Raewyn Connell

Life and career[edit]

Connell was born in Sydney, Australia. Her father, William Fraser (Bill) Connell (OBE), was a Professor of Education at the University of Sydney for many years, where she focused on educational research and teaching. Her mother, Margaret Lloyd Connell (née Peck) was a high school science teacher. Connell has two sisters, Patricia Margaret Selkirk and Helen Connell.^[3][4][5][6]


Connell was educated at Manly and North Sydney High Schools, and has degrees from the University of Melbourne and University of Sydney. She has held academic positions at universities in Australia, including being the founding professor of sociology at Macquarie University 1976–1991.


In the United States Connell was visiting professor of Australian studies at Harvard University 1991–1992, and professor of sociology at University of California Santa Cruz 1992–1995.^[7] She was a rank-and-file member of the Australian Labor Party until the early 1980s and a trade unionist, currently in the National Tertiary Education Union. She has been considered a prominent intellectual of the Australian New Left.^[8]


She was appointed University Professor at the University of Sydney in 2004, and retired from her University Chair on July 31, 2014.^[9] She has been Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney since her retirement.^[10]


Connell serves on the editorial board or advisory board of numerous academic journals, including Signs, Sexualities, The British Journal of Sociology, Theory and Society, and The International Journal of Inclusive Education.^[11][12]


Connell is a trans woman, who formally began transitioning late in life.^[13] Almost all her earlier work was published under the gender-neutral name "R. W. Connell" up to the second edition of "Masculinities" in 2005. Since 2006 all her work has appeared under the name Raewyn Connell. Connell has also written about trans women and feminism from an international perspective.^[14][15]