Social Policy Research Network news

Network's video conference begins international links

Domestic violence, child protection and child contact was the popular topic for an inaugural video seminar organised on 26 November 2008 by the Social Policy Research Network (SPRN) and the University of Bristol's Violence Against Women Research Group.

SPRN seminar organiser Dr Jude Irwin said more than 40 people attended the conference on the Sydney end, joining with eight colleagues in Bristol.

Professor Marianne Hester, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, spoke broadly about the topic, while Dr Maria Eriksson, from Sweden's University of Uppsala explained the current issues of child contact in Sweden.

Local presenters were the SPRN's Dr Lesley Laing and, from St George Domestic Violence Counselling Service (SGDVCS), Assistant Manager Maria Hole and social worker Libby Watson.

Dr Laing presented on the topic of seeking protection in the aftermath of domestic violence while the SGDVCS spoke about the challenges of supporting domestic violence survivors in the current Australian family law context.

Podcasts of the presentations are in production and will be available for download.

Two more video seminars are planned with Bristol; the next is likely to take place some time in February 2009.

Lesbian parents surveyed about work-life balance

Research by the SPRN’s Dr Margot Rawsthorne is the first in NSW to explore the work-life balance experiences of lesbian parents.

Dr Rawsthorne’s work, whose summary report was published in early November 2008, was based on interviews with 17 families.

“About one-fifth of all lesbians in NSW live with dependent children and lesbian couples with children more commonly have both parents in full-time work than other types of families. Yet for the past decade, when enormous effort has been directed toward helping parents better balance their work and family responsibilities, heterosexual families have been the exclusive focus,” Dr Rawsthorne said.

She said her 'Lesbian Parents Work/Family Study' aims to contribute to understanding of how work and family commitments affect different social groups by offering insight into lesbian parents’ labour-market experiences.

“The study adds to the evidence base underpinning government and business efforts to facilitate a better reconciliation of work and family life. It will also, theoretically, enable analysis of social interactions and conflicts that in heterosexual-parent households are predicated on male/female roles, for example, the division of housework falling mostly to the female."

Dr Rawsthorne said lesbian-parented families made pragmatic decisions about the division of unpaid work, informed by who could do it and who liked doing it rather than whose ‘job’ it was.

“The heat was taken out of the issue of unpaid work by acknowledging that home-based tasks – including child-rearing – was work despite the fact it didn't contribute to the family income," she said. “In this way ‘guilt’ was less of an issue for lesbian biological mothers who stayed at home for a while after the birth. They experienced more of a sense of being able to come to a settlement between work and family responsibilities than their heterosexual counterparts.”

Follow-up interviews are scheduled for early 2009, which will add a longitudinal dimension to the project. As well, a comprehensive profile of gay and lesbian couples in Australia from the 2006 Census will be released in 2009.

Award for SPRN member

University professor and SPRN member, Raewyn Connell was honoured with the The Australian Sociological Assoication (TASA) Distinguished Service Award for her services to Sociology in Australia at the 2007 Joint Conference of TASA and the Sociological Association of Aotearoa (New Zealand) (SAANZ), held at the University of Auckland, 4–7 December. In presenting the award TASA President Professor Michael Gilding drew attention to Professor Connell’s contributions to TASA, as well as to her extensive research oeuvre. In her acceptance speech, Professor Connell thanked Professor Gilding and the association, quoting the inexhaustible Donne on the search for truth. She was applauded by the audience, which included past students, colleagues, friends and many others who had benefited from her teaching and research during her long, distinguished and continuing career.

Earlier in the conference Professor Connell presented a paper entitled ‘Paulin Hountondji's Sociology of Knowledge’, in which she examined one dimension of her most recent book, Southern Theory: The Global Dynamics of Knowledge in Social Sciences. The paper was a retrospective of Hountondji's work, from his challenging of European conceptions of African philosophy and ‘being’ to his own contributions to developing an approach centred on local knowledges. Hountondji's work has much to offer social theorists, particularly those considering any aspect of indigenous cultures.

Dr Kathy Edwards, also an SPRN member, presented a paper entitled ‘Disenfranchising Youth? The Neoliberal/Neoconservative State and Youth Electoral Participation’. Discussion about young people's electoral participation usually focuses on the role of education in producing 'active citizens'. Dr Edwards’s paper considered the limitations of this approach. She argued instead that young people's 'lack' of electoral participation is better understood as disenfranchisement and the result of barriers to the franchise. She ‘brought the state in’ to the debate, by considering the role of neoliberal and neoconservative social policies in constructing these barriers, whilst simultaneously constructing young people as civically deficient and their non-participation as a simple and abstract ‘choice’.

Network members participate in regional debates about the future of social work

Two members of the SRN attended and presented papers at the Asia Pacific Social Work Conference, in Malaysia in September 2007. The theme of the conference was Social Work: Catalyst for Development. The small contingent of Australians at the conference enjoyed a great opportunity to learn about the state of social work in the region, especially in Malaysia, China, Japan, Bangladesh, Korea and Taiwan. Associate Professor Jude Irwin was invited to make a presentation to the opening plenary, where she gave an overview of social work in the Pacific. Dr Ruth Phillips presented a paper based on research about the impact of the new Centrelink financial case-management program and its implications for human dignity and social work. The next Asian Pacific Social Work Conference is scheduled to take place in New Zealand in 2009.

Dr Phillips also attended the Conference of the Asia Pacific International Society for Third Sector Research in Manila, Philippines in October. The theme of the Conference was The Third Sector as Vital Contributors to the Attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Her paper was entitled ‘Why Feminist Frameworks are Important for NGOs’ Development Agendas’. She focused on Goal 3 of the MDGs: Gender Equity and Women’s Empowerment.

Social policy research at the faculty’s Research Festival

The SPRN made a major contribution to the Faculty of Education and Social Work’s ‘Communities and Change’ Research Festival (22–6 October 2007). The Research Festival aimed to engage with professionals, policy makers and researchers in the community and to highlight the research currently taking place in the faculty.

Professor Tony Vinson gave the keynote address on Day 1 entitled 'The Distribution of Disadvantage in Australia and the Role of Education in Remedying It’. Drawing from his recent research published in Dropping Off the Edge, his presentation confirmed that disadvantage continues in a web-like and persistent structure in particular localities and that entrenched disparities persist between these areas and other communities with regard to a range of problems including long-term unemployment, child maltreatment, sickness and imprisonment.

Fellow SPRN members Cherie Toivonen, Associate Professor Jude Irwin and doctors Lindsey Napier and Lesley Laing gave a thought-provoking presentation, which advocated a range of strategies for overcoming the disconnections between mental health and domestic violence services.

Professor Gabrielle Meagher gave the keynote address on Day 2. In ‘What Do Australians Think About Increasing Inequality’ she drew from data about change in the income distribution and about social attitudes to inequality and redistribution. She showed that although a majority of Australians believes that the gap between rich and poor is too large, only a minority thinks it’s the responsibility of governments to redistribute income.

During Day 2 of the conference, the SPRN ran panel discussions under the theme ‘Confronting Disadvantage’. The first presented findings from the forthcoming book, ‘Addressing Violence Abuse and Oppression: Debates and Challenges' (Routledge), edited by Professor Barbara Fawcett and Dr Fran Waugh.

The Social Policy Research Network also maintained a high profile during other Research Festival events such as a Round Table discussion between researchers from philanthropic and community-sector organisations and faculty academics, and the Faculty Forum on Day 4.

Faculty of Education and Social Work