Policy Symposium

AGEW 2026 will include a Special Policy Symposium on occupational segregation, scheduled for the final day of the workshop (13 February).

Chair

Associate Professor Leonora Risse, Department of Economics, University of Canberra

A/Prof Risse is an A/Prof in Economics at the University of Canberra, Adjunct Professor at the Queensland University of Technology, and a Research Fellow with the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia. She is a co-founder and former National Chair of the Women in Economics Network (WEN) and is part of the team who created AGEW. Among her roles, she serves as an Expert Panel member on gender equity for the Fair Work Commission, an Expert Panel Member for the Parliamentary Budget Office, and a Steering Committee Member for Jobs and Skills Australia's Gender Economic Equality Study. She formerly held roles with the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University and the Australian Government Productivity Commission.

Speakers

Professor Katherine B. Coffman, Harvard Business School

Prof Coffman is the Piramal Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations, and Markets Unit at Harvard Business School. Prof Coffman will speak about identifying and mitigating the effects of self-stereotyping, based on the fact that good candidates, and good ideas, are only valuable when they are put forward. A firm can only hire the best candidate if she applies for the opening; a board member can only influence the collective decision if she voices her opinion about the best path forward. Biased beliefs fuel over-selection of ideas and talent from individuals in stereotype-congruent domains (men in male-typed domains, women in female-typed domains) and inhibit contributions from individuals in stereotype-incongruent domains (men in female-typed domains, women in male-typed domains). She will discuss what steps organizations can take to better limit these missed opportunities.

Professor Janine Dixon, Victoria University

Prof Dixon is the Director of the Centre of Policy Studies (CoPS) at Victoria University, specialising in economy-wide modelling and labour market forecasting.  Since 2013, she has led the university’s Employment Forecasting project, producing economic projections widely used by government agencies across Australia. Before joining CoPS, she managed service industry surveys at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and she holds a PhD from Trinity College Dublin. In the policy session, she will examine the link between AI and occupational segregation, drawing on insights from the report Our Gen AI Transition: Implications for Work and Skills – Final Overarching Report and her recent research using Australian data.

Dr Emma Cannen, Director of the JSA Gender Economic Equality Study

Dr Cannen was the lead author of the 2025 Jobs and Skills Australia Gender Economic Equality Study , which filled key evidence gaps in labour market and skills data, discourse, and policymaking through intersectional insights and analysis of gendered occupational segregation, pay gaps and education and training divides in Australia.  The study developed a new indicator for measuring occupational segregation - the Gender Segregation Intensity Scale (GSIS) and applied it to old labour market challenges such as occupation shortages to offer New Perspectives on Old Problems. The study’s findings demonstrated how Australian jobs are not only gender segregated but also shaped by other demographics such as First Nations status, disability, and cultural and linguistic diversity.  The study also published Australia’s first ever national First Nations gender pay gaps; explored compounding barriers and inequities across Education and Training Divides and recommended 10 next steps on how we can start Speeding Up Progress Towards Gender Economic Equality. The study additionally published four open access data dashboards where you can explore occupational segregation intensity across the economy; look up the gender pay gaps for over 680 occupations; explore post-training outcomes across Australia’s top 100 VET courses and compare intersectional pay gaps across over 350 occupations.