In 2020, Dame Sharon White became the first-ever woman to become chair of John Lewis & Partners, the largest employee-owned business in the UK. In 2022 she was named the UK’s most influential black person in the Powerlist awards. She was the first woman to lead the UK’s media regulator, Ofcom, and she came to that position after a distinguished career in Treasury, the Department for International Development and the World Bank. 

In the week of International Women’s Day, Julia sat down with Sharon to discuss her career journey and her views on how to work towards greater gender equality in the workplace and beyond. They were joined by Kelly Beaver, the first female Chief Executive of Ipsos in the UK and Ireland, who shared findings from a new survey from the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership and Ipsos looking at global attitudes to gender equality.

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Angela Saini is an award-winning science journalist and author. She has worked as a reporter for numerous media outlets including the BBC, the Guardian, New Scientist and National Geographic. In 2020, Angela was named one of the World’s Top 50 Thinkers by Prospect Magazine and in 2018 she was voted one of the most respected journalists in the UK.

Angela has written Superior: The Return of Race Science, which was published in 2019 to widespread critical acclaim, and Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong, which has been translated into fourteen languages. Both are on university reading lists across the world. Her latest book, The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule, is released this month and explores the roots of gendered oppression and how patriarchal systems became embedded in societies and spread across the globe.

The Patriarchs is available to order from independent UK bookshops here: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-patriarchs-how-men-came-to-rule-angela-saini/6898353?ean=9780008418113, and in Australia here: https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-patriarchs-angela-saini/book/9780008418113.html.

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Regina Waugh has been working in public service for over a decade to advance the rights of marginalised groups, champion gender equality and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. Regina served as the Obama administration’s director for human rights and gender at the White House National Security Council and as the chief of staff in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the US Department of State. Today, she is working with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems to support female leaders and advance gender equality in the electoral process.

Regina and Julia discuss how we can address barriers to women’s political participation, such as violence against women in politics both online and off, uneven access to electoral justice, and restrictive gender norms. We’re releasing this episode to coincide with the 16 Days of Action Against Domestic Violence; an international campaign that calls for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls. Find out more about the campaign, and what you can do to support its mission, here: https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/unite/16-days-of-activism.

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On 9 October 2012, Julia Gillard stood in Parliament House and delivered one of the most impassioned and iconic speeches in the history of Australian politics. The “misogyny speech” reverberated around the world and continues to reach further into our collective consciousness to this day. Julia’s words were a call to arms from the highest office in the nation – that misogyny and sexism should no longer be tolerated, because women are entitled to a better standard in private, public and professional life, and ten years on, her speech continues to inspire and challenge us to call out sexism and misogyny in every field. 

Julia sat down with historian Mary Beard earlier this month at an event to mark the ten-year anniversary, explore the legacy of the speech today and look at what's next in the fight for gender equality. In this episode, you’ll hear that conversation, recorded live from the event for the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London.

During the conversation, Mary and Julia discuss Julia's new book, Not Now, Not Ever: Ten years on from the misogyny speech, which features contributions from Mary Beard, Jess Hill, Jennifer Palmieri, Katharine Murphy and many others. All profits from the book go to the Global Institute for Women's Leadership to support our research and advocacy work. You can find out more about the book here: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/not-now-not-ever-9780143779759.

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Rosie Campbell is professor of politics and Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London, where she works with Julia. Rosie has authored research on voting behaviour, public opinion and the politics of diversity and political recruitment.

In this episode, Julia asks Rosie about women’s participation in politics and gendered patterns of support for the populist radical right. Julia and Rosie also discuss the main issues facing women that risk stalling gender equality over the next decade, and how we can accelerate the rate of change and advance women’s access to leadership.

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Listeners are advised that this episode contains discussion of suicide. If you need support at any time, please call Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 or Lifeline on 13 11 14

In this powerful episode, Julia is joined by renowned journalist, radio presenter, and author Indira Naidoo to explore acceptance, grief, love, and the healing powers of nature.

During her 30 odd year career, Indira has hosted and reported for numerous news and current affairs shows, becoming a well-known and celebrated personality on Australian TV.

Today, you can hear her voice on the ABC’s Nightline program. She will also be hosting two live events with Julia in Melbourne and Sydney this October to commemorate ten years since ‘The Misogyny Speech’.

In 2000, Indira branched out beyond full-time news broadcasting to pursue advocacy based around global environmental problems and linking these to conflict, poverty, equity and food security. She has also become an advocate for food-gardening and design, publishing the Edible Balcony and The Edible City.

Indira’s latest book The Space Between the Stars is an entirely different offering which provides a deeply personal exploration of Indira’s views of love, loss, and the restorative powers of nature, which she wrote following her youngest sister’s death by suicide.

Julia and Indira discuss the incredible bond Indira shared with her sisters, and how the enduring power of sisterhood helped to carry her through life’s most difficult times.  

You can purchase Indira's book, The Space Between the Stars here.

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Dr Lina AbiRafeh is a global women’s rights expert and gender equality advocate. She has spent more than two decades working to eradicate gender-based violence worldwide, working in more than 20 countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nepal, and many more.

Lina previously served as the director of the Arab Institute for Women at the Lebanese American University and has worked as an advisor and aid worker for various human rights and development organisations, including the World Bank and several United Nations agencies.

In 2018 and 2019 she was listed among the Gender Equality Top 100 most influential people in Global Policy for her research and dedication to gender-based violence prevention.

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Baroness Helena Kennedy is one of Britain’s most distinguished lawyers and has dedicated her more than forty-year career to giving voice to those who have least power within the system. Helena has worked on some of the UK’s most high-profile cases, including the appeal by the Guildford Four, who were wrongly accused and imprisoned for planting an IRA bomb in a pub used by British soldiers. She is also a leading voice for equal opportunities for women working in law and has championed reforms to address the discrimination experienced by women in the legal system, especially relating to sexual and domestic violence.

In this episode, Helena shares what sparked her love affair with the law and how she bucked convention to become one of Britain's leading barristers at a time when women were largely excluded from the legal profession. She and Julia discuss her landmark human rights cases, and also delve into her recent work on the #EvacuateHer campaign to provide support to female judges, lawyers, women’s rights activists, human rights defenders and their families who were at risk after the Taliban's resurgence in Afghanistan.

• Learn more about the #EvacuateHer campaign here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-afghan-judges-lawyers-womens-activists

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