship in Indonesia: Breaking Barriers in Mirco, Small, and Medium Enterprises' (PDF)
- Sean, V, 'Pathways to Equality: Advancing LGBTIQ+ Rights in Cambodia' (PDF)
- Chy, S, 'Gender, Disability, and Garment Work: The Intersecting Vulnerabilities Faced by Women in Cambodia’s Garmet Industry' (PDF)
- Everett, L, 'Japan’s Gender Wage Gap A Call For Parental Leave and Household Equity' (PDF)
- Alyassi, J, 'Exploring Burnout Among Women i n Corporate Roles in Australia: Causes , Impacts and Solutions' (PDF)
- Toktonazarova, A, 'Right to Disconnect in Australian Digital Workplaces: Barriers to changing norms and identifying success factors' (PDF)
- Saraswati, GN, 'Leadership for Women in Indonesia: The Role of Civil Society Organisations' (PDF)
- Lwin, HMM, 'Gendered Labour Exploitation in Myanmar’s Garment Sector: Capitalist Employer and Junta Military Involvement' (PDF)
- Duonglina, D, 'Exploring Factors Contributing to Dropout Rates of Boys in Rural Cambodia’s Secondary Schools' (PDF)
- Widianingsih, 'Bridging the Gap and Shattering Norms: How Childcare Assistance Can Empower Indonesian Women in the Informal Economy' (PDF)
- Yang, S, 'Linking Ethics to Governance: How can Chinese Artificial Intelligence Regulations Address Ethical and Social Concerns?' (PDF)
- Xiaodi, L, 'Gender, Technology and Nursing: Impacts of Technological Advancements on Women Nurses in Norway' (PDF)
- Siew Tu, A, 'Inclusivity Policies for Women with Disabilities: A Comparative study of Canada, Norway, and Australia (PDF)
2022
- Spriason, A, 'Trust in the Australian Government through Digital Transformation' (3.7MB, PDF)
- Knight, H, 'International Students, COVID-19, and Heightened Vulnerabilities: Policy Solutions to Support a Precarious Workforce' (2.0MB, PDF)
- Harinandini, H, 'Underemployment among Migrant Women of Colour in Australia' (1.9 MB, PDF)
- Ling, J, 'Exploring return-to-work policies and processes for employees who have experienced mental ill-health: Australian challenges, gaps, and opportunities for improvement' (2.8MB, PDF)
- Jian, J, 'The Potential of Technical and Vocational Education(TVE) to Prepare Young Migrant Women for Successful Transitions from Education to Employment in Urban China' (1.2MB, PDF)
- Lee, K, 'China's proliferation of robotic manufacturing, its implications on the working population, their limitations and China's policy solution' (1.4MB, PDF)
- Bartl, L, 'Privatisation of Australia's Unemployment Services: Improving State and Federal Delivery Models for an Inclusive Workforce' (769.2KB, PDF)
- Taylor, R, 'Evaluating the barriers people with intellectual disability face in gaining and maintaining employment in Australia' (1.6MB, PDF)
2021
- Mannix, K, 'The future of Australia’s nursing workforce: COVID-19 and burnout among nurses' (PDF)
- Marchant, C, 'Man Overboard: Overcoming Gender Stereotypes to Increase Women’s Leadership and Gender Parity onBoards' (PDF)
- Tan, C, 'Untapped Potential?: Using Technology to Reduce Women’s Domestic Labour Burdens' (PDF)
- Lawrie, A, 'Using Human Resources Policy to Promote Age Diversity' (PDF)
- Martine, A, 'What’s Left Unsaid: Speech Emotion Recognition (SER) as a Domestic Violence Screening Tool' (PDF)
- Chu, SK, 'COVID-19 Infodemic: Empowering Australia against infodemic' (PDF)
- Yang, O, 'Critical Reflection on Queer Rights Discourse & Determinants of Queer Rights Violations in Mainland China' (PDF)
- Gunawansa, A, 'Exploring the challenges that women seeking asylum face in gaining employment in Australia' (PDF)
- Jenkins, K, 'The Gendered Costs of Childcare: A feminist analysis of the effects of Australia’s early childhood education and care system on women’s inequality in the workforce and beyond (PDF)
- Dangar, K, 'Women, policy and the STEM pipeline: Bridging the gap between tertiary education and the workforce for female STEM students' (PDF)
- Thorp, E, 'Improving stimulus after COVID-19: What can be learnt from the Australian fiscal response?' (PDF)