Jennifer Ervin

Supervisors:

Dr Tania King, Disability and Health Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne

Professor Belinda Hewitt, School of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne

Dr Yamna Taouk, Disability and Health Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne.

Title of your PhD:

Gender Inequality in Australia: The double burden of unpaid labour and employment precarity on the mental health of Australian women

Abstract:

Structural inequalities in the division of unpaid labour remains a key factor in hampering significant equity gains in Australia, and, as this thesis will argue, is a root cause for the precarity women experience in the Australian paid labour force.  Given both high unpaid labour and employment precarity can be detrimental to health and wellbeing, this thesis aims to interrogate how these exposures co-exist as well as how they impact the mental health of working Australian women.

Bio:

Jen is a PhD candidate within The Centre for Health Equity with special interests in social epidemiology, quantitative research, gender equality and women’s health. In a career pivot(previously a veterinarian), Jen completed her Master of Public Health at the University of Melbourne in 2019. Jen is currently employed as a research assistant in the Disability Health Unit. Her work to date has focused on the impact of dimensions of gender (in)equality on the mental health of Australian women.