Dr Elise Stephenson
Biography:
Dr Elise Stephenson is the Deputy Director of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership, Australian National University, founded and chaired by former prime minister Julia Gillard. She is a multi-award-winning gender equality researcher with an entrepreneurial background. Elise's research focuses on gender, sexuality and leadership in policy frontiers, from researching the space sector, to diplomacy, national security, intelligence, climate action, international relations, and the Asia Pacific. She is an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) fellow 2025-2028 for her research on: Gender Equality at the Frontiers: AI, Space and Climate Action. She is the researcher and author behind the largest ever study of gender equality in the space sector, the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)’s Landmark Study on Gender Equality in the Global Space Sector 2024.
Abstract:
A recent landmark study on gender in the global space sector found that women continue to be under-represented and agencies remain largely unresponsive to the changes needed to bring about equality in this critical sector. Despite the growing nature of the sector and our deepening reliance on space technology for global economics and society, few studies have sought to understand how space is gendered, let alone how LGBTIQ+ people as gender and sexuality minoritised groups experience employment in the space sector. This study aims to do just that, in a world-first study of LGBTIQ+ people working in the space sector. Existing evidence suggests that the global space sector, like pipeline fields of STEM or analogous fields of mining or polar exploration, is struggling with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Unlike other fields however, the impact may be even more significant – not just affecting the kinds of future space engagement humanity undertakes, but who benefits, and who is left behind. From canvassing launchpad location and its impact on trans people, to documenting how LGBTIQ+ have always been ‘in’ space but not ‘out’ in space (see: first US female astronaut, Sally Ride, arranged to posthumously come out as a Lesbian which wasn’t able to be celebrated at the time), this study explores why and how LGBTIQ+ inclusion and othering in the space sector matters and what impact it has on humanity’s trajectory in space.