Jane Mears

Survival is not Enough: Violence Against Older Women in Australia

Until the late 1990s, there was virtually no research that focused on older women and violence in Australia. Indeed, it has been quite a struggle to get this issue onto the research and policy agenda. This article briefly describes some of the work on violence against older women that has been done to date and then focuses specifically on the outcome of a research project designed to fill this gap.

The impact of affirmative action legislation on women working in higher education in Australia: progress or procrastination?

This article focuses on the impact of the Australian Affirmative Action (Equal Employment Opportunity) legislation (1986), on women’s employment in the higher education sector. This Act aimed to address the disadvantage faced by women in the workplace. In the academy, this meant that some of the difficulties encountered by women who aspired to careers and senior positions were to be documented and addressed. Fourteen years after its implementation, while there has been a general growth in women’s employment in the sector, there still exists a glass ceiling preventing women in both academic and administrative positions moving into management structures. This article examines some of the issues that have emerged in attempting to create a “level playing field” for women in the academy with regard to supporting promotional opportunities and encouraging a positive and supportive workplace. Strategies for overcoming existing barriers and the importance of future research are emphasised.

Creating Identities? Mental Health Consumer to Citizen?

• Summary: Support groups for people with a mental illness have been in existence for over 40 years. The current consumerist agenda constructs people with a mental illness as consumers of mental health services such as support groups. To explore the range and type of support groups in New South Wales, Australia, an empirical study based upon interviews with a purposive sample of respondents with experience of using support groups and a postal questionnaire was conducted. • Findings: From the study it became apparent that (so-called) consumers were challenging the construction of themselves as consumers of services. Instead they were asserting that their contribution to the treatment and management of their illness was closer to that of ‘expert’ than of consumer. • Application: From these findings, we argue that this reconstruction of their self-perceptions suggests that people with a mental illness are challenging the consumerist agenda and acting as social citizens. This change in self-perception by mentally ill people should be addressed by policymakers and practitioners in all forms of social work practice.

How institutions matter for job characteristics, quality and experiences: a comparison of home care work for older people in Australia and Sweden

This article seeks to understand a puzzling finding: that workers in publicly funded home care for older people in Australia, compared to those in Sweden, feel that they are better able to meet their clients’ needs, that their workplaces are less pressed, and that their work is less burdensome and more compatible with their family and social commitments. This finding seems to challenge expectations fostered by comparative sociological research that job quality and care services are inferior in Australia compared to Sweden. Informed by comparative institutionalist theory and care research, the structures and dynamics of the care systems in the two countries are analysed, along with findings from the NORDCARE survey of home care workers conducted in Sweden in 2005 (n=166) and Australia in 2010 (n=318). Differences in the work and working conditions in the two countries are explained by the dynamic interaction of national institutional and highly gendered sector-level effects.

Violence Against Older Women: Activism, Social Justice, and Social Change

The Older Women’s Network (OWN) of New South Wales (NSW) is an activist organization dedicated to promoting the rights of older women, preventing gender- and aged-based violence, and working toward social justice and social change. In 2007, the OWN NSW Inc. initiated the Prevention of Violence Against Older Women Working Party to research and document current knowledge and understanding of violence against older women; focus public attention on this issue; and bring about changes in public perceptions, policy, and practice. Presented here is an overview of the major achievements of the OWN Working Party, including a meta-analysis of three research projects, with their findings, recommendations, and outcomes. In conclusion, research conducted by activist organizations such as OWN can make a significant contribution to furthering our understanding of violence against older women and to policy and practice.