profile written by Christa Critchley
WISENET Journal No. 1, April 1985, p. 6
Between 1968 and 1975 Marian obtained three higher degrees (BA Hons, MA, PhD) from the Australian National University. During that time she also had 2 children. Since 1977 she has written, co-authored or edited seven books and has researched and lectured in political science at the Australian National University, the universities of Adelaide and Sydney as well as York in Great Britain.
In 1983-84 she was Equal Employment Opportunity consultant to the Vice-Chancellor of the ANU, where she completed her report Towards Equal Opportunity: Women and Employment at the Australian National University. A majority of her recommendations have already been adopted by the ANU council.
She was also responsible for founding the Association of Women Employees at the Australian National University in 1983 and for the development of the university's equal employment opportunity program. At her instigation an EEO network was created and a number of training courses for staff set up.
Marian Sawer has been actively involved for some years in promoting both the status of women and the study of women in the political science profession. In 1979, together with Carole Pateman, she founded the Women's Caucus of the Australasian Political Studies Association. Marian is now vice-president of this association, a rare distinction for someone who does not hold an academic political science position. Together with Desley Deacon, Marian was also responsible for maldng the Women's Studies section of ANZAAS 1984 the largeat and most successful session of the congress.
Marian has first-hand experience of discrimination in the profession. On numcrous occasions she has been passed over for positions to which relatively unqualified men have been appointed. For example, on one occasion she was passed over for a tenurable lectureship in favour of a young man with no higher degrees and minimal publications. The appointee subsequently was found plagiarising and resigned. The position was then lost due to cuts in funding.
Like many other disciplines political science is an area of strong male dominance and structural discrimination. It seems, however, that women in political science have already begun the process of organising and asserting themselves. Women in other areas of science should be able to learn from their experience and should be actively encouraged to seek association and exchange with bodies such as the Women's Caucus of the Australasian Political Science Association and the Women's Electoral Lobby in order to gain support from such groups.