International Women’s Day gets a little more difficult every year. The problem isn’t the events, speeches, and discussions – we’ve all attended and organised plenty of those, and they’re usually great. The issue isn’t the fundraising, or reminders about equal pay, basic human rights, and the impacts of global conflict on women and children. Those updates are necessary, and keep us well informed.
No, the difficulty is about what happens next – or, as the data continues to show us, what doesn’t happen. And as I discussed this blog with a colleague, our chat was punctuated by the quietly disillusioned words of a Peggy Lee song, suggesting we “break out the booze and have a ball” (at our IWD events, naturally), but also asks, again and again: “Is that all there is?”
All solidarity, but not enough progress?
The history of women’s rights and feminism is often told as though it were a person who should already have gotten to the last milestone or has failed to make enough progress toward it.
Pandora’s Box and the Volunteer Police Force (Rebecca Solnit, 2014)
Growing up in the UK, I’d never heard of International Women’s Day until I was living in Italy during my year abroad at uni. On 8th March, I saw women in the city carrying little posies of bright yellow mimosas which, it turns out, are given as part of Women’s Day events to celebrate achievements and to reflect on future challenges that remain. The flower is said to represent women’s emancipation; it may look fragile, but can grow on the most challenging terrain.
Whilst the ‘festa della donna‘ celebrates women’s economic, political and social achievements, I suspect those who first celebrated in post-fascist Italy would be disappointed with progress 80 years later. There has been change, but it has been slow; today, Italy still has one of the lowest participation rates in Europe for women in the workforce.
It’s not that there has been no progress at all. In Australia, the 2024 Status of Women Report Card showed the gender pay gap at a record low of 12% (still too high), and 21% of employers are offering paid parental leave equally to women and men. On the flip side, only 14% of employer-funded parental leave is taken by men, whilst 86% is taken by women – there are still plenty of cultural and attitudinal barriers to tackle here. Whilst we’re at it, the 2024 stats also tell us:
- Women do over 9 hours a week more unpaid work and care than men;
- 26% of women who recently experienced sexual harassment experienced it at work;
- Only 9% of CEOs in the ASX300 are women.
There are many more stats we could share across a range of topics, from gender-based violence to economic security and health. But let’s get specific and take a quick look at what’s happening in higher education.
Leaky pipelines? More like blocked pipes in academia…
Sometimes, the news looks good. Australia has the 4th highest level of tertiary educated women in the OECD, and there have been small increases in women holding post school quals, and women enrolled in vocational and education STEM courses.
Deep dive into academic careers, however, and you’ll find the phrase ‘leaky pipeline‘ popping up all over the place – a favoured metaphor to describe the loss of (diverse) female representation, the higher up the ranks you go. Here’s a flavour of what’s happening:
- A persistent gender pay gap, with men generally earning more than women. The gap varies by discipline and academic rank, and from one institution to the next. UTS staff can find the latest data on gender pay equity on Staff Connect.
- Unequal service and mentoring loads, where female academics take on a disproportionately higher burden of service, student support, and mentoring responsibilities compared to male colleagues. This impacts on more ‘highly valued’ activities like research productivity, and opportunities for career advancement.
- The effect of parenthood is not evenly distributed, with mothers facing greater obstacles than fathers.
- Women are under-represented in senior academic roles, as well as leadership positions within universities. In 2025, approximately 25% of Vice-Chancellor roles in Australian universities are held by women.
It’s easy to feel disillusioned when you look at the stats, but I’d like to propose an alternative take on Peggy’s “Is that all there is?” – one that invites curiosity, questioning, and challenge.
Is that all there is? Hold the dancing – we’re not done.
It can sometimes feel like academia is a members-only clubhouse. Inclusion efforts that aim to welcome new members in, without removing the barriers that originally kept them out, perpetuate the same exclusivity that existed before. To change the membership, we must rebuild the clubhouse to allow access and support to previously under-represented members. Established members must actively champion individuals who are not visible in the current system.
Breaking barriers for women: enough talking, time for action (Ellie Harrison & Tiffany B. Taylor)
This International Women’s Day, and every day after, could we start to ask, “Is that all there is?” as the start of a conversation, not a nihilistic ending? For example:
- Is that all the data there is? Or could we cut it another way? Do we know enough about the gender balance in our teams, units and faculties, among students and staff? Are academic evaluations benefiting some more than others in our courses? How can we make things fairer?
- Is that all the diversity there is, or can we do better? What’s driving our recruitment and reward processes in our teams? Who’s doing better, and why? What’s happening at the intersections of gender, First Nations people, ethnicity, LGBTQIA+, disability, and more?
- Is that all the support there is for students who are carers (not only women)? Do we understand what they’re juggling just to show up in their course each week? Do our systems and policies on attendance and assessment favour those with fewer responsibilities?
- Is that all the flexibility there is, for men as well as women? How do we normalise parental leave and part-time work for all staff, if they want it? Could we make flexible working the norm, rather than the exception?
Some of these might be long, winding roads of change, whilst others may be quicker wins, depending on your circumstances, your team, your discipline, and your institution. If you’re the ones pushing boundaries, shout louder so the people at the back can hear you. Keep questioning, probing the data, and challenging the default. By all means enjoy the dancing, the lunches, and the inspirational speeches, but don’t forget to ask the next day: Is that all there is?