The Australian Women's Register

Professor Easteal was born and educated first in Canada and then the United States earning her PhD from the University of Pittsburgh and coming to Australia in 1987. From 1990 to 1995 she was a Senior Criminologist with the Australian Institute of Criminology and from 1995 to 2001 a Visiting Scholar at the Australian National University. She then joined the Law School at the University of Canberra becoming a Professor in 2009 and Emeritius Professor in 2018.

Professor Easteal has published 24 books and reports and over 180 journal articles and book chapters. Her authored and edited books include Rape Law in Context: Contesting the Scales of Injustice (2018), A Multidisciplinary Approach to Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Sexual  Violence: Prevention, Recognition and Intervention (2017),  Domestic and Sexual Violence Against Women – Law Reform and Society: Shades of Grey (2014), Intimate Partner Sexual Violence: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Survivor Support and System Change (2014),  Women and the Law in Australia (2010), Real Rape, Real Pain: Help for Women Sexually Assaulted by Male Partners (2006), Less Than Equal: Women and the Australian Legal System (2001), Balancing the Scales: Rape, Law Reform and Australian Culture (1998), Shattered Dreams, Marital Violence Against Women: The Overseas-born in Australia (1996), Voices of the Survivors (1994) and Killing the Beloved: Homicide between Adult Sexual Intimates (1993).

In 2010 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia ‘for service to the community, education and the law through promoting awareness and understanding of violence against women, discrimination and access to justice for minority groups’ and she was ACT Australian of the Year in 2010. Other recognition for Professor Easteal’s work includes the Australian Learning and Teaching Council Award for Teaching Excellence in 2008, the Carrick Institute Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in 2007, Finalist in the Community Award (Individual) Australian Human Rights Commission 2012, the ACT Women’s Honour Roll 2012 and an ACT Women’s Award 2001.

She runs Legal Light Bulbs, a consultancy business, which illuminates social injustice and opportunities for change. It specialises in violence against women, workplace abuse and access to justice and provides research, training and expert court reports.