Please tell us about you and your work!
I’m an Associate Professor in the School of Business and Creative Industries at the University of the Sunshine Coast, where I also serve as Chair of Academic Board, Co-Chair of the SAGE Athena Swan Committee and incoming Deputy Chair of the university’s Gender-based Violence Prevention Taskforce. My research focuses on gender equity and the contributions and value of women in regional contexts. I also lead initiatives to embed gender competency into policy and governance.

How did you come to be in AWGSA/What is your role and what is your hope for AWGSA in your term?
I joined AWGSA because of its long-standing commitment to feminist scholarship and activism, and its role in connecting gender and women’s studies scholars across the country. I am also working with Sarah Casey (AWGSA President) and Josephine Brown on transitioning our journal toward greater international engagement, with a focus on both the scholarship of and action on gender equity. My hope is to contribute to sustaining this network as a space for intellectual exchange, collective advocacy, and mentoring of early career researchers.

What’s ‘feminism’ mean to you?
Feminisms for me are multiple; they are lived, embodied, theoretical, activist, and collective, and they inform both my scholarship and my leadership practice. They are not static but shifting, shaped by context, community, and history. At times, feminisms mean speaking truth to power and demanding systemic change; at others, they are about care, solidarity, and creating space for voices that have long been marginalised. For me, they are simultaneously intellectual frameworks, ethical commitments, and personal orientations to the world, always intersectional, always relational, and always unfinished.

Who are your feminist influences and are there any readings you can recommend?
I’m influenced by Hélène Cixous for her insistence on women’s writing/recognising and disrupting phallocentric processes as both symbolic and constitutive, by bell hooks for her clarity on love and justice, and by Australian Indigenous scholars such as Sandy O’Sullivan, who remind us of the importance of anticolonial and intersectional trans-inclusive feminist practice.

What’s one thing you wish others knew about women/gender/[other areas of expertise]?
That gender equity is not a ‘women’s issue’ but a whole-of-community issue. Structural inequities in universities and workplaces affect knowledge production, innovation, and the health of our democracies. When women and people of diverse genders are excluded or undervalued, entire communities lose out on perspectives, talents, and solutions that could otherwise benefit society as a whole. This is particularly visible in regional and rural contexts, where women’s contributions are often less visible but absolutely vital, whether through leadership in community organisations, advocacy around climate and environmental issues, or sustaining local economies through business, care, and cultural work. Yet these contributions are frequently undervalued or overlooked in policy and governance. Gender equity in regional contexts ensures that the knowledge and labour of women and diverse genders are recognised as central to the resilience and sustainability of these communities.

What is the biggest issue facing women and people of diverse genders today and how can people help/support/activate and advocate for change?
I think one of the biggest issues facing women and people of diverse genders today is the persistence of Gender-based violence, which remains deeply entrenched across all sectors. But we cannot only look inward to our own institutions and communities, we must also look outward and upward, recognising the intersectional and international dimensions of feminist struggle. What is happening to women, children, and families in Gaza, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in West Papua makes clear that gendered violence is never separate from militarisation, racism, colonialism, and global capitalist exploitation.

At the same time, in regional and rural Australia, women’s leadership and contributions are essential to the resilience of communities facing climate change, economic pressures, and social inequities, yet their work is often undervalued or overlooked. These local challenges are connected to global ones as they reveal the knowledge, labour, and activism of women and gender diverse peoples are indispensable yet continually marginalised.

For me, gender equity cannot be understood as a local project alone but as a global responsibility. Our institutions, privileges, and economies are interconnected with the harms faced by others whose lives are systematically devalued. Advocacy requires solidarity across movements, attention to decolonisation, and a willingness to speak truth to power in international as well as domestic contexts. Supporting organisations, engaging in activism, and refusing to turn away from these injustices are all ways we can contribute.

Read more about Gail, here