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In March 2020, the Australian government introduced a raft of public health initiatives to curb the rising cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) including closing schools and work from home orders. As a group of female academics, we were immediately attuned to the potential of COVID-19 to dilute progress made towards reducing the academic gender gap. This study emerged in response and comprised a rapid gender impact assessment of Australian universities' organisational responses to COVID-19. Our aim was to understand the nature of university policy responses and the extent to which they considered differential impacts for men and women. We searched for relevant communications pertaining to COVID-19 policies from all Australian universities published up to June 2020. Our final sample comprised 79 documents from 29 universities. Information collected was in relation to five key policy domains: support for higher degree research students, leave arrangements for staff, working remotely, managing staff and academic promotion. Overall, little attention was paid to how gender might impact on the need for, or access to, policies in response to COVID-19. Findings showed a reliance on existing workplace mechanisms including access to leave and flexible working arrangements. While the ability to work flexibly is considered a key enabler of gender equality, these approaches have been in place at Australian universities for decades but have, on their own, been inadequate to redress entrenched inequalities. While there is potential for social disruptions brought about by the pandemic to act as a catalyst for change, this will not happen without policies that are transformative in their approach to equality and inclusion.

This review aimed to synthesise studies examining the presence of gender stereotypes and biases expressed by young children aged 3-5 years, with a focus on informing early childhood settings. Our review located only 21 separate studies in 16 articles, highlighting a dearth of research in this area. There was substantial heterogeneity in the operationalisation of gender stereotypes and biases. There was evidence that children in early childhood are aware of, and can apply, gender stereotypes. There was also evidence of the malleability of these biases and stereotypes. The social and cultural environment plays a large role in defining the cues by which young children classify on the basis of gender. Research is needed to understand ways to support the establishment of equitable gender attitudes amongst children in early childhood, as this could deliver important benefits to individuals across their lifetime, as well as society more broadly.

Each year, more than 700 000 people die by suicide globally, the majority of whom are men. The United Nations and World Health Organization have set targets to reduce suicide rates by one-third by 2030. While large-scale suicide prevention programmes are required to meet these targets, diffusion of these types of initiatives is difficult—particularly with male populations. This qualitative study investigated the MATES in Construction suicide prevention programme in Australia. Guided by Social Identity Theory and the Social Identity Model for Collective Action, the study aimed to understand why construction workers chose to volunteer and advocate for industry-based suicide prevention programmes, and how their worker identity, solidarity and relationships impacted their volunteering and advocacy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 participants who had chosen to engage with MATES as volunteers. Data were interpreted using a reflexive approach to thematic analysis, and four themes were constructed from the data relating to feelings of belonging, connection and solidarity between workers and their industry; how specific context and roles impacted identity while existing within an overall sense of identity and solidarity; how industry mateship supported engagement in suicide prevention; and how the role of lived experience, mateship and responsibility provided hope for change. Providing intervention skills to workers, particularly workers with a lived experience of mental ill-health, empowered them to believe that they could make a difference by acting collectively. The MATES engagement model described in this study may have applications for other health promotion prevention programmes targeting male cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-distance dispersal (LDD) is thought to be a key driver of biogeographic processes, yet few direct natural observations have been made of this process. Several studies have characterised diverse benthic epibiotic communities associated with buoyant macroalgae and have proposed that kelp rafting may be an important LDD mechanism for such coastal species. We test for LDD by combining biological, genetic, and geological data from rafted bull-kelp (Durvillaea antarctica) specimens collected in southern New Zealand following a March 2018 storm. Genetic and ecological data strongly indicate that three of 29 detached kelp specimens sequenced (and their associated live epifaunal taxa) had rafted from the sub-Antarctic to mainland New Zealand, traversing both oceanographic and phylogeographic barriers, over the course of an approximately 4-week journey. Numerous additional epifaunal taxa were detected from rafts that had geologically-distant mainland origins. The successful trans-oceanic rafting documented for sub-Antarctic brooding sea-star, chiton and sea-slug taxa presents a mechanism for their broad but phylogeographically disjunct Southern Hemisphere distributions. Moreover, the detection of several such LDD events over the last decade suggests that such journeys are very common over evolutionary timeframes. Although geological and genetic data were informative over different scales, we detected no conflict between the inferences from these distinct data sets, a finding that reinforces the value of integrative approaches to marine biogeography.

Workers' compensation systems aim to financially support injured workers. However, seeking compensation often leads to poorer physical and mental health outcomes. This review examines previous studies to investigate the relationship between workers' compensation and mental health and self-harm outcomes. A three-tiered search strategy across five databases identified studies that examined workers' compensation claims as an exposure or risk factor, with outcomes related to mental health, self-harm and suicidality. Nine full-text studies were included; however, heterogeneity limited generalizability. Most studies supported an association between pursuing compensation and poorer mental health and self-harm outcomes. Some studies attributed this to specific aspects of the system such as justice perception and navigation of the claims system. Findings suggest an association between workers' compensation and mental health or self-harm outcomes. Inconclusive findings highlight the need for further research. Understanding the psychiatric impacts of pursuing compensation is crucial to help formulate a more accessible compensation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with disabilities experience persistent, multifaceted disadvantage across the life course. The origins of life course disadvantage among people with disabilities may stem, in part, from exclusion during developmentally sensitive periods in childhood. Time use among adolescents represents a potentially important mechanism implicated in the emergence of disability-related disadvantage, but previous research has largely neglected the time use of school age adolescents with disabilities. Utilizing nationally representative time diary data, this study investigated disability-related differences in adolescents' time use, and how these gaps vary by sex and age. Results indicated that disability-related differences in time use are widespread and substantial in magnitude. Adolescents with disabilities spend more time in screen-based leisure, alone, and with mothers, and less time in educational activities than non-disabled adolescents. Boys with disabilities additionally spend less time in structured leisure and with peers than non-disabled boys. Differences in time alone, with peers, and in screen-based leisure increase in magnitude at older ages. We conclude that differential time use in adolescence may contribute to multiple persistent disadvantages experienced by people with disabilities over the life course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]