UCU NEC elections: 
Vote Julie Hearn for Women

Leading on Equality

I have been a Lecturer in Politics at Lancaster University for sixteen years, before which I was on insecure, fixed-term contracts for eight years.  I work part-time because of caring responsibilities.  I have been an AUT/UCU member for over twenty-five years and have a track record of commitment at branch, regional and national level.  I am a member of UCU Left

UCU Positions Held

• Lancaster UCU president, vice-president, equality officer and membership officer
• Branch delegate to regional committee
• NEC (HE UK-elected) member, 2016-18 and 2018-20
• Member of UCU Legal Support Review Panel, 2017-18

Leading on USS and Four Fights

I was branch president and lead negotiator when we had our first USS and Four Fights strike in 2018.  The Four Fights campaign addresses important aspects of gender equality, namely the gender pay gap, casualisation and workloads.  Too often women workers experience casualised employment because of sexist assumptions that there is a male breadwinner and women do not need a living wage.  Excessive workloads hinder progress towards gender equality in the home and bear down particularly heavily on women workers.

I also played a leading national role as a member of the HEC, proposing and voting on strike policy.  As branch vice-president, I will be co-leading the 2021 strikes.  

Leading on Women’s Equality

As a university educationalist I have practised intersectional anti-sexist, anti-racist pedagogy for over twenty-five years, having been taught a decolonised curriculum at school and working extensively with academics and activists from Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.  I have drawn on this activism, research and teaching experience as UCU Equality Officer in the following: 

• Represented UCU members at the University Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
• Co-founded the Lancaster University Race Equality Network in 2018
• Contributed to the development of University Menopause Policy 
• Worked with UCU Women Members’ Committee
• Department Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Co-director and Co-chair of the EDI committee
• Department Co-lead for Athena Swan, which monitors university progress towards gender equality

Based on my reflective practice on teaching and university leadership, I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

A continuing agenda on women’s rights

I am interested in being elected to a Women’s Seat because too often people think issues of gender equality have been resolved with equality laws.  This is far from the case.  If we look at Afghanistan, we can see how rapidly women’s rights can be rolled back.  In the USA there are major attacks on women’s abortion rights.  During the pandemic we have seen increasing problems of domestic violence and abuse of women in the home.  I am committed to supporting equal rights for all UCU women members, in adult, further, higher and prison education.