From Problem to Impact

Campus closures and organisational disruption during COVID-19 (2020-2023) produced gendered impacts for women, including those associated with casual work, online teaching and supervision, increased pastoral care, intensified caregiving, and disrupted research opportunities. While flexible work had the potential to provide relief, challenges remained in implementing it effectively.

Between 2020 and 2024, women’s proportion of professional staff was sustained overall and increased slightly at senior levels, while academic gender proportions were sustained or increased at all levels except Level D. Satisfaction with flexible work rose from 70% in 2022 to over 80% in 2025 across all genders, academic and professional cohorts, and for parents/carers, Indigenous staff and CEALD staff.

What actions did Western Sydney University deliver?

• Coordinated a cross-institutional advisory group to share learnings and develop sector-wide GEDI commitments in response to the pandemic.
• Enhanced job security for casual staff, who are disproportionately women, including pay protection during COVID and the launch of a large-scale Academic Decasualisation Program.
• Implemented targeted flexible work and wellbeing supports for women ECRs, caregivers, staff with disability, Indigenous staff, and those at high risk of COVID-19, including a ‘right to apply’ for proportional remote work enshrined in Enterprise Agreements from 2022.
• Put in place research supports to mitigate gendered impacts, including marking relief, research continuity plans, financial assistance, revised promotion criteria recognising pastoral care and academic citizenship, and the inclusion of pandemic circumstances within Achievement Relative to Opportunity.