Researcher biography
Dr Belinda Eslick is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Policy Futures at The University of Queensland, whose research spans continental feminist philosophy, gender studies, feminist political economy, and ecofeminist philosophy.
Her current research is focused on feminist perspectives on mothering and ‘matrescence’, reproductive labour and care, housework, and childcare - and is especially concerned with redressing maternal economic injustice, or the ‘motherhood penalty’, through Australian family policy analysis and reform.
She is currently leading a project on feminist childcare policy reform in Australia, alongside a cross-university team of feminist scholars across Australia. A current project in philosophy considers how the culture/nature dualism and woman-nature connection in Western philosophy informs cultural, economic, and political attitudes towards social reproduction and thus women’s experiences of the home and mothering. Other ongoing projects include her work on the philosophy of Luce Irigaray, French poststructuralist feminist thought, and women’s non-institutional political theory and practice. With colleagues in philosophy and gender studies, she is also working on an emerging project that considers mothers’ experiences of academia in Australia and the philosophical implications of maternity in the academy.
Publications
Book Chapter
Eslick, Belinda (2023). Sexuation as a frame for human becoming: reading a "plastic" essence in Irigaray's philosophy. What Is sexual difference? Thinking with Irigaray. (pp. 124-142) edited by Mary C. Rawlinson and James Sares. New York, NY United States: Columbia University Press. doi: 10.7312/rawl20272-009
Journal Articles
Roberts, Robin E., Quach, Sara, Eslick, Belinda, Le, (Jenny) Dung and Thaichon, Park (2025). Social capital in developing resilience after a transformative change: a case study of the deregulated Queensland dairy industry. Australasian Marketing Journal 14413582251390594. doi: 10.1177/14413582251390594
Eslick, Belinda (2025). A logic within: International Relations retold. Australian Book Review no. 482.
Davies, Sara E. E., Eslick, Belinda, Calsado, Darlene Joy D., Juanico, Claire Samantha, Oo, Zin Mar, Roberts, Robin E. E., Yadanar, and Woyengu, Naomi (2023). Centering social reproduction during crisis: women's experiences of food insecurity in Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Review of International Political Economy, 31 (2), 535-562. doi: 10.1080/09692290.2023.2231472
Eslick, Belinda (2022). Review of: Catherine Fisher, Sound Citizens: Australian Women Broadcasters Claim Their Voice, 1923–1956, Canberra: ANU Press, 2021. Lilith: a feminist history journal (28), 155-157.
Eslick, Belinda (2022). Labour relations: Recognising the value of life-supporting work in the home and garden. Wonderground (3), 142-147.
Eslick, Belinda (2021). Review of James Keating, Distant Sisters: Australasian Women and the International Struggle for the Vote, 1880–1914, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020. Lilith: a feminist history journal, 253-255.
Eslick, Belinda (2020). Women’s politics as radical politics: reconceptualising women’s historical and contemporary political practices with the work of Luce Irigaray. Lilith: A Feminist History Journal, 26, 81-101. doi: 10.22459/lfhj.26.04
Eslick, Belinda (2016). "The moral power of the citizen questioner': scrutinizing the value of audience questions on the ABC's Q&A. Media International Australia, 161 (1), 120-131. doi: 10.1177/1329878X16642852
Conference Papers
Eslick, Belinda (2026). Slowing down to the speed of life: framing the work-care "juggle" and parents' time poverty as haste. Who Cares? Imagining Feminist Solutions to Australia's Childcare Crisis, Online, 24-25 June 2026.
Eslick, Belinda (2025). How could foregrounding 'matrescence' reshape family social welfare provisions in Australia?. Matrescence Symposium, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 17-18 July 2025.
Eslick, Belinda (2025). Ruddick's "maternal thinking" as Boulous Walker's "slow philosophy". The Australasian Association of Philosophy Conference, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 6-10 July 2025.
Eslick, Belinda (2025). ‘What if the “object” started to speak?’ Locating maternal subjectivity via an Irigarayan analysis of the Australian Birth Stories podcast. Natality - Interdisciplinary Approaches to Birth as Existential Experience, Society for the Study of Pregnancy and Birth (SSPRB), Online, 4-6 April 2025.
Ramos, Fabiane, Eslick, Belinda and Roberts, Laura (2024). Parallel mothers; parallel academics: becoming mothers in Australian academia. Australian Women's and Gender Studies Association: "Not Just Another (Feminist) Conference": Gathering To Explore Courageous Feminisms, Southern Cross University, Bundjalung Country, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, 13-15 November 2024.
Eslick, Belinda (2024). The home as a site of (eco)feminist subjectivity? A critical ecofeminist response to the "tradwife" movement. Australian Women's and Gender Studies Association: "Not Just Another (Feminist) Conference": Gathering To Explore Courageous Feminisms, Southern Cross University, Bundjalung Country, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, 13-15 November 2024.
Eslick, Belinda (2023). Irigaray’s ‘Sexuate Structure’ as a plastic essence: thinking with Malabou’s ‘Plasticity’. Metamorphoses of Mimesis: Plasticity, Subjectivity, and Transformation with Catherine Malabou , Leuven, Belgium, 23-24 Februrary 2023.
Eslick, Belinda (2022). Social Reproduction and Food Insecurity During Crisis: Women's Experiences of Food Insecurity and Risk-taking Behaviour in Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Australian Women's and Gender Studies Association Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 28-30 November 2022.
Eslick, Belinda (2022). Sexuation as a Frame for Human Becoming: Reading a “Plastic” Essence in Irigaray’s Philosophy. Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy Conference, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 28-30 November 2022.
Eslick, Belinda (2022). A philosophy of the living: Luce Irigaray as ecofeminist. 11th Meeting of the Irigaray Circle: Thresholds of Difference, Atlanta, GA United States, 20-22 May 2022.
Eslick, Belinda (2021). The home as a site of (eco)feminist subjectivity: Interrogating the ambiguity of “house and home” as values for feminism through a feminist analysis of the “tradwife” movement. Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy Conference, Gold Coast, Australia, 8-10 December 2021.
Eslick, Belinda (2021). The home as a site of ambiguity and ambivalence for women and feminism: revisiting Iris Marion Young. 'Unknowing Insitutions: Decolonisation and Critical Intersectional Practice'. Australian Women's and Gender Studies Conference, Adelaide, South Australia, 14-16 July 2021.
Roberts, R. E., Eslick, B. and Kc, D. (2021). Understanding consumer preferences for new market entry: a study of strawberry consumption in Jakarta. IX International Strawberry Symposium, Rimini, Italy, 3-6 May 2020. Leuven, Belgium: International Society for Horticultural Science. doi: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2021.1309.149
Eslick, Belinda (2019). Post-anti-essentialist perspectives in the recent works of Luce Irigaray. The Irigaray Circle at Diverse Lineages of Existentialism II, Washington, DC USA, 5 June 2019.
Eslick, Belinda (2018). Political change as natality: birthing new worlds, together. Working With Luce Irigaray seminar, The University of Warwick, United Kingdom, 11-16 June 2018.
Eslick, Belinda (2017). The importance of feminist theory in studies about women: reflections from a university without Gender Studies. School of Education Postgraduate Research Community Conference, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 16 September 2017.
Eslick, Belinda (2017). The importance of feminist theory in studies about women: reflections from a university without Gender Studies. School of Education Postgraduate Research Community Conference, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 16 September 2017.
Eslick, Belinda (2015). The importance of remembering women’s non-institutional political activity in Australian political narratives. The centenary of European women’s right to be elected to Queensland parliamentent, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 20 October 2015.
Thesis
Eslick, Belinda (2020). Women, difference, and ‘Politics’: reconceptualising women’s non-institutional and non-party political activity to identify women’s radical political subjectivities. PhD Thesis, School of Education, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2020.839
Working Paper
Eslick, Belinda (2019). Women as radical citizens: reconceptualising women's non-institutional political activity as revolt. On Gender. Gender Studies, The University of Queensland Australia.
Newspaper Articles
Eslick, Belinda (2026, 05 01). Is Labor’s universal childcare plan really a win? The Saturday Paper
Eslick, Belinda (2026, 01 17). Albanese wants universal childcare. How about paying mothers directly? The Point
Eslick, Belinda, Ramos, Fabiane and Roberts, Laura (2025, 12 25). It’s hard to describe what it feels like to become a mum, but it has a name: matrescence The Conversation doi: 10.64628/AA.taa9qj9yr
Seminar Papers
Eslick, Belinda (2025). ‘Wages for Housework’ in Australia: historical and contemporary perspectives. Gender Studies Seminar Series. School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland, Brisbane.
Eslick, Belinda (2022). The Home and Feminist Subjectivity: A Feminist Psychoanalytic Reading of “the Home” With Luce Irigaray. UQ Philosophy Work-In-Progress Seminar 2022. School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland.
Eslick, Belinda (2019). Women as radical citizens: reconceptualising women's non-institutional political activity as revolt. On Gender. Gender Studies, The University of Queensland.
Generic Documents
Eslick, Belinda (2025). Working from home: tradwives and ecofeminism. Griffith University.