Dr Tracy McEwan
Honorary Lecturer
School of Humanities, Creative Ind and Social Sci
Career Summary
Biography
Dr Tracy McEwan is a theologian and sociologist of religion and gender at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Her doctoral research explored the religious identity and participation of Generation X (Gen X) Catholic women in Australia.
Dr McEwan is part of the research team for the International Survey of Catholic Women (ISCW), a survey of more than 17,000 Catholic women from 104 countries, across 8 language groups. The largest global survey of Catholic women ever undertaken, the ISCW explores the concerns, insights, and experiences of Catholic women involving church reform and the COVID-19 pandemic. She presented the global report, International Survey of Catholic Women (ISCW): Analysis and Report of Findings to Pope Francis on international Women’s Day 2023. The Australian report, International Survey of Catholic Women (ISCW): Analysis of Responses from Australia was published in September 2023.
Dr McEwan holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Theology) and Master of Theology from the University of Newcastle and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Mathematics) from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She is co-chair of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Women and Religion unit, and co-facilitator of the podcast "Australian Women Preach" which celebrates the diverse talents of women preachers in Australia.
Research expertise
Dr McEwan’s expertise in theology, sociology, and mathematics enable her to apply various empirical methods of analysis of analysis to diverse contexts. She has proficiency in social research methodology, including the uses, strengths and limitations of various research strategies and approaches to conducting social inquiry. She is skilled in the design of social survey research tools, and the analysis, interpretation and reporting of both qualitative and quantitative data. An experienced and capable computer programmer, Dr McEwan is proficient with the software packages SPSS, Excel, NVIVO, REDcap and R.
Research collaborations
Dr McEwan is open to connecting regarding research and speaking opportunities. Her research, writing and presenting interests include: Catholic theology and ecclesiology; women in Catholicism; gender based violence; Church participation, generations and life stage.
Research leadership and impact
Dr McEwan is part of the research team for the International Survey of Catholic Women (ISCW), the largest global survey of Catholic women ever undertaken. She is lead author of both ISCW reports the International Survey of Catholic Women (ISCW): Analysis and Report of Findings and the International Survey of Catholic Women (ISCW): Analysis of Responses from Australia. In 2023, the ISCW team was awarded the University of Newcastle Excellence Award for Global Engagement.
Dr McEwan was part of the NCLS Research team for the National Anglican Family Violence Project and co-author the NAFVP Experience Study Report. This groundbreaking research investigated the nature and prevalence of intimate partner violence among those with a connection to the Anglican Church in Australia.
Dr McEwan has recent publications in Religions, Religion and Gender, Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, Australian Journal of Social Issues, Marriage, Families & Spirituality, and The Conversation.
Research outreach
Dr McEwan is an excellent communicator who shares her research and experience with a wide range of audiences worldwide. She is an invited speaker and presenter on a broad range of topics related to her research.
Research awards
In 2023, as part of the ISCW team, Dr McEwan was awarded the University of Newcastle Excellence Award for Global Engagement.
In 2018, as the NCLS Research Summer Scholar, Dr McEwan used the results from the 2016 National Church Life Survey to explore how different generations of Catholic church-attending women are living and enacting their Catholic identity.
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy in Theology, University of Newcastle
- Master of Theology with Distinction, University of Newcastle
Keywords
- Catholic Church
- Feminist theology
- church participation
- domestic violence
- gender violence
- lived religion
- sociology
- women
Fields of Research
| Code | Description | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 441014 | Sociology of religion | 30 |
| 441006 | Sociological methodology and research methods | 40 |
| 441010 | Sociology of gender | 30 |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Chapter (1 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 |
McEwan T, Sterland S, McPhillips K, 'Participation and Engagement in Catholic Parish Life in Australia: Examining the Impact and Importance of Cultural and Linguistic Factors', 31, 162-188 (2020) [B1]
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Open Research Newcastle | ||||||
Journal article (10 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 |
McEwan T, Shorter RC, Riches T, 'Feminist Complaint Collectives and Doorway Disruptions in Australian Christian Traditions', Feminist Encounters, 9 (2025) [C1] Christian traditions maintain patriarchal cultures by upholding gendered norms that can shape ministry opportunities and sanction gender inequality and sexism, while also scaffold... [more] Christian traditions maintain patriarchal cultures by upholding gendered norms that can shape ministry opportunities and sanction gender inequality and sexism, while also scaffolding gendered violence. Feminist Christian women who name this inequality, or who 'protest' and 'complain' can therefore be subject to a range of adverse consequences, from subtle social disapproval to malicious abuse and exclusion. Simultaneously, although Christian women led in 19th century feminist movements, contemporary religious and secular feminists can be mutually sceptical. As a result, Christian feminist women often occupy a marginal space. Sara Ahmed has consistently argued that when feminists speak of sexism within institutional settings, the response is often to problematise the complainer. Ahmed (2021) introduces the idea of forming complaint collectives to enable feminists to do counter-institutional work. In this paper we use Ahmed's scholarship to locate Christian feminists as 'complainants' and assemble ourselves to create a Christian feminist complaint collective. We present case studies of complaints and doorway disruptions in Catholic, Anglican, and pentecostal settings to challenge gender inequality and marginalisation and reconceptualise how feminist theory can be (re)applied to feminist activism within Christian religious traditions and communities.
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| 2025 |
Hürten M, Leimgruber U, McEwan T, McPhillips K, 'The Politics of Vulnerability Concerning Sexual and Spiritual Abuse in the Catholic Church', Religions, 16 (2025) [C1] This article addresses methodological approaches to the study of vulnerable cohorts with specific attention to definitions of the term vulnerability. In particular, it investigate... [more] This article addresses methodological approaches to the study of vulnerable cohorts with specific attention to definitions of the term vulnerability. In particular, it investigates the issue of adults, particularly women, who have experienced abuse in the Catholic Church. Relevant analysis in this area is primarily interdisciplinary-based research and includes sociological and psychological perspectives and theological and historical analysis. This article critically analyzes the current definitions of vulnerability in Church and research contexts, and the methodological approaches utilized in defining vulnerable cohorts. It argues that specific ethical principles and methodological strategies are required to safeguard participants and researchers guided by the principles of feminist ethics. These include (1) attention to the uses and definitions of key terms by participants and researchers; (2) identifying the positionality of researchers as central to an ethical standpoint including their exposure to secondary trauma; and (3) establishing inclusive methods such as participatory research and sensitive recruitment. Paying attention to ongoing issues experienced by cohorts identified as vulnerable in research, including the stigmatization of their status, marginalization of their cases, and trauma of disclosure alongside ongoing risk assessment, is central to the research design process.
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| 2023 |
Figueroa Alvear R, McEwan T, 'Conscience in Amoris Laetitia and the Responses of Women in Oceania', Marriage, Families & Spirituality, 29 171-183 (2023) [C1]
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| 2023 |
Pepper M, Powell R, McEwan T, 'The Impact of Marriage Norms and Gender on Anglican Clergy Actions in Response to Domestic Violence', RELIGIONS, 14 (2023) [C1]
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| 2023 |
Foote W, Mason J, Conley Wright A, McEwan T, 'Collaboration between Australian peak bodies and governments in the context of the COVID 19 pandemic: new ways of interacting', Australian Journal of Social Issues (2023) [C1]
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Open Research Newcastle | |||||||||
| 2022 |
McPhillips K, McEwan T, Death J, Richards K, 'Does Gender Matter? An Analysis of the Role and Contribution of Religious Socialisation Practices in the Sexual Abuse of Boys and Girls in the Catholic Church', Religion and Gender, 12, 52-77 (2022) [C1]
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| 2022 |
McPhillips K, McEwan T, Death J, Richards K, 'Does Gender Matter?', Religion and Gender, 12, 52-77 (2022) [C1]
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| 2022 |
McPhillips K, McEwan T, 'The Sexual Economies of Clericalism: Women Religious and Gendered Violence in the Catholic Church', RELIGIONS, 13 (2022) [C1]
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| 2018 |
McEwan T, 'Changing Patterns of Religious Practice and Belief among Church-attending Catholic Women in Australia', JOURNAL FOR THE ACADEMIC STUDY OF RELIGION, 31, 186-215 (2018) [C1] In Australia, women currently outnumber men in both Catholic congregations and the Catholic workforce. However, for complex reasons, the Mass attendance rates of women are declini... [more] In Australia, women currently outnumber men in both Catholic congregations and the Catholic workforce. However, for complex reasons, the Mass attendance rates of women are declining. In opposition to this general shift away from church participation, a small yet significant group of Catholic women are still engaging in parish life. Using quantitative analysis to examine data collected in the 2006, 2011 and 2016 National Church Life Survey (NCLS), this article will explore the private and public practices, orthodoxy, and religious salience of Catholic church-attending women in Australia. It will consider reasons for an overall reduction in these measures of religiosity in successive generations and investigate apparent anomalies that find younger Catholic church-attending women possessing measures of religious practice that contest the notion of a uniform generational decline in Catholic women's religiosity.
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Open Research Newcastle | |||||||||
| 2017 |
McEwan T, McPhillips K, 'Re-framing Religious Identity and Belief: Gen X Women and the Catholic Church', JOURNAL FOR THE ACADEMIC STUDY OF RELIGION, 30, 205-226 (2017) [C1] Gen X women grew up in the Catholic Church in the climate of cultural and theological change brought about by the Second Vatican Council. Given the Catholic Church's attempt ... [more] Gen X women grew up in the Catholic Church in the climate of cultural and theological change brought about by the Second Vatican Council. Given the Catholic Church's attempt to move into the modern world, it might be expected that such changes would result in an increase of participation by women in the Church. In fact, the opposite has happened and the participation of Gen X Catholic women in Church life is at substantially low levels. This article reviews the current research in this area, and seeks to contextualise the experiences of Gen X women in the broader social changes that have characterised late modernity. It contends that current methods of examining the religious identity of Gen X Catholic women fail to understand the complexity of reasons for non-participation. Shifting the research focus beyond a simple model of church participation will shed important light on the sociology of Catholicism and religious identity in Australia.
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Report (3 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 |
Foote W, Alston M, Betts D, McEwan T, 'Women's leadership and a community 'saving itself': learning from disasters, health and well-being impacts of the Northern Rivers flood 2022' (2024)
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Open Research Newcastle | ||||||
| 2023 |
McEwan T, McPhillips K, Pepper M, 'International Survey of Catholic Women: Analysis and Report of Findings' (2023)
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| 2023 |
McEwan T, McPhillips K, Pepper M, 'International Survey of Catholic Women: Analysis of Responses from Australia', 1-83 (2023)
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Grants and Funding
Summary
| Number of grants | 2 |
|---|---|
| Total funding | $35,000 |
Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.
20242 grants / $35,000
An interdisciplinary investigation of gendered violence in communities of Catholic women religious (CWR) in Germany and Australia$25,000
Funding body: University of Newcastle
| Funding body | University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor Kathleen McPhillips, Magdalena Huerten, Ute Leimgruber, Doctor Tracy McEwan |
| Scheme | Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme (DAAD) |
| Role | Investigator |
| Funding Start | 2024 |
| Funding Finish | 2025 |
| GNo | G2301416 |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | Y |
Safeguarding and Resilience: Investigating Experiences of Sexual Violence Among Catholic Women Religious in Australia.$10,000
Funding body: Australian Research Theology Foundation Inc. (ARTFinc)
| Funding body | Australian Research Theology Foundation Inc. (ARTFinc) |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor Kathleen McPhillips, Doctor Tracy McEwan |
| Scheme | Research Grant |
| Role | Investigator |
| Funding Start | 2024 |
| Funding Finish | 2024 |
| GNo | G2401356 |
| Type Of Funding | C3200 – Aust Not-for Profit |
| Category | 3200 |
| UON | Y |
News
News • 12 Sep 2023
Australian Catholic women echo the global call for church reform
Australian Catholic women are echoing their international sisters’ hunger for church reform, new research has shown.
News • 6 Mar 2023
Catholic women’s cries for change to be heard at the Vatican on IWD
The most extensive global survey of Catholic women ever undertaken, detailing experiences of women in the church, will be presented by Australian researchers in-person at the Vatican this International Women’s Day.
Dr Tracy McEwan
Positions
Honorary Lecturer
School of Humanities, Creative Ind and Social Sci
College of Human and Social Futures
Casual Research Assistant
School of Humanities, Creative Ind and Social Sci
College of Human and Social Futures
Contact Details
| tracy.mcewan@newcastle.edu.au | |
| Mobile | 0425 269491 |
NEWS • 12 Sep 2023
Australian Catholic women echo the global call for church reform
New analysis of the world-first International Survey of Catholic Women has found Australian Catholic women are echoing their international sisters’ hunger for church reform.
NEWS • 06 Mar 2023
Catholic women’s cries for change to be heard at the Vatican on IWD
The most extensive global survey of Catholic women ever undertaken, detailing experiences of women in the church, will be presented by Australian researchers in-person at the Vatican this International Women’s Day.
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