Exclusive: University of Queensland scraps Indigenous children’s book, citing controversial anti-Semitism policy The University of Queensland has decided to pulp all 5,000 copies of a children’s picture book written by an Indigenous poet, after media queries from News Corp’s _The Australian_ newspaper that levelled accusations of anti-Semitism against the book’s illustrator. It’s a decision that also marks the first time a controversial definition of anti-Semitism, adopted by Australia’s universities last year, has been cited as the basis of a book cancellation. _Bila, a river cycle_ , was written by award-winning Wiradjuri poet Jazz Money and illustrated by Matt Chun. It’s an environmentally-focused book that tells the story of a river’s journey from mountain to sea and the people who pollute the waterways. Money and Chun began work on the book in 2022 and it was due for release this year. Jazz Money, the author of __Bila, a river cycle.__ In January this year, Dymocks announced that it was removing all of Chun’s books from its stores after he wrote an article titled “We don’t mourn fascists” in the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack. After the Dymocks announcement, _The Australian_ approached University of Queensland Press (UQP), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the University of Queensland, to ask about _Bila._ The chair of UQP, Professor Heather Zwicker, told the newspaper that the publisher had, “put the proposed publication on hold pending the outcome of an internal review and external legal processes underway,” effectively suspending its publication. ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

The book's author has described the decision to pulp all 5,000 copies of the book as reckless and disrespectful, and says it "sets a chilling standard".

Job Ready Graduates requires urgent reform, but current proposal risks more university cuts – Australian Academy of the Humanities Job Ready Graduates requires urgent reform, but current proposal risks more university cuts, says the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Job Ready Graduates requires urgent reform, but the current proposal being considered by the Senate risks more university cuts, says the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Read more: humanities.org.au/news/job-rea...

Job-ready Graduates has failed – a first step to fixing it is on the table The Job-ready Graduates reforms have increased student debt, failed to shift enrolments, and entrenched inequality across Australia’s higher education system.

The Job-ready Graduates reforms were meant to align degrees with workforce needs.
Instead they have increased debt, failed to shift student demand, and entrenched inequality, Adam Lucas and James Guthrie write.
#auspol #HigherEducation #Universities #EducationPolicy

Archiving Bengal’s Revolutionary Women Oyeshi Ganguly explores how women in colonial Bengal played on gendered expectations to carry out radical anti-colonial action.

How did radical women navigate Bengal's 'age of fire'?

Oyeshi Ganguly explores what oral history can tell us about the female revolutionaries who took up arms against British rule.

Snippet of essay showing title and abstract. TITLE: Humanities Future: or, Don’t Quit Lit ABSTRACT: In 2024, I saw the ongoing crises facing higher education in the United States reach a new inflection point, both for my own career and for the broader professions of academic work. In this essay, I draw from my experience at St. Norbert College—a small, Catholic, liberal arts college in Wisconsin—and from work in Black studies and critical university studies, in order to offer an analysis of what forces humanities workers in particular will confront, as well as some ideas about what steps they can take. Ultimately, I suggest that our sites of academic labor will have to be disciplines in the sense that Mariame Kaba says hope is a discipline: spaces where we do the daily work of making what students and scholars will need in humanity’s future, not just what we think will save our own positions in the world as it’s arranged now.

@lerikscline.bsky.social writes abt cuts at St. Norbert College & broader patterns of agentless budget shortfalls, “transformations,” admin hostility to protesters, & crackdowns on higher ed—these expose the tactical limits of a category like “Victorian studies.” muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

✊ The Womandla! Special Issue in Third World Quarterly is now online.

12 articles exploring feminist histories, activism & theory from across the Global South.
@drkatelaw.bsky.social 

📖 Free until end of April.
🔗 Read here: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ctwq20/47/2

#WomenInSTEM #academicsky

A crowd at a protest holding signs in the colors of the trans pride flag. One sign reads “WE WILL ALWAYS EXIST!!!!” and another reads “TRANS JOY IS REAL,” both painted in bold black lettering. Buildings and more demonstrators are visible in the background.

Visibility isn’t enough. Information is a tool for liberation - and a way to fight back.

This Trans Day of Visibility, we’ll be sharing some articles that celebrate Trans+ lives, honour our history and push back on anti-trans narratives.

Because we’ve always been here and always will be 🏳️‍⚧️ #TDoV

Her song features in Ryan Gosling’s hit movie, but Erima Maewa Kaihau was once a star too

Over 100 years after Pō Atarau was popularised, it’s on the soundtrack of Ryan Gosling’s blockbuster Project Hail Mary. But who was the remarkable woman behind it?

Making Gender History: Research from Melbourne Undergraduates | Australian Women's History Network James Keating and Paige Donaghy present a selection of undergraduate research on the history of gender and sexuality from final-year history students at The University of Melbourne.

New from VIDA:

🎉 James Keating (@jameskeating.bsky.social) & Paige Donaghy (@paigedonaghy.bsky.social) introduce a blog showcasing seven UniMelb undergraduate history projects 🎉

Read it here ⬇️
www.auswhn.com.au/blog/making-...

#hist #histaus #gendhist #histsex #IWD2026 #undergrad
@unimelb.edu.au

Conditions regarding protests: a response to the University of Melbourne - Overland literary journal What has been done cannot be undone. But a reversal of the current descent into barbarism begins with justice for Gaza. The University of Melbourne still has an opportunity to speak out against genoci...

“The university still has an opportunity to speak out against genocide and apartheid. It should do so.”

@jeffsparrow1.bsky.social responds to the call for feedback on the right to protest and the “iSurveillance Policy” at the University of Melbourne.

Purple conference poster.

FINAL CALL FOR PAPERS: Celebrating the Centenary of the Women’s Library and 100 Years of Women’s History (1926-2026).

3-4 September 2026, LSE & Friends House (Euston Road)

More information is on our website: womenshistorynetwork.org/whn-annual-c...

ANU Press New Release. Cover image of 'Lilith: A Feminist History Journal'.

This issue of ‘Lilith' explores gender in 20th-century Australia and Britain, from maternal feminism and 'Citrus Queen' pageants to motherhood and mental health, and the arguments that won abortion law reform in 1960s Britain.

Get your copy today: doi.org/10.22459/LFH...
#feminist #feminism #gender

Australia's universities have found themselves in crisis. But it has been decades in the making | Hannah Forsyth Rather than a set of teaching and learning relationships, universities have become a bunch of metrics to be gamed. Unwinding these systems will take effort

The Guardian has partnered with the Australian Historical Association to use history to explain stuff. Today I do the University crisis.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Victorian Women's Tattoos From initials to butterflies, Nastasha Sartore explores Victorian women's tattoo choices.

How have women on the margins of urban society used tattoos as a form of self-expression?

@nastashasartore.bsky.social considers the cultural significance of tattooing in Victorian Britain.

ANU Press Coming Soon: Cover image of Lilith: A Feminist History Journal: Number 31

Issue 31 of ‘Lilith' comes at a time when feminist history feels both urgent and under threat. From rising fascism to cuts in academic freedom, history and gender studies are being slashed, while scholars face growing precarity.

Register your interest: doi.org/10.22459/LFH...

The Nursing Clio Editorial Collective's The Nursing Clio Reader: Histories of Sex, Reproduction, and Justice | Australian Women's History Network In this blog, Michael Stockwell reviews a new edited collection about the feminist academic blog, Nursing Clio, edited by the Nursing Clio Editorial Collective.

For IWD 2026, our wonderful Editorial Assistant Michael Stockwell has published a review of @nursingclio.bsky.social's excellent edited collection 💫

Read it below ⬇️
www.auswhn.com.au/blog/nursing...

#IWD2026 #feministhistory #womenhistorymonth

Mary Somerville [Fairfax]. Lithograph after J. Phillips. A lithograph portrait of Mary Somerville shown from the chest up, in early 19th-century dress. She has elaborately styled curly hair piled high with ringlets framing her face. She wears a ruffled white lace collar and a dress with feathered or fur trimming at the shoulders, fastened with a circular brooch. Her expression is calm and self-possessed, her gaze slightly averted. https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/9200579/mraqxra2

Maria Gaetana Agnesi. Line engraving by E. Conquy after M. Longhi. A line engraving portrait ofMaria Gaetana Agnesi shown bust-length within a softly shaded oval vignette. She has powdered or light curly hair loosely styled, small drop earrings, and wears a fur-trimmed garment over a light dress with a ribbon bow at the shoulder. Her expression is composed and direct. https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/9200579/pmfug8sg

A portrait from the Welsh Portrait Collection at the National Library of Wales. Depicted person: Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne – English aristocrat, prolific writer, and scientist. By George Kellaway A stipple or line engraving portrait of a woman shown from the chest up against a densely cross-hatched dark background. She has long, loosely curled hair falling to her shoulders, a small decorative crown or coronet at the top of her head, and wears a pearl necklace and a low-cut dress with a draped sash. Her expression is placid and direct. The caption below reads Margaret, D. of Newcastle. The engraver's name Kellaway sc. appears at lower right. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Margaret,_D._of_Newcastle_(4670217).jpg

Happy International Women's Day! To celebrate it, Project Gutenberg created a new bookshelf titled Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics:

www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/books...

#books #literature #womeninstem #womenhistoryMonth

Blog | Australian Women's History Network The Australian Women's History Network is excited to announce its new social media initiative: a blog about the research and practice of feminist history.

With thanks, as always, to our authors and editors, whose work brings these histories to life ✨

#IWD2026 #BalanceTheScales #RightsJusticeAction

Read more here ⬇️
www.auswhn.com.au/blog/

International Women's Day 2026 Balance the Scales For All Women and Girls #BalanceTheScales #IWD2026 UN Women Australia

Every day is International Women's Day at the Australian Women's History Network!

To celebrate, check out our wealth of feminist, gender, and women's history at #VIDAblog 🚺 ⚧️

#IWD2026 #BalanceTheScales #RightsJusticeAction

Read more here ⬇️
www.auswhn.com.au/blog/

Blog | Australian Women's History Network The Australian Women's History Network is excited to announce its new social media initiative: a blog about the research and practice of feminist history.

With thanks, as always, to our authors and editors, whose work brings these histories to life ✨

#IWD2026 #GiveToGain

Read more here ⬇️
www.auswhn.com.au/blog/

📢Event Announcement Friday 6th March: No Panel, No Pressure, No Prep. Join AWGSA members & executive for an informal hour of conversation, reflection, and community. No presentations, no panels, & no preparation required, just show up as you are. Open to all women, gender‑diverse people, & allies.

Too many Indigenous women are killed by domestic violence. They are more than just numbers

Latest data show First Nations women are much more likely to be killed than non-Indigenous women. It demands action.

Former Harvard president Summers’ soft landing after Epstein revelations is case study of economics’ trouble with misbehaving men Despite repeated calls for the university to revoke his tenure, the economist held onto his teaching and academic appointments until he chose to retire.

Former Harvard president Larry Summers will retire with the title “president emeritus” after scrutiny over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein — a soft landing that, one economist argues, underscores academia’s tolerance of powerful, sexist men.

theconversation.com/former-harva...

First Aboriginal woman to receive PhD at Harvard remembered as 'trailblazer' MaryAnn Bin-Sallik was the first Aboriginal nurse graduate in Darwin and the first Aboriginal person to receive a PhD at Harvard University. Following her death at age 85, the Djaru Elder is being remembered for her work in Indigenous education, health and human rights.

MaryAnn Bin-Sallik was the first Aboriginal nurse graduate in Darwin and the first Aboriginal person to receive a PhD at Harvard University. Following her death at age 85, the Djaru Elder is being remembered for her work in Indigenous education, health and human rights.

📢 Event Reminder: “What do we do now?” TOMORROW! 25 Feb 12–1pm AEDT. Join us for an honest conversation about navigating feminist careers in and beyond the academy.

Open to HDRs, ECRs, independent scholars, pracademics, and scholar-activists.

Register here: events.humanitix.com/what-do-we-d...

A reminder that I help co-ordinate a writing group for early career scholars/PhD students working on global feminism (broadly conceived!).

We meet every second month over zoom and read someone's chapter or article and offer feedback.

You can join, drop me a line here! Reposts welcome.

Image of a flying airship with the words "Vote for Women".

On 17 February 1909 Muriel Matters, Australian-born suffrage supporter, organised an airship emblazoned with "Votes for Women" to distribute Women’s Freedom League leaflets over parliament for the state opening.

#WomensHistory #GenderHist #OTD

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Gender studies courses are shutting down across the US. The Epstein files reveal why | Joan Wallach Scott Texas A&M University is the latest school to end women’s and gender studies programs and teaching race. We know why

Gender studies courses are shutting down across the US. The Epstein files reveal why | Joan Wallach Scott

The Book That Taught the World to Orgasm and Then Disappeared: Shere Hite and the Hite Report by Rosa Campbell Historian Campbell debuts with a revelatory biography of sex researcher Shere Hite (1942–2020), best known for her 1976 publicat...

Over the moon 🌙 that 'The Book that Taught the World to Orgasm and then Disappeared' received a starred review from Publishers Weekly! 🌟 🔭 🌃

www.publishersweekly.com/9781685892319

Fired after gender lesson, former professor sues Texas A&M Melissa McCoul, arguing she was fired to appease political critics, is seeking to get her job back and other restitution.

New: Former Texas A&M lecturer Melissa McCoul is suing the university months after Texas A&M fired her over a gender identity lesson.

McCoul alleges that administrators knowingly violated her free speech and due process rights to appease political critics.