Professor Rae Cooper

Professor of Gender, Work and Employment Relations, The University of Sydney
TOPIC: Building Back Fairer - Applying a gender lens to the post-pandemic future of work

The coronavirus pandemic has produced devastating health, economic and social consequences which have reverberated across the globe. In paid and unpaid work, women have been disproportionately impacted. The Australian and international evidence suggests that the gendered inequalities that existed in the pre-COVID-19 world of work – like extreme labour market gender segregation and the uneven distribution of unpaid labour in the home – have been exacerbated during the past two years. The paper argues that a gender lens must be urgently applied to the recovery and it proposes stakeholder action in four key thematic areas to build gender equality into the post-pandemic future of work.

Biography

Rae is Professor of Gender, Work and Employment Relations at the University of Sydney Business School and is Director of the University of Sydney Gender Equality in Working Life Research Initiative, established in 2021. She is concurrently working on projects with a focus on designing gender equality into the future of work, gender, work and COVID19, and women’s careers in very male-dominated sectors. Across her career, Rae has worked with government, multi-laterals, industry, and trade unions on research aimed at driving good jobs and building equitable working lives. Rae has significant experience as a non-executive director and has been appointed to several committees in the women’s policy area, including as Chair of the NSW Premier’s Expert Advisory Council on Women.