Shih Joo Tan

Dr Shih Joo Tan is a Lecturer in Criminology, School of Social and Political Sciences and co-leads the Borders, Migration and Gendered Violence Research Hub. Her work is intersectional and broadly concerned with the intersections of gender, migration and harm of state systems for experiences of women migrants from all backgrounds, particularly in the context of family, work and employment. 

She completed her PhD at Monash University in 2021, which investigated the experiences of women migrant domestic workers in Singapore and Hong Kong. Following which, she undertook a Postdoctoral Researcher position with the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre. 

Her recent work is focused on the experiences of migrant and refugee communities in Australia, particularly on workplace sexual harassment, forced marriage and family and domestic violence. She has also been involved in various national and international collaborative projects that examines the impacts of existing legal and regulatory frameworks on sustaining harms, exploitation and violence against women. She is also interested in critical concepts of safety and security for migrant women from all backgrounds, and committed to research that is responsive and relevant to on-the-ground realities of gendered violence. 

She is author of the book, Gendered Labour, Everyday Security and Migration: An Examination of Domestic Work and Domestic Workers' Experiences in Singapore and Hong Kong, and has co-authored a series of research reports, Migrant and Refugee Women in Australia: A Study of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace (with Prof Marie Segrave, Prof Rebecca Wickes and Dr Chloe Keel). This is the first national study of migrant and refugee women’s experiences, understandings and responses to workplace sexual harassment.