Professor Rosemary Owens

Biography/ Background

Professor Rosemary Owens is the Dean of Law and Head of School.

Rosemary Owens was initially appointed as a tutor in law in 1987 and then two years later she was appointed as a lecturer. Since that time Rosemary has been promoted to a Senior Lecturer in 1995, Associate Professor and Reader in Law in 2005, and Professor of Law in 2008.

When she joined the academic staff of the Law School at The University of Adelaide in 1987, Rosemary Owens embarked on a new career. She had previously worked as a secondary school teacher in the United Kingdom and Australia, having gained degrees in History Honours and Education from the University of Adelaide. When her children were young she returned to The University of Adelaide to study law, and graduated with First Class Honours receiving the The Angus Parsons Prize and The Law Society of South Australia Centenary Prize.

Qualifications

BA(Hons); Dip Ed; LLB (Hons) (Adelaide)

Teaching Interests

Undergraduate Courses

Labour and Industrial Relations Law
Australian Constitutional Law
Legal Research and Writing

Postgraduate Courses

The Law of Work in the New Economy
Globalisation and the Legal Regulation of Work

Research Supervision

Honours Dissertation
Master of Laws (Research)
Master of Compatrative Law (Dissertation)

PhD

Research Interests

The Law of Work
Anti-discrimination Law
Australian Constitutional Law
Feminist Legal Theory

In her research work Rosemary Owens focuses primarily on the Law of Work (including employment, labour and anti-discrimination law), but she also has strong interests in public law especially constitutional law.

Rosemary has published extensively on legal issues relating to non-standard and precarious forms of work and the participation of women in the labour market. She is particularly interested in the legal construction of women at work in both international and national legal systems, and in the development and protection of social and economic rights in the global era.

In 2004 she convened, with Prof Judy Fudge of Osgoode Hall Law School, a workshop on "Precarious Work, Women and the New Economy: The Challenge to Legal Norms" at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law in Onati, Spain. This project brought together academics from the Universities of Cambridge, Kent, and Oxford in the UK; Cornell, UCLA and Yale in the USA; Toronto, York and Quebec in Canada; Utrecht in Netherlands; Lund in Sweden; and Griffith and Adelaide in Australia.

Rosemary Owens is a member of INTELL, and she is also an associate of the Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law, The University of Melbourne.

Publications

Selected Recent Publications

1.1 Books

The Law of Work (Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2007) pp i-xlix and 1- 605 (co-authored with Joellen Riley).

1.2 Edited Books

Precarious Work, Women and the New Economy: The Challenge to Legal Norms Hart Publishing, Oxford UK and Portland Oregon, 2006 pp i-xxx, 1-401 (co-edited with Judy Fudge).

Intention in Law and Philosophy, (Ashgate Dartmouth, Aldershot UK, 2001) ppi-xxiv, 1- 377 (co-edited with Ngaire Naffine and John Williams).

Sexing The Subject Of Law, Sweet and Maxwell Ltd, London UK, and LBC Information Services, Sydney Australia, 1997, pp i-xxix, 1-299 (co-edited with Ngaire Naffine).

1.3 Book Chapters
1.3.1 Book Chapters - Sole author

'Reproducing Law's Worker: Regulatory Tensions in the Pursuit of "Population, Participation and Productivity"' in Christopher Arup, Peter Gahan, John Howe, Richard Johnstone, Richard Mitchell, and Anthony O'Donnell (eds) Labour Law and Labour Market Regulation: Essays on the Construction, Constitution and Regulation of Labour Markets and Work Relationships (Federation Press, Sydney, 2006), pp 410-431.

"Engendering Flexibility in a World of Precarious Work"� in Judy Fudge and Rosemary Owens (eds) Precarious Work, Women and the New Economy: The Challenge to Legal Norms (Hart Publishing, Oxford UK and Portland Oregon, 2006), pp329-352.

"Taking Leave: Work and Family in Australian Law and Policy" in Joanne Conaghan and Kerry Rittich (eds) Labour Law, Work, and Family: Critical and Comparative Perspectives (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005), pp237-259.

"Federation, Citizenship and Women in Australian Constitutional Law" in Brian Howe and Alan Nichols (eds) Spirit of Australia: Religion and Citizenship in National Life (Australian Theological Forum & Openbook Publishers, Adelaide, 2001) pp 90-129.

"Working in the Sex Market" in Sexing The Subject Of Law (edited by Ngaire Naffine and Rosemary J Owens, Sweet and Maxwell, London, and LBC Information Services, Sydney, 1997), pp 119-146.

"Lionel Murphy and Gender Issues: Commentary" in Justice Lionel Murphy: Influential or Merely Prescient? (edited by Michael Coper and George Williams, Federation Press, Sydney, 1997), pp 202-223.

"The Peripheral Worker: Women and the Legal Regulation of Outwork" in Public and Private: Feminist Legal Debates (edited by Margaret Thornton, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1995), pp 40-64.

"The Traditional Labour Law Framework: A Critical Evaluation" in Redefining Labour Law: New Perspectives on Teaching and Research (edited by Richard Mitchell, Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law, Occasional Monograph Series, The University of Melbourne, 1995), pp 1-30.

"Law and Feminism in the New Industrial Relations" in The New Industrial Relations In Australia (edited by Ian Hunt and Chris Provis, Federation Press, Sydney, 1995), pp 36-67.

1.3.2 Book Chapters - Joint author

"Employment", Chapter 18 in The Legal Services Commission Law Handbook, 4th Ed, (1999). Revised again in 2002 and 2007 and now available at . (chapter originally authored by the Legal Services Commission. 2007 revision with the research assistance of Hannah Doyle and Wing Hsieh)

"Precarious Work, Women and the New Economy: The Challenge to Legal Norms" in Judy Fudge and Rosemary Owens (eds) Precarious Work, Women and the New Economy: The Challenge to Legal Norms Hart Publishing, Oxford UK and Portland Oregon USA, 2006) pp3-27 (Co-author: Judy Fudge).

Professional Associations

International Network of Transformative Employment and Labour Lawyers (INTELL)

The Centre of Labour and Employment Relations Law at the University of Melbourne - Associate

Australian Labour Law Association - National Executive

Australian Association of Constitutional Lawyers - Member

The Law Society of South Australia - Member

Industrial Relations Society of South Australia (Inc)- Member

Community Engagement

Management Committee of the Working Women's Centre (SA) Inc - Deputy Member

Entry last updated: Friday, 18 Sep 2009