Rate My Professor Janeen Baxter

Professor Janeen Baxter is a professor in the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland and Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course in the Institute for Social Science Research. She earned a BA (Hons) and MA in Sociology from the Australian National University, followed by a PhD in Sociology from the University of Queensland in 1989, with a thesis titled Work at Home: The Domestic Division of Labour. Her research specializations include gender inequality in paid and unpaid work, family and household dynamics, social disadvantage over the life course, and longitudinal studies of wellbeing and life course pathways. Baxter has published extensively, with 347 works including books, journal articles, and reports. Key publications encompass her 1993 book Work at Home: The Domestic Division of Labour (University of Queensland Press), The Joys and Justice of Housework (2000, Sociology), Gender differences in the quality of leisure: a cross-national comparison of Australia, Norway, and the United States (2020, Leisure Studies), and recent reports such as Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP) evaluation series (2024-2025, Institute for Social Science Research).

Baxter's career includes leadership as Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellow (2024-2029), former Australian Research Council Professorial Fellow, and Chair of the ARC College of Experts Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences panel. She is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA), serving on its Executive Committee, and an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. She has supervised numerous higher degree research students and research fellows, many of whom have secured prestigious positions. Baxter developed Australia's first national longitudinal study, Negotiating the Life Course, and has led major projects influencing policy, including evaluations of Dad and Partner Pay, Paid Parental Leave Scheme, and Try, Test and Learn Fund for the Australian Government. She serves on advisory committees for the Department of Social Services Child Support Expert Committee, Australian Bureau of Statistics Life Course Data Initiative, CEDA Council on Economic Policy, and Social Policy Research Centre, and has contributed to editorial boards of national and international journals. Her research has shaped government investments in data infrastructure and social programs addressing family transitions and inequality.