The Looking Glass

US women: time to end sexist media portray of women in politics
2 September 2010 | 9:24 am
A new group NameItChangeIt has been formed by women in the US to document and combat sexist portrayal of women in public life. Read the article
Special measures to promote women’s employment are NOT in breach of the Sex Discrimination Act
6 July 2010 | 12:00 pm
Letter to the Australian Financial Review by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner:

Your article entitled “ASX gender targets raise legal danger” (July 5) argues that listed companies risk breaking the law by pursuing gender targets required by the Australian Securities Exchange.

This risk does not arise if the action taken by the company is a “special [...]
Janet Albrechtson’s low blow
27 May 2010 | 12:06 pm
Ideas obviously failed The Australian‘s vituperative columnist in her blog yesterday so she had to resort to attacking for me as “ageing”. She might have meant it as insult but I wear my years proudly. Read her ill-informed rant here
Gender Equity Stats
30 April 2010 | 3:23 pm
As requested, I am posting this summary of the disparities in pay and other indicators between women and men in Australia. The stats were prepared by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, in 2009 but the situation has changed little, if at all, since then: Gender Equality Stats 2009,
A wonderful BBC archive on the second wave
14 April 2010 | 3:48 pm
The history of the second wave women’s movement captured via speeches and interviews. See it here
Nina Funnell on young feminists
13 April 2010 | 4:58 pm
Funnell, journalist and student, has written an insightful opinion piece which is published online today in The National Times generational differences in feminism. Read the article
The President takes the picture
4 April 2010 | 7:16 pm

Barack Obama photographs the press
Archive for FEATURED LINKS »

Historic moment, but barriers remain for half the population

by Anne Summers
Sydney Morning Herald, 25 June 2010

Julia Gillard may have played down the significance of her sex when she became Australia’s first female prime minister yesterday, saying she “did not set out to crash my head against any glass ceilings” and pointing out that she was also the first redhead to lead the country. But there is no denying this moment of history.

Nor that it has taken Australia an inordinately long time to achieve it. Alone of the democracies in our region, our political leadership remained conspicuously male-dominated. India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea and, of course, New Zealand have all had at least one woman head of government.

Read the rest of my article.

Shifting Power: We changed the world, now what’s different?

Communities in Control Conference 2010, Moonee Valley Racing Club, Melbourne, 1 June 2010

“It is a great honour for me to have been invited to address you today and, especially, to have been introduced by no less a figure than Joan Kirner, whom we all love for the trails she has blazed – especially for women in politics. Thank you Joan. Thank you for the introduction, and thank you for all you done for those who have come after you.

Last week in The Australian newspaper, the columnist Janet Albrechtson described me as an “aging activist”.

She meant it as an insult.”

Read the rest of my speech.

with Shirley Walker on The Conversation Hour

Last week I was a guest on Richard Fidler’s The Conversation Hour, broadcast live on ABC local radio from the Sydney Writers Festival. With me was Shirley Walker, author of the wonderful book The Ghost at the Wedding. I was talking about my book The Lost Mother. Listen (I hope the link works. If not got to abc.net.au and follow the links to The Conversation Hour and look for the podcasts)