Gloria Steinem paved the way for feminism around the world and now, at age 77, she's as committed as ever to the belief that women deserve an equal footing to men... but according to Steinem we're not there yet.

In this interview Australia's own Belinda Luscombe, an editor-at-large of TIME magazine examines how Steinem has shaped feminist opinions and what she's learnt along the way...  Read More

In last week's celebration of the centenary of International Women's Day, I heard a lot of comments from men and women about why we even need a day to reflect on the contribution that women make to our community, workplaces and economies.  I listened patiently to the satirical talkback on ABC radio mocking the call for quotas on boards; I listened as men muttered "what do they want now?" and I lamented when women said "I don't need special treatment, I can do it on my own".  Really? Read More

At a networking event recently a businessman mentioned that his wife – a highly educated, highly experienced professional – had left her role in an accounting firm after their children were born because “after the cost of childcare it was hardly worth her while to continue to work”.  Their children are now in school and with that, a new challenge: how to deal with the months of combined school holidays throughout the year, when the average worker in Australia gets four weeks leave a year.  So she continues to manage the household, and having been out of the workforce for several years now is uncertain when or if she will return. Read More

Do these ‘ladies of leisure’ pose a threat to Australia’s productivity? This is what a recent headline in The Australian newspaper indicated. The blame seems to be on us women – if only we were to choose to work, the danger of the ticking population time-bomb will be so much smaller. I’m not sure that this is a fair representation of the current situation. Why did so many women choose to leave the workforce in the fist place?  Read More

Earlier this week I wrote about the fact that everyone loses when women leave their careers.  The same is true when women attack women: everyone loses.  I’ve seen first hand the vengeance of stay at home mums who attack women for using childcare.  Then there’s the Ladder Kickers who get to the top and refuse to support the women behind them (“they got there the hard way so why shouldn’t others?”)  And now there’s a ridiculous new report by British Academic Catherine Hakim who slams executive women for having “nominal families with a single child” and “subcontracting out the work of caring for them to other women.”   Read More

This is the topic of a presentation I'll be delivering this Friday evening at TedXWoolloomooloo in Sydney.  I'll be taking to the stage alongside a number of thoughtleaders including an Indigenous Elder, a Fellow of Lowy Institute, a future thinker and a heatlth economist... each of us arguing the case for the topic we are passionate about.   Read More

This week I had the good fortune to address this Women in Transactions forum and what a dynamic and inspiring group it was: 60 intelligent, ambitious and optimistic women from many different organisations, all in the one room!  Rather than a pity party about all the obstacles women face in advancing to leadership roles, this was a celebration of what has been and can be achieved by the women in the room.  Wonderful!  Of course there was still the chance for me to point out the opportunities that lay ahead if we're prepared to make just subtle changes to the way we do things.  One point in particular struck a chord with the room - overcoming perfectionism! Read More

The long awaited bi-annual census results of women in leadership roles in Australia have been released today by EOWA, the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency.  Following a downward trend in almost every category in the 2008 results, the 2010 census results have been eagerly awaited.  The good news is the downward trend appears to have been arrested; the bad news is despite comprising 45% of the Australian labour force, women hold only 8% of key executive management roles, 3% of CEO roles, 8.4% of company director roles and 2.5% of ASX200 Chairs. Read More

Australian women are (on average) paid 18% less then men. That’s the lowest it’s been since 17.2% in 1994. We’re going backwards, but we’re getting active to reverse this issue. Get a list of the current facts here.

Last year it was on the first of September, and this year the date will be announced after the end of the financial year. This issue effects all of us women. I encourage you to check out the website, sign up and get ready to get active in campaigning for equal pay. Read More

Dr Peter Forsyth, a senior lecturer at Charles Darwin University claims that studies have found that there is no truth to the argument that testosterone makes men more aggressive, and that social factors such as the rise of feminism have destroyed the inhibition of women to be violent, and the expectation that men and women act differently.

Do you think men and women are equally likely to be violent? And does this mean that we should judge men and women on the same criteria when violent? If it’s not a case of boys just being (badly behaved) boys, how do we view male violence? Read More