When you look up Professor Rae Cooper on Google Scholar, there are 2659 citations.

Rae is Professor at the University of Sydney, where she is the founding Director of the Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion @ Work. She also has multiple fellowships, collaborations with groups like the Australian Human Rights Commission and the OECD, and is generally incredibly impressive and knowledgeable.

Rae is one of Australia’s leading experts on the many aspects of women’s working lives. She is an Order of Australia, a mother of two, and she says it like she thinks it. 

In today’s chat, we speak about:

• The midlife collision of work, care, the mental load, the physical load, caring for parents, and women are exhausted.

• Employer solutions like flexibility, and ensuring people aren't penalised for taking it.

• Government solutions such as Paid Parental Leave and policy architecture.

• How women feel like they have to do everything twice as well, while their mistakes are amplified.

• The motherhood penalty, flex work, and how men see their partners being penalised in their careers.

• What women want: respect, job security, flexibility, and equal pay.

• The outsize impact your direct and one-up manager have on your work experience.

• The stories Rae has heard about lack of respect - being talked over, interrupted, and everyday sexism.

• The power of collective action and professional peers.

I am so excited to be learning from her today, thank you so much for joining me, Rae Cooper!

I currently have plantar fasciitis, which is essentially a sore heel, and I’ve been told it can be symptom of perimenopause. But what can NOT be a symptom of perimenopause I ask!?

Well, on this episode I am joined by Dr. Charlotte Middleton. She’s an integrative GP with over 25 years of expertise, specialising in women’s health. She founded Dr Charlotte’s Web, focused on mothers and their babies, and is about to open a new integrative medicine clinic. I came across her via Biolae – a supplement company – where she is Chief Medical Officer.

She’s also a mum, navigating a man’s world in the medical field. The latest reported gender pay gap for full-time medical specialists was 33.6%.

If you want to know what peri-menopause is, how we know if we’re in it, and how to deal with the symptoms, as well as a bit of Doctor Charlotte’s own story listen on.

Joy Adan is a Filipino-born presenter, writer and artist from Western Sydney. She’s passionate about challenging the status quo, and said after she had children she sat down with her husband and said, ‘whatever this partnership is, the terms have now changed.”

If you want some honest truths – like I love my child AND I find this really hard – are interested to know what it looks like to rewrite cultural and gender roles, and you need permission to discard the lessons we’ve been taught about self sacrifice, Joy is your woman. 

Jane Caro is a renowned feminist author and social commentator, known for saying exactly what’s on her mind. She’s known for her sharp wit, her humour and fearless advocacy for gender equality, and is a pioneering feminist in Australia who’s name you most likely already know.

Jane is a Walkley Award winner, a Member of the Order of Australia, a mother, a grandmother, a wife, a beef producer and a timber grower.

I’m honoured to have the opportunity to speak with her, and I hope you enjoy her passion and humour as she talks about all things feminism. 

*This summer we're re-releasing previous episodes that we loved. Here is Koa Beck  episode from 2021* 

*This summer we're re-releasing previous episodes that we loved. Here is Jess Hill episode from 2021* 

Investigative journalist Jess Hill wrote the award-winning See What You Made Me Do, about the national emergency of domestic abuse in Australia. It’s a riveting but deeply distressing look at the real-life stories of women and children, how the justice system enables abusers, and hope for reducing violence through community intervention. Please note there is a content warning on this episode. It’s incredibly important listening, but it’s also upsetting at points, and we discuss family violence and child abuse.

Diversity Council of Australia CEO Lisa Annese is a self-described feminist and activist, working to improve gender equality in Australian workplaces. She is passionate about the connection between the gendered roles we still expect at home with a lack of progress for women in workplaces.  Lisa shared research from the DCA that shows men’s mental health and wellbeing benefits from being in gender equal relationships, families and workplaces. The conversation around men’s mental health and women wanting flexibility and support in the workplace are two sides of the same coin, and Lisa’s deep knowledge around gender issues led us on a fascinating discussion.

*This summer we're re-releasing previous episodes that we loved. Here is Catherine Fox episode from 2019* 

• The speed of change with the gender equality, and changes that contribute to hope

• The Persisterhood

• The seven myths of women at work

• The four stages of gender equity awareness

• The male breadwinner model in Australia and how it impacts progress

• The importance of financial freedom for women, and teaching that to girls

• Invisibility of older women and statistics around homelessness

• How can we make change ourselves, and gathering groups together to drive change

• Benefits of long daycare for children

*This summer we're re-releasing previous episodes that we loved. Here is Kirstin Ferguson's episode from 2019* 

Kirstin Ferguson shared the inspiring stories of 757 women in her #CelebratingWomen movement as a push back against the toxicity of the online world for women. In this conversation we talked about the movement, her resulting book WomenKind, and how we can all advocate for change wherever we are.

*This summer we're re-releasing previous episodes that we loved. Here is Jamila Rizvi episode from 2018* 

We will rise together or not at all

Jamila Rizvia is an author, presenter, political commentator, the newly appointed editor-at-large of Future Women, former editor-in-chief of MamaMia. She has written two books, Not Just Lucky and The Motherhood, and signs off her emails Troublemaker At Large, which is a great sign.

We discuss:

a series of hilarious but also scary statistics, like the fact that there are more men named Andrew than women running ASX200 companies

Tips for negotiating, such as focus on what you want, not what you’ve got

The structural inequalities that we live in, and the importance of understanding them so we can see it’s not ‘just me’

Diversity is proven to shift the bottom line in organisations, so how do we make workplaces work better for women

A glorious story about how Barak Obama’s female staff supported each others ideas and in being heard

That we can all be part of the sisterhood and the feminist movement in whatever way works for us as individuals

The importance of community

How we all need to let go of the pursuit of perfection, and give ourselves a bit of a break

Resources

We mention some resources throughout the conversation, here is where you can find links to them all!

Future Women, where Jamila has taken the helm and is building an amazing community.

Jamila’s books, Not Just Lucky and The Motherhood

And her own website - https://www.jamilarizvi.com.au/

*This summer we're re-releasing previous episodes that we loved. Here is Caroline Patrick episode from 2018* 

“I remember those days were just so challenging. He was traveling for work, I was traveling for work...There was a moment where we were just hoping the various planes we were on weren’t delayed so that we could pick up the kids!”

Caroline Patrick is one of Australia’s most passionate marketers, ticking off a variety of achievements such as revitalising one of Australia’s most loved brands, launching a health fund, and winning Australian Marketing Institute Certified Practising Marketer of the Year Award. Currently, Caroline sits on the Executive Management Team at the Radio Rentals Group and is part of a team driving business transformation. Caroline has been making very deliberate choices aiming for a balanced and fulfilled lifestyle and career, and now  lives in the beautiful Adelaide Hills, supported by her stay at home husband Iain and their two children Amelia, 11 and Cameron, 8.

• Caroline’s background and how she accidentally moved to Australia from the UK

• Why she had to become creative in her job choices and the benefits of bypassing the corporate ladder and pursuing a jungle gym career

• The importance of having a sense of purpose and alignment of values in work roles

• Being the only woman on the executive team

• The process Caroline and her husband Iain went through to make the transition for him to be a stay-at-home dad

• Making conscious decisions and changes to support those decisions, as opposed to just letting life happen

• Caroline’s experience of Mother Guilt and the double standard for stay-at-home dads in our society

• The important of putting judgments aside when making decisions that are right for you

• Caroline’s advice to anyone who might be in the two-working-parents juggle right now

• Why you should ask for what you want and question the status quo

• The gift of giving yourself permission to outsource the things that make life easier

Caroline mentions the FriDads, a group of stay at home Dads from Alice Springs