Gender, Feminist and Queer Studies: Power, Privilege and Inequality in a Time of Neoliberal Conservatism

Exploring scholarship, research, practice and activism on gender, feminist and queer studies, this edited collection examines, analyses and critiques the nature and causes of inequality, disadvantage and marginalisation faced by women, non-hegemonic and LGBTIQA+ identities who do not fit hegemonic notions of masculinity, femininity and heteronormativity.

The chapters in this book critically analyse and challenge visible and invisible power relations, privilege and prejudice by problematising the artificial organisation of people into hierarchies that preference hegemonic masculinities, white and heteronormative identities. In questioning often unchallenged and legitimised inequality and disadvantage, this book locates itself in the juxtaposition where the lived experiences of individuals, activism, community participation, research and scholarship collide with mainstream, local, national and globalised culture and politics.

Divided into four parts, this book provides a platform for interrogating how social change can occur in the current neoliberal political context of increasing conservatism.

Donna Bridges (she/her/hers) is a gender theorist and a feminist researcher who researches gender inequality and gender and work. She has published "Absent aviators: Gender issues in aviation" (Bridges, Neal-Smith & Mills, 2014) and "Creative spaces for qualitative researching: Living research" (Higgs, Titchen, Horsfall & Bridges, 2011). She publishes in international journals such as Gender, Work and Organisation, Journal of Sociology and Feminist Media Studies, and in edited book collections and media commentary.

Clifford Lewis (he/him/his) is a marketing academic at Charles Sturt. His research focuses on inclusive marketing and research practice focusing on LGBTQ+ people. Within this domain, he has published a critical review of tourism scholarship on LGBTQ+ people in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, guidelines for conducting research with LGBTQ+ people in the International Journal of Market Research, and those within contexts where such identities are illegal in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Elizabeth Wulff (she/her/hers) is a gender theorist and feminist researcher who specialises in gender theory, cultural studies and English literature. She is a member of the Women in Trades Research Team and CSU’s Gender and Feminist Studies (GaFS) Research Network. Elizabeth has published in Extrapolation, Construction Management Economics, Gender, Work and Organization and the Journal of Sociology. She is currently working on projects related to the Women in Trades team.

Chelsea Litchfield (she/her/hers) is an associate professor and associate head of school in the School of Allied Health, Exercise and Sport Science at Charles Sturt University. Associate Professor Litchfield's research focuses broadly on gender, sport and media in an Australian context. She is currently working on projects related to women and sport, gender-based abuse and violence in social media spaces and the impact of sport on the mental health of women in regional Australia.

Larissa Bamberry (she/her/hers) is an associate professor in employment relations in the School of Business at Charles Sturt University. Her research focuses broadly on the intersection of gender relations in labour markets. She publishes in journals such as Gender, Place and Culture, Gender, Work and Organisation and Construction Management and Economics, and she is currently researching skills and gender in regional labour markets and the workplace wellbeing of frontline workers during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.