Sexisms and gender-washing in Australian academia: public front, private realities

This paper offers an analysis of selected survey findings from a mixed methods research project, entitled Understanding and Addressing Everyday Sexisms in Australian Universities. The project is situated within the context of the negative impact of gender-based discrimination upon the higher education sector in Australia and internationally. The findings discussed in this paper relate to quantitative analyses of selected items from a national survey of over 1200 Australian academics, recruited through 12 public universities. In this paper, the ways in which different participant groups responded to items designed to explore their attitudes towards sexism in the academic workplace, both broadly and with respect to specific incidents of ‘everyday sexisms’ are discussed. Results demonstrate that, despite university-wide policies and processes which seek to promote gender equality, diversity and inclusion, women and gender diverse academics view gender-based discrimination as an enduring barrier to career progression. Further, men academics are less likely to recognise this or to find everyday sexisms intelligible. The paper argues that universities’ failure to recognise or acknowledge everyday sexisms is a form of gender-washing that occurs at the systemic and interpersonal levels, enabling recognition of only the most obvious instances of gender-based oppression: sexual harassment and assault.