Marian Sawer

Philippa Marian Sawer (born 20 August 1946) is an Australian political scientist. She is a professor emeritus at the Australian National University (ANU).

Early life Sawer was born in Auckland, New Zealand, the daughter of Ralph and Marjorie Goodwin. She moved to Australia to attend Ascham School in Sydney, and subsequently attended the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. She graduated B.A.(Hons) in 1968, M.A. in 1970 and Ph.D. in 1975. Her doctoral thesis was titled "The question of the Asiatic mode of production: towards a new Marxist historiography".

Career Early years After completing her doctorate Sawer held a series of post-doctoral fellowships. She experienced difficulties with workplace gender discrimination and in 1979, after completing a survey on the status of women in Australian political science departments, she and Carole Pateman co-founded the women's caucus of the Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA). She was elected president of APSA in 1985. In 1985 she joined the public service as director of equal employment opportunity at the Department of Foreign Affairs. She later joined the Office of the Status of Women within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. In 1996 she was appointed Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA).

Publications Towards Equal Opportunity: Women and Employment at the Australian National University

Personal life Sawer has been married to British-born political scientist James Jupp since 1978, with whom she has one daughter. She was previously married to Michael Sawer from 1967 to 1977, with whom she had two daughters.