Marian Baird AO became Professor of Gender and Employment Relations in 2009, distinguishing her as the first female professor in industrial relations at the University of Sydney. She is a Presiding Pro-Chancellor of the University of Sydney, Head of the Discipline of Work and Organisational Studies and Co-Director of the Women, Work and Leadership Research Group in the University of Sydney Business School.

Marian was awarded an AO (Officer of the Order of Australia) for outstanding services to improving the quality of women’s working lives and for contributions to tertiary education in 2016. In 2018 and in 2019, Marian was named in Apolitical's Top 100 Most Influential People in Gender Equality list. In 2014 she received the Edna Ryan Award for making positive change for women in the workforce, in 2013 she received the AFR/Westpac Women of Influence Award in Public Policy, and in 2015 and 2003 she won the University of Sydney’s Business Schools most engaged researcher awards.