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Please join us in welcoming guest speaker Professor Margaret Alston for our International Women’s Day Seminar: "Turning Promises into Progress in Regional and Rural Australia". Friday 7th March 12.30-1.30pm.
The Gender Network is honoured to host Professor Alston who is renowned internationally for her contribution to the field of rural studies. The focus of the seminar is the persistent challenges and emerging opportunities for rural women, particularly in the current global political climate following the recent U.S. election. The seminar will conclude with a question and answer session.
When: Friday 7th March 12.30-1.30pm
Join seminar via Microsoft Teams
Professor Margaret Alston is a Professor of Social Work in the School of Humanities and Social Science at Newcastle University. Prior to her appointment at Newcastle Professor Alston was Professor of Social Work and Head of Department at Monash University, where in 2008 she established the Gender, Leadership and Social Sustainability (GLASS) research unit.
Previously she was at Charles Sturt University for 21 years. Professor Alston is a prolific researcher and author. She has published widely on a range of rural issues across topics such as climate change, gender, disability and social work. A selected bibliography includes books such as: “The Routledge International Handbook of Social Work and Disaster Practice” (edited with our very own Heather Boetto); “Social work and disasters: A handbook for practice” (2019); “Breaking Through Grass Ceiling” (2014) and “Women on the Land The Hidden Heart of Rural Australia” (1995).
Professor Alston is renowned in Australia for her work on masculinities, farming and suicide and on the outmigration of women from rural areas in Australia, recently she led the report “'Improving domestic violence services in the Hunter”.
The seminar will include a co-creation workshop for members that will commence after the speaker.
"Contested narratives: Victimhood, neoliberal discourse, and intergenerational domestic violence"
The seminar will be facilitated by our Gender Network member Dr Rachel Hogg.
Rachel will unpack neoliberal discourse of self-empowerment culture that tells women they are individually responsible for solving their problems, placing pressure on women to manage their distress and survive domestic violence in socially acceptable ways. In this context, victims of violence or injustice might be expected to demonstrate certain types of behaviour or recovery patterns to be acknowledged and supported.
These narratives are often reinforced by the systems of psychology and marginalize those who do not fit the accepted narrative of a "deserving victim." Rachel will explain why mental health diagnoses can be weaponised to undermine credibility and autonomy within a neoliberal climate of self-empowerment. These issues are accentuated in rural and regional Australia and recent research has found that interpersonal violence in adolescent romantic relationships is also an issue in the regions.
You can watch the full seminar on YouTube.
Thank you to everyone who was able to attend the Gender and Feminist Studies Network International Women’s Day Seminar.
Our speakers:
contributed thought-provoking and candid perspectives on some compelling issues facing the university.
