Precarity, Pandemic and Gender: How Did Casual Academic Women Experience Teaching at the Time of COVID-19?

The precariously employed academic staff are the engine of universities and the most valuable resource we have in the teaching space. Therefore, attention to their experiences is vital for quality education. Before COVID-19, research into the higher education sector highlighted the various disadvantages and challenges of being a casual academic. However, more recent research has identified that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated disadvantages and added new challenges, especially among women casual academics. Furthermore, in Australia, there is considerable social, media, industry and political attention regarding gender equity, sexual harassment, and sexism in the workplace. These gendered issues are not isolated to one sector and/or industry, they are widespread and embedded within socio-cultural spaces, negatively impacting the lives of many, particularly women and gender-diverse individuals. This report focused on women casual academics and their experiences of teaching in the context of COVID-19 at Western Sydney University (Western). The project gathered stories of camaraderie and support, but it also uncovered very concerning accounts of severe stress and anxiety, harassment, and unpaid work. Though the focus of this report is on the experiences of casual academics who were teaching online in 2020 and the second half of 2021 (due to lockdowns and campus closures), it is important to note that reports of stress and anxiety, harassment, and unpaid work were not isolated to this period. Many expressed that they did not speak out because of the precarity of their employment and powerlessness of being a casual academic.