The signs were looking hopeful. Days prior to the 6 October budget, the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg hinted at things to come, that female voices were finally penetrating the male ear. Accounting for...
Archive: Feature
Gladys and Daryl: why do intelligent and accomplished women fall for toxic men?
The first thing that struck me after Monday’s explosive revelations about Gladys Berejiklian and her secret five-year relationship with Daryl Maguire is why. Why do good women settle for bad men?...
Dear Gladys, you are breaking my heart
Oh, Gladys, you’re such a heartbreaker. Women everywhere wanted you to be so, so much better. We wanted you to be the star school prefect we thought you were, in your thick stockings, sensible heels...
On beauty: The secret lives of salon workers
Whether it is for cutting, dying, drying, tanning, plucking, waxing, popping or smoothing, almost all of us attend a salon - at least a few times a year. And in that exchange - between worker and...
Susan Ryan, a pioneering feminist with a big heart
The politician who achieved equal rights legislation for women in Australia, Susan Ryan AO, died unexpectedly last weekend in Sydney aged 77, still fighting for fairness in a country challenged by...
The potential of the token woman
Recognising the value of ‘token’ individuals within the workplace can broaden perspectives and improve the performance of teams. Diversity may have been a buzzword in the business world for decades...
It’s a man’s world: how policies compound the pain for women
COVID-19 times have brought sober realisations about deep shifts in Australian society. Encroaching steadily over the past half-century, these have been largely submerged from daily view, until now....
RBG’s amazing legacy
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death has generated an outpouring of grief around the globe. Part of this grief reflects her unparalleled status as a feminist icon and pioneer for women in the legal...
JK Rowling, her new book and toxic femininity
The ideas represented in JK Rowling's new book, and in her public discourse around trans identity as harmful to women, are 'toxic' for the ways they reinforce a strictly biological account of gender...