Association of Women Employees of the University of Sydney (AWEUS)
In July 1980, the University Senate instructed the Vice-Chancellor to report on the employment status of women at the University, covering both academic and non-academic staff. In July, women at the University established the Association of Women Employees of the University of Sydney (AWEUS), with the intent of preparing a report for the enquiry.
The AWEUS report was presented to the Vice-Chancellor in October 1980, and a summary was published in the University of Sydney News vol 12 no 30 (pp.240,248). The Vice-Chancellor's subsequent report, presented to the Senate at its June 1981 meeting, incorporated several suggestions from the AWEUS report. The Senate approved all ten recommendations from the Vice-Chancellor's report and added an eleventh: to lodge a protest with the Sydney Morning Herald about its practice of advertising employment positions separately for "Women and Girls" and "Men and Boys". Further details about the Senate's decisions and the AWEUS response were published in the University of Sydney News vol 13 no 12 (pp.93-94). The recommendations also included the establishment of a Senate/AWEUS Liaison Committee.
Following the success of its initial report, the AWEUS decided to continue operating and formally adopted a constitution in October 1981. Over the next several years, meetings and public lectures were organised on a range of matters including discrimination, harassment, childcare facilities, security on campus and occupational health. In 1984-86, the AWEUS prepared guidelines for University staff regarding authorship and acknowledgement in publications, which were endorsed by the Academic Board in 1987 (see News vol 16 no 35 p.307; vol 18 no 8 p.62; vol 19 no 9 p.74).
The Senate/AWEUS Liaison Committee continued to meet until March 1995, when it was discharged due to a lack of business to discuss. By this time, most of the issues that had previously been raised with the Liaison Committee were instead being raised with the EEO [Equal Employment Opportunity] Committee. It is unclear when the AWEUS as a whole ceased operating.
The archive holds some limited material relating to AWEUS in the period 1980-1986, including the draft constitution, some AWEUS newsletters (between May 1984 and June 1986), papers and articles relating to the 1980 report to the Vice-Chancellor, and papers from 1982-84 relating to AWEUS comments on proposed amendments to the State Superannuation Act.