Philippa Marian Sawer (born 20 August 1946) is an Australian political scientist. She is a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

(ANU).

Early life

Sawer was born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand, the daughter of Ralph and Marjorie Goodwin. She moved to Australia to attend

Ascham School Ascham School is an independent, non-denominational, day and boarding school for girls, located in Edgecliff, an Eastern Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1886, the school has a non-selective enrolment policy and c ...

in Sydney, and subsequently attended the

(ANU) in Canberra. She graduated B.A.(Hons) in 1968,

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in 1970 and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1975. Her doctoral thesis was titled "The question of the Asiatic mode of production: towards a new Marxist historiography".

Career

Early years

After completing her doctorate Sawer held a series of post-doctoral fellowships. She experienced difficulties with workplace gender discrimination and in 1979, after completing a survey on the status of women in Australian political science departments, she and

Carole Pateman Carole Pateman FBA FAcSS FLSW (born 11 December 1940) is a British feminist and political theorist. She is known as a critic of liberal democracy and has been a member of the British Academy since 2007. Biography Pateman was born in Maresf ...

co-founded the women's caucus of the Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA). She was elected president of APSA in 1985.

Public service

In 1983-1984, Sawer was employed as an equal employment opportunity consultant at ANU, developing the university's equal opportunities program and authoring a report into women and employment at the university. She founded the Association of Women Employees at the ANU in 1983. In 1985 she joined the public service as director of equal employment opportunity at the

Department of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

. She later joined the Office of the Status of Women within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Return to academia

In 1990, Sawer joined the

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university, public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is from Belconnen Town Centre, and from Canberra's Civic, Australian ...

, where in 1993 she was appointed as an associate professor in politics. She later returned to her alma mater ANU, initially in a visiting capacity and then as head of the university's political science program. She was promoted to full professorial rank in 2003. From 2010 she has been an emeritus professor. Sawer was elected to the executive of the

International Political Science Association The International Political Science Association (IPSA) is an international scholarly association, founded under the auspices of UNESCO in 1949. IPSA is devoted to the advancement of political science in all parts of the world. During its history ...

(IPSA) in 2006 and served as vice-president from 2009 to 2012. She was also co-editor of the organisation's journal ''International Political Science Review''.

Honours and recognition

In the

1994 Australia Day Honours The 1994 Australia Day Honours are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 1994 by the Governor General of Australia, Bill Hayden. The Australia D ...

Sawer was appointed

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AO) for "service to women and political science". In 1996 she was appointed Fellow of the

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Aus ...

(FASSA).

Publications

Towards Equal Opportunity: Women and Employment at the Australian National University

Personal life

Sawer has been married to British-born political scientist

James Jupp James Jupp AM (23 August 1932 – 11 April 2022) was a British-Australian political scientist and author. He was Director of the Centre for Immigration and Multicultural Studies in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian Nati ...

since 1978, with whom she has one daughter. She was previously married to Michael Sawer from 1967 to 1977, with whom she had two daughters.

References

1946 births Living people New Zealand emigrants to Australia Australian women academics Australian political scientists Academic staff of the University of Canberra Australian National University alumni Academic staff of the Australian National University People educated at Ascham School Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Officers of the Order of Australia Australian women political scientists 20th-century Australian women educators 20th-century Australian educators 21st-century Australian women educators 21st-century Australian educators {{Australia-academic-bio-stub