The research, by Harvard Business School Associate Professor Katherine B. Coffman reveals businesses can draw more women applicants by making it easier for candidates to know whether they’re qualified. This involves getting rid of vague language about the experience and skills required in job postings and listing more precise qualifications.  

“We found that candidates were talented, and yet they self-selected out,” said Coffman, whose research study was inspired by a commonly quoted statistic: Men apply for a job when they meet only 60 per cent of the qualifications, but women apply only if they meet 100 per cent of them.

Coffman and her research team set out to provide empirical evidence to this age-old statistic by first running experimental ads on freelance job platform UpWork. 

The first ads called for expertise in stereotypically male-dominated domains, and used fairly generic and vague language: “We are looking for candidates with [management expertise/experience in analytical thinking], as demonstrated through education, past work experience, and test scores. Successful applicants will also have strong writing and communication skills.” 

The research team offered an “intermediate” position, as well as an “expert” track that was considered more challenging but also came with more pay. Candidates had to choose which position to apply for, if any.

Just 6 per cent of women applied for the expert job, compared to 22 per cent of qualified men. 

Conversely, when the ad language was changed to provide clear guidance on the required qualifications, more women applicants (29 per cent) responded. The ‘clear guidance’ included asking candidates for an exact threshold of analytical or management UpWork test scores to apply to the advanced position. 

Coffman’s team then repeated the experiment on the research platform Prolific to clarify the results, which turned out to be similar to the UpWork study. Only 42 per cent of qualified women applied when vague job qualification language was used, compared to 56 per cent of men. And when specific guidance was given, the per cent of women applicants jumped up to 62 per cent.

In light of these results, Coffman offers some advice for hiring managers looking to attract more female candidates to their job postings: steer clear of vague qualifications, state the amount of experience and the skills candidates should possess, as well as actively recruit qualified female candidates, rather than waiting for people to apply. 

The advice is imperative for businesses as the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Global Gender Gap Report has declared only slow and steady gains for the proportion of women hired to leadership positions in the past eight years (a rate of just one per cent annually, that dropped to just 32 per cent in the first quarter of 2023). 

The data also shows women represent 46 per cent of entry-level roles, but then only 25 per cent of C-Suite roles. And the Global Gender Gap is also still 131 years away from closing. 

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To address this, the government has established a National Women’s Health Advisory Council, which has been actively working over the course of 2023 to advise the government on key policy areas of women’s health.

The Council’s role is in guiding how the Government delivers on the National Women’s Health Strategy 2020-2030. This strategy outlines Australia’s national approach to improving the health of women and girls – particularly those at greatest risk of poor health – and to reducing inequities between different groups.

Assistant Minister for Health Ged Kearney, a fromer nurse, has spoken to many women who’ve experienced medical misogyny. Earlier this year, she shared insights she’s heard with Women’s Agenda.

“Women and girls deserve tailored and targeted healthcare that recognises and reflects their experiences and concerns,” said Kearney.

Despite the fact that endometriosis affects 1 in 9 women and those assigned female at birth, or 190 million people globally, research has shown that medical professionals are still touting outdated pseudoscience that having a baby cures the disease (there is currrenlty no cure). And many don’t officially get diagnosed until their early thirties as it takes an average of eight years to be diagnosed with the common condition. 

When it comes to infertility, even though the condition affects about 1 in 6 Australian couples of reproductive age, gaps in knowledge among Australian women still persist, particularly in relation to what they can do to improve the chance of having children. 

Women also experience nearly twice as much depression as men, four times as much anxiety and 12 times the rate of eating disorders, according to Women’s Health Victoria. 

These unique challenges are leading women and girls to poorer health outcomes than men and boys.

Thankfully, this past year has brought about some exciting news in many areas of women’s health research. Here’s a look back at some of the biggest developments in 2023, and what they could mean for the future. 

New research proves that PCOS won’t hinder conception with fertility treatments

Women who have been diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and wish to conceive have the same likelihood of falling pregnant as women without the condition when they undergo fertility treatments, a study from The University of Queensland has found this year.

Researchers from UQ’s School of Public Health studied 1109 women who were using fertility treatments and found no difference in births between the women with PCOS and those without PCOS. There was also no difference found between those on different treatment paths. 

In Australia, roughly one in 10 women are diagnosed with PCOS. The condition, which sees increased levels of two hormones in the body, causes women to ovulate irregularly, or not ovulate at all, making conception difficult. 

Dr Katrina Moss, a Research Fellow at the university specialising in reproductive health and assisted reproductive technology said that the latest research should provide some reassurance for women with PCOS who are anxious about their fertility.

New drugs show promising signs of slowing Alzheimer’s disease

Nearly two-thirds of Australians with dementia are women, and the numbers are only rising– the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare predicts the number of Australians with dementia to more than double by 2058 (533,800 women and 315,500 men). 

Dementia is also the leading cause of death for women, according to statistics from Dementia Australia. 

This year, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly came out with the second drug in under a year to have been shown to slow Alzheimer’s- a form of dementia. It followed on the heels of lecanemab, sold under the brand name Leqembi.

Eli Lilly’s drug, donanemab, has been shown to slow the pace of the disease by about a third – a feat experts previously thought impossible.

In the company’s trial, there were 1,182 participants with early-stage disease whose brains had deposits of two key Alzheimer;s proteins, beta amyloid as well as intermediate levels of tau, a protein linked with the disease progression and brain cell death.

Overall, the pace of the disease was slowed by about 29 per cent with donanemab. And in a set of patients researchers thought more likely to respond, the clinical decline of the disease was at 35 per cent compared to a placebo. 

Australia welcomes its first uterine transplant baby 

Australia’s first uterine transplant baby, Henry Bryant, was born this week at a Sydney hospital.

“It’s been a whirlwind year and to have Henry here safely is beyond anything I thought possible,” said the baby’s mother, Kirsty Bryant.

She is the first woman in Australia to undergo a uterus transplant as part of a groundbreaking research trial led by Associate Professor Rebecca Deans, Gynaecology Specialist at the Royal Hospital for Women and clinical academic at UNSW Medicine & Health. 

“After my hysterectomy, I desperately wanted another child and I felt like there weren’t many options for somebody in my situation,” Bryant said.

“To hold this baby in my arms is a dream come true.”

First baby born in Australia from a cheaper alternative to IVF

Australia’s first ever baby conceived via a new clinical procedure to treat infertility was born this year.

Leanna and Theo Loutas celebrated the birth of their first-born, Bonnie, in October at Sydney’s Royal Hospital for Women in Randwick. 

Earlier this year, the couple were offered a new fertility procedure called CAPA IVM (Capacitation in-vitro maturation) — a treatment which involves retrieving eggs at an immature stage and bringing them to maturity in cell culture. It results in higher pregnancy rates per cycle.

It eliminates the need for two weeks of hormone treatment and costs about half the price of traditional IVF. 

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A world-first endometriosis discovery was made by researchers in Sydney

Researchers at the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney made a world-first discovery into the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis this year. 

The team successfully grew tissue from all known types of endometriosis in a laboratory. This has allowed researchers to observe cell changes and compare how different tissue responds to different treatments.

An increased understanding will allow doctors to better diagnose varying types of endometriosis to ensure patients receive the most effective treatment. 

The new development will also help determine whether a woman with endometriosis is likely to need fertility treatment in the future. 

Largest ever genetic study of endometriosis reveals links to other chronic pain

The largest ever genetic study of endometriosis has found that genetic risk factors are also associated with other chronic pain types such as migraine, back pain and multi-site pain. 

Researchers from the University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Dr. Sally Mortlock and Professor Grant Montgomery, collaborated with University of Oxford researchers and 24 teams across the world to compare the DNA code of more than 60,000 women with endometriosis and 700,000 women without the disease. 

The shared genetic basis for endometriosis and other types of seemingly unrelated pain may be indicative of ‘sensitisation’ of the central nervous system, according to Dr. Morlock, who says “This makes people suffering from chronic pain more prone to other types of pain”.

Before the study, researchers knew of 17 genetic regions associated with endometriosis compared to the 42 regions now known. They can now work to better understand what genes in these regions do and find new drug targets, leading to new treatments.

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The research, conducted by Allianz in partnership with UNSW’s Gendered Violence Research Network (GVRN), found 72 per cent of survey respondents were not aware of the domestic and family violence (DFV) risks associated with a joint car insurance policy.

Professor Jan Breckenridge, head of UNSW School of Social Sciences and co-convenor of the GVRN, spoke with Women’s Agenda about the widely unknown tactics of coercive control through cars and insurance.

“I think people don’t always recognise it,” she said.

“It’s not uncommon for people in a partnership for one person to have the responsibility for the management of business or relationship affairs.

“Where they don’t know or they’re kept away from that, a whole lot of things can happen.”

The report found people were unaware of several coercive control tactics, including removing a victim’s name from a joint car insurance policy – 59 per cent did not know this was a tactic of DFV.

“They will take people’s names off the joint insurance policy, before they crash a car, so the victim not only doesn’t have a car, but they’ve also in debt, their credit rating is absolutely dreadful,” Professor Breckenridge said.

“It leaves the victim survivor in a shocking situation, where it’s very difficult to get out or recover from.”

Other tactics that respondents of the survey did not know about included cancelling a joint policy without consent (57 per cent), refusing to service the car or make necessary repairs (51 per cent) and draining petrol from the car (51 per cent).

Professor Breckenridge explained how these tactics are forms of financial and economic coercive control because of how heavily Australians rely on their car every day; in fact, 79 per cent of Australian car owners said they couldn’t imagine life without their car.

“If you can keep someone dependent, if you can ensure that they have no opportunity to leave financially because of economic insecurity, then you really are stopping them from making a choice to leave a partnership,” she said.

The UNSW Professor also noted how often this sort of abuse affects women in particular.

“We know particularly women will leave and go back because of inherited debt – they can’t pay it back,” Professor Breckenridge said.

“People can be trapped in a web of financial insecurity and ongoing poverty, and it’s very difficult to move away from perpetrators in that situation.”

In Australia, around two in five car owners have joint ownership over a car, with 87 per cent owning a car with their partner of spouse.

Although she noted it should never be the victim-survivor’s responsibility to prevent this abuse from occurring, Professor Breckenridge urged Australians to review their car ownership and insurance policies, especially in the course of separating from a partnership.

“Be very mindful that some of the insurance policies to date may not have taken into account domestic and family violence implications,” she said.

“But the penalties need to rest with the perpetrators, and the burden of prevention needs to rest with them and addressing their behaviour – not so much the victim survivor, who may not have had a clue what was happening.”

Australia has experienced high levels of domestic and family violence this year and many advocates have called on governments, organisations and other stakeholders to do more to prevent violence.

Professor Breckenridge joins these calls for broad, widespread, community-led action.

“The only way we can prevent domestic and family violence is to have a whole of community response,” she said.

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The University of Queensland’s School of Public Health conducted a study on 7,606 women born between 1973 and 1978. The researchers surveyed these women every three years between 2009 and 2018 on their health and wellbeing.

The research discovered women with endometriosis are four times more likely to have severe period pain.

It also found mental health was twice as likely for women with endometriosis, as was back pain. Women with the condition were also 1.5 times more likely to have stiff and painful joints.

Dr Dereje Gete, the lead author of the University of Queensland’s study, said the Australian longitudinal research, which looked into multiple symptoms of endometriosis, was the first of its kind in the country,

“Other symptoms included bowel and urinary conditions, severe tiredness, difficulty sleeping, allergies, heart palpitations and headaches,” Dr Gete said.

“These broad range symptoms along with a tendency to normalise and dismiss period pain meant diagnosis took between 7 and 11 years on average.

“This delay significantly reduces quality of life by leaving the women to deal with untreated symptoms, more doctor and hospital visits, and potentially less success with fertility.”

Professor Gita Mishra, a senior author in the research, said the results illustrate how important it is to be diagnosed early and to receive treatment for endometriosis as soon as possible, in order to reduce the severity of symptoms.

“Further research is needed to understand how the immune system and inflammation are connected to broad range symptoms which may lead to improved treatments,” Professor Mishra said.

“Women with endometriosis should be encouraged to proactively manage their symptoms through lifestyle changes, medication, or surgery, to improve their quality of life and prevent further complications.”

Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to lining in the uterus develops in other parts of the body. It can cause a number of symptoms ranging in severity. However, there is still limited research and knowledge on prevention and management of the condition.

More on endo

The latest research released today is based on data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health from the University of Queensland.

Earlier this year, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) gathered data from the University of Queensland’s study, finding one in seven women in their late 40s have endometriosis.

The AIHW also reported the rate of hospitalisation for endometriosis doubled among females aged 20-24 in the past decade. While in 2011-12 there were 330 hospitalisations per 100,000 females, this figure rose to 660 per 100,000 in 2021-22.

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Over 2021-22, there were 40,500 endometriosis-related hospitalisations, or 312 hospitalisations per 100,000 females.

The inflammation and scarring from endometriosis causes women to experience symptoms such as pain, heavy menstrual bleeding, fatigue, anxiety, depression, reduced fertility – to name a few.

Despite this data showing how common endometriosis is for women, the University of Queensland said it can still take up to 11 years (eight years on average) to receive a formal diagnosis for the condition.

The Australian government is investing in the condition, which affects approximately one in nine people who were assigned female at birth.

In 2018, the federal government announced a National Action Plan for Endometriosis, which invested $87.19 million into awareness, education and clinical management and care for the condition.

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According to the latest research by girls’ rights organisation Plan International, almost one in five adolescent girls and young women activists have had safety concerns during their time campaigning and doing advocacy work. 

One in 10 said they have faced threats of physical violence as a result of their work, while 15 per cent have experienced online harassment and abuse. 

The international study surveyed more than a thousand girls and women aged between 15 and 24 across 26 countries including Ethiopia, Jordan, Canada, Kenya and Philippines.

A quarter of respondents said that negative views from members of their family or community were compromising their ability to campaign to the best of their abilities, while more than half reported shortage of funding as the single biggest factor affecting their campaigning. 

In Australia, 35 per cent of activists said that campaigning for their basic rights had taken its toll on their mental and emotional wellbeing. 

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Sarah Williams, a First Nations woman and survivor advocate against sexual assault, described activism as “so taxing and draining.”

“There can be a point where it becomes too much,” she said. “I ultimately feel that it is my duty to help survivors of sexual abuse and people in need, so I will continue if my mental health can stay on a good path.” 

Globally, a quarter of respondents said that their work has made their mental and emotional wellbeing suffer. 

Almost a third of respondents in Australia said they feared for their physical safety, and identified that reason as a significant barrier to participating in advocacy or activism campaigning. 

Respondents worked across a wide range of issues, including sexual and reproductive health rights, climate action, First Nations justice, gender equality, disability rights, equal pay and opportunity for women in sport, and ending gender-based violence — though the majority (60 per cent) identified gender equality or gender-based violence as their top concern. 

In more positive news, the report found that almost all activists reported the act of campaigning has made them feel proud, empowered, and capable, and two thirds said the impact of their work has met or exceeded their expectations. 

Disability activist Hannah Diviney hopes that in the near future, she will be having different conversations to the ones she is currently having “because we’ll have made some progress.” 

“Hopefully … the notion of not having disabled stories and characters on screen will be a far forgotten thing of the past,” the editor-in-chief of Missing Perspectives and author of “I’ll Let Myself In” said. 

“In 10 years we’re not going to see gigantic movement on girls’ rights, because we’ve got a long way to go and we just keep getting set further back and further back and further back, but I think hopefully it won’t feel like banging our heads against brick walls.” 

Plan International Australia CEO Susanne Legena said that global injustices are driving girls to act and that they are “taking it into their own hands and demanding we all act, sooner, to beat the clock.” 

“We have young women such as Chanel Contos and Yasmin Poole fighting back against sexism, misogyny and consent, and the formidable Anjali Sharma, who has put forward a proposal to alter Australia’s Climate Change Act and establish a duty of care in Australian law to protect young people from climate harm,” she said. 

“Young women and girls in Australia are calling for change and are empowered to do something about it. They know that we simply cannot wait another 131 years – the current World Economic Forum projection – to reach gender equality.”

One of the study’s co-researchers, Yasmin Poole, said that the report had validated her own experiences of how tough and unrelenting campaigning for change is as a young woman of colour.

“In a world where gender discrimination remains widespread, young female activists are all too often ignored, or worse, harassed, or ostracised,” Poole, a Plan International ambassador, said. “Their incredible achievements often come at real personal cost. Access to funding and policy making spaces is also often in short supply, adding to the struggle to get their voices heard,” she said. 

Fellow co-researcher Elizabeth Payne wants to see a widening of participation in  key decision-making processes, to “make sure that our future generations aren’t being left behind.” 

“Girls and young women have the right to be heard and to shape the decisions that affect their lives,” she said. “They are making great achievements despite the personal risks to them, showing great courage. Without their work, we remain a long way from achieving gender equality.”

“That’s why it’s critical that we all play our part in supporting the work of girl activists. Their safety and wellbeing must be protected.” 

The report, which was launched ahead of International Day of the Girl on 11 October, provided several recommendations for improvement, such as government funding to support girl and youth-led activist initiatives and groups, formalised education on gender equality in schools, targeted education for girls on democratic governance and programs to improve confidence and skills in activism. 

You can read the full report here. 

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Led by psychology researcher Dr Ross Hollett, the Edith Cowan University (ECU) produced two new studies exploring the psychological consequences for women when they shop online for activewear.

Using eye-tracking technology, self-reporting and reaction time measures, Dr Hollett and the team at ECU found browsing an activewear website lowered women’s self-esteem and made them feel worse about their appearance.

“Activewear marketers often use images of toned, athletic models who are cropped to focus on specific body parts, for example buttocks or breasts,” Dr Hollett said.

“This type of imagery can be very threatening to women’s body image because it promotes idealised and difficult to attain physique.”

The participants of the study who browsed activewear not only felt these negative psychological effects, but also showed “much lower body gaze” when shopping for other clothing items like casualwear, preferring to look at the models’ faces. 

This was not the case for women who browsed on other online shopping sites first, like homewares or casualwear.

“One potential reason for this finding is that women who browsed for activewear may have felt their body image was threatened by the body-focussed imagery used by the activewear website,” Dr Hollett said.

“When body image is threatened, women may be less likely to continue looking at other women’s bodies after browsing for activewear because they feel more uncomfortable.”

Among the participants of one of the ECU studies, nearly 100 per cent of them have shopped online in their lifetime. Around 80 per cent said they have shopped online within the past month, spending 90-100 minutes each week browsing for clothes online. The second most popular clothing category was activewear.

Online shopping for ‘athleisure’ clothing, a fusion of activewear and casual clothing, has experienced a significant growth as a result of COVID-19, the ECU researchers said.

By next year, the activewear market is expected to be worth more than $548 billion globally. This is nearly one third of the entire global fashion industry.

Dr Hollett said the booming industry and the way activewear is marketed online can place women’s positive body image under threat.

“Browsing some apparel websites might put women at risk of negative self-concept because they are comparing themselves with fit and toned models in tight fitting clothing which may contribute to longer term issues such as body shame and depression,” he said. 

During the COVID-19 lockdown, almost one in two adult women reported feeling concerned about their appearance, according to data from Break Binge Eating. In Australia, around 23 per cent of women reported an overvaluation of weight and shape.

Dr Hollett said there is a direct correlation between how activewear is sold online and women’s lowered self-esteem, made clear by the ECU studies .

“Our research offers some of the first experimental evidence that the use of sexually objectifying imagery by some online apparel retailers is threatening to women’s wellbeing,” he said. 

“These findings provide an impetus to explore alternative marketing strategies which achieve the retailer’s objectives while minimising threats to the self-worth of consumers.” 

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The national housing campaign Everybody’s Home released a new report on July 24, detailing the “brutal reality” of social housing shortages, increased living costs and the impact of domestic violence on women and their search for safe and affordable housing.

After surveying almost 750 people, the report found 67 per cent of respondents are currently experiencing housing stress.

Four in five, or 82 per cent, of renters experience rental stress, and three quarters are concerned about financial security as a result of the housing crisis. Two thirds of the respondents of the survey worried about their mental health and wellbeing.

Everybody’s Home also surveyed 95 organisations providing services and support for housing in Australia. They found almost 90 per cent of the organisations reported bigger and more complex workloads, with 61 per cent saying their staff have experienced burnout or have resigned.

Maiy Azize, a spokesperson from Everybody’s Home, said the crisis is hurting ordinary Australians the most, including vulnerable women and children.

“These figures and the stories behind them are harrowing,” she said.

“We’ve heard from people worried they will become homeless with their children, renters in extreme hardship and older women who are considering sleeping in their cars or on the streets because they can’t find an affordable home.”

An earlier report from Equity Economics and Everybody’s Home found domestic violence, plus the lack of long-term social housing for women in Australia, sees 7,690 women returning to violent partners every year. There are 9,120 women that leave domestic violence situations, but become homeless as a result.

With a shortfall of 640,000 social homes as of 2022, the highest figure to date, Everybody’s Home point to the lack of social and affordable housing, not generic housing, that is causing the national housing crisis.

“Social housing is the best way to free up cheaper rentals and boost the supply of affordable homes,” Maiy Azize said.

“The federal government must create 25,000 new homes each year to meet the social housing shortfall.

“The solutions are clear. It is time to listen to people on the frontlines of our housing crisis and take action.”

Estimates based on the latest census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) found homelessness in Australia has increased by 5.2 per cent over the last five years, with women driving most of the growth.

Since 2016, the number of women and girls who are experiencing homelessness in Australia grew by approximately 10 per cent.

The federal government has proposed the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill, which currently sits before the Senate. If passed, the legislation will invest $10 billion to build 30,000 new social and affordable housing properties in its first five years.

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The Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Science and Resources released new data in the 2023 STEM Equity Monitor on July 21, pointing to a number of issues hindering the sector in reaching gender parity in the workforce.

One third of the growth of the STEM-qualified workforce in Australia, which increased by 300,000 workers in the last 10 years, was driven by women, yet the report found they only represent 15 per cent of the male-dominated industry.

Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith, the Australian government’s Women in STEM ambassador, led the research with the aim to inform organisations in transforming the industry to reach gender equity in STEM and to further the STEM-skilled workforce in Australia.

“Progress towards gender equity in STEM is positive, but organisations must accelerate their efforts with concerted, coordinated and evidence-based action,” Harvey-Smith said.

The research encouraged STEM workplaces to prioritise gender equity policies over workplace support programs, as these programs are only effective when implemented alongside policies.

The benefits of doing so include consistency, high-quality evaluation and longevity, and maximising resources allocated to achieving gender equity.

The STEM Equity Monitor data wasn’t all bad news. The research found the number of high school students enrolling in STEM subjects in their final year of school has increased and has nearly reached gender parity.

Harvey-Smith said these findings presents a “tremendous opportunity” to encourage young people, particularly young girls, to enter the STEM sector.

“We need to ready young people for the jobs of tomorrow, where it’s predicted that half of ther workers will need to know how to work with digital systems – a critical skill embedded in STEM studies,” she said.

“Australia imports more than 50 per cent of our engineers from overseas because young people are not choosing engineering pathways. Research tells us that this is because they don’t understand what an engineer does, and they aren’t aware of all the different specialities within STEM.”

In 2020-2021, enrolments for year 12 STEM subjects went up by nearly 3000 students. More than half of these students were girls.

The research found female students largely enrolled in biological and earth sciences at school, whereas IT, physics and engineering subjects continued to be male-dominated.

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With the consent of her family, the diagnosis was made on the brain of Heather Anderson, a 28-year-old AFLW athlete who died last November. Heather’s family donated her brain to the Australian Sports Brain Bank hoping to better understand why she died.

The findings, which Professor Alan Pearce co-authored with the Australian Sports Brain Bank, raise questions about how a lifetime of contact sport may have contributed to her death. They come as Australia’s Senate inquiry works on its report into concussions and repeated head trauma in contact sport, due in August.

Given how hard women have fought to participate in football codes and contact sports in recent years, this diagnosis has major implications for women’s sport in Australia. It also highlights the significant lack of research about women athletes in sport science and medicine.

What is chronic traumatic encephalopathy?

CTE is a devastating form of dementia which causes a decline in brain functioning and increased risk of mental illness. It is increasingly associated with athletes who play contact sports, such as football, boxing and martial arts.

It is incurable and can only be diagnosed post-mortem. Recently, a number of high-profile former Australian footballers were found to have been suffering from CTE when they died, including former AFL stars Danny Frawley and Shane Tuck, and former NRL player and coach Paul Green.

Concussions in contact sports have long been associated with long-term neurodegeneration in Australia and internationally. While the public and researchers are rightly concerned about serious concussions, a study published last month in Nature Communications confirmed that repetitive brain trauma over time – even seemingly mild head knocks or whiplash – is the strongest predictor for an athlete developing CTE. Athletes with long careers in contact sport are at particular risk, especially if they play from an early age.

A sporting life

Heather Anderson began playing rugby league at age five before transferring to Australian rules football in her early teens. She played representative football in the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory before being drafted into the inaugural season of the AFLW in 2017.

Anderson played a single season with the Adelaide Crows, during which she won a premiership and suffered a career-ending shoulder injury. She then returned to her role as a medic with the Australian Army, a physical career which also carries a heightened risk of brain injury.

Anderson’s family donated her brain in the hope of knowing whether a lifetime of exposure to repetitive head trauma contributed to her death.

Was this diagnosis expected?

Concussion researcher Anne McKee predicted earlier this year it was a matter of time before CTE was found in the brain of a woman athlete.

The Australian Sports Brain Bank team believe Anderson is a “sentinel case” we can learn from. She is the first female athlete diagnosed with CTE, but she will not be the last.

Although Australian women have historically been excluded from the sports most associated with repeated head injuries, this is changing. In 2022, there were almost one million women and girls playing some form of contact sport in Australia. As women’s participation in contact sport continues to grow, so too does their risk of repetitive brain trauma.

Are women more prone to CTE than men?

There is emerging evidence that women are at significantly higher risk of mild traumatic brain injury (concussion) and may suffer more severe symptoms.

Concussion alone does not cause CTE, but an athlete’s number of concussions is a reliable indicator of their cumulative exposure to brain trauma, which is the biggest predictor of CTE.

While knowledge on the topic is still developing, researchers propose a mix of physiological and social explanations for women’s increased concussion risk. These include

[…] differences in the microstructure of the brain to the influence of hormones, coaching regimes, players’ level of experience and the management of injuries.

More research is needed to understand sporting brain injuries specifically in women and girls. Given their growth in participation and the enhanced risks they face in sport, it is concerning that women and girls are underrepresented in concussion research.

This is representative of a broader trend in sport and exercise science research to exclude women from studies because their bodies are perceived as more complex than men’s and thus more difficult to accommodate in testing.

A disease that does not discriminate

This world-first report of CTE in a female athlete is proof the disease does not discriminate and lends urgency to calls for greater representation of women in brain injury studies.

Efforts to reduce concussion in women’s sport must first address resource inequalities between men’s and women’s sport. This includes giving women access to quality training and coaching support, as well as greater attention from sport science and medical research.

The health of women athletes and women’s sport will only progress if researchers, policymakers and sport governance bodies ensure the attention and resources required to address concussion and brain disease are not focused solely on men.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Beaupark, a descendant of the Ngugi people of Quandamooka Country, is an associate lecturer and PhD student at the University of Wollongong. 

She studies the colour chemistry of natural dyes from Australian native trees such as Eucalyptus cinerea, and uses an Indigenist methodology involving yarning with other Indigenous natural dye artists and weavers. She will use the award to further her research.

“I’m looking specifically at the eucalyptus dye used to make artworks and how the colourant compounds interact with the dye mixture to fix onto silk fabric and wool,” she said.

“The aim of this project is to define how creative practice can build connections between chemistry and Indigenist ways of being and gaining knowledge.

“I hope the better integration of these knowledge systems will also allow us to better take care of Australia and create a sustainable future for textiles colourants and alternatives to mainstream artmaking materials.”

Hobbs, a Bidjara descendent, is an associate lecturer and PhD student at Griffith University. Her research focuses on the cultural significance of to Indigenous peoples of freshwater mussels, looking to provide new insights into the management of Australian freshwater ecosystems.

“Extinctions or population declines of mussels are likely to disproportionately affect Indigenous peoples who use them, yet relatively little has been published about mussels from Indigenous perspectives or regarding the cultural values of mussels,” Hobbs said.

“Current risk assessment methods and natural resource management tend to limit Indigenous involvement to cultural heritage objects or artefacts, while cultural values or uses of biota or landscapes are not explicitly addressed, despite their clear importance to Indigenous peoples.

“I hope this project will fill in some of the knowledge gaps in this area, within the broader context of my PhD research.”

Hobbs is due to travel to Canada this year to meet with other First Nations researchers.

The award aims to support the research of emerging Indigenous scientists and the growth of research networks and international knowledge exchange through visits to international centres of research. The award includes up to $20,000 and additional support to attend the Academy’s annual Science at the Shine Dome event.

This year the Australian Academy of Science is hosting a six-part public speaker series on the recognition of Indigenous knowledge in science. The series is being hosted by Senior Australian of the Year, Professor Tom Calma.

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Conducted by Melbourne-based consultancy firm MindTribes, the report found that 76 percent of CALD women expressed it was “very difficult to report harassment and bullying in the workplace compared with 42 per cent of Anglo and European women.

Researchers examined how organisations ensure people of colour, LGBTQI+ employees and women feel safe and empowered in the workplace. This could be through diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) programs and recruitment processes. 

Lead author of the study and DE&I expert, Div Pillay says that even organisations which are getting DE&I programs right can do more work to ensure it’s properly embedded within their organisation, rather than just implementing ‘diversity hires’ to tick a box. 

The study’s findings show employees who’ve witnessed racism, discrimination or race-related bullying don’t feel safe. 

When researchers asked participants who’ve experienced such abuse about their feelings in the workplace, the majority of people felt “disempowered” and “anxious”. 

Specifically, 78 per cent reported feeling disempowerment, 66 per cent felt anxiety and 65 per cent had low self-esteem. 

In regards to the reporting of harassment and workplace bullying, 65 per cent of participants cited that they “did not trust the system would manage it to a satisfactory conclusion.” Sixty-four per cent of participants also felt that “it would be ignored or dismissed.” 

Other answers noted by participants who were hesitant to report harassment included concerns about job security, lack of trust in the system or concern of being targeted. 

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Now, a new report suggests that the platform supports an “epidemic of misogynistic abuse”, with high profile women coming forward to relay the vitriolic messages they have been subjected to, and the systemic failure of Instagram and its owner, Meta.

Released by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), the report analysed thousands of messages sent to five well known Instagram users including, actor Amber Heard, UK television presenter Rachel Riley, activist Jamie Klingler, journalist Bryony Gordon, and magazine founder Sharan Dhaliwal.

A cache of 8,717 messages from the women who participated were reviewed, with reporters adding further insight into the “negligent” approach by Instagram to address a burgeoning crisis.

Concerns raised within the research, include the fact that users are unable to report abusive voice notes sent directly to them, users cannot report messages sent in “vanish mode” – when an image is shown just briefly before disappearing – without viewing them, and that users struggle to download evidence of abusive messages.

Instagram also enables strangers to send voice calls to women they don’t know over direct message. Faith Eischen, a spokeswoman from Meta, justified this to researchers, suggesting that when a voice call on Instagram is made, the call is displayed to users as a request that must be accepted to hear.

Imran Ahmed, the chief executive director of CCDH slammed the social media giant, saying “Meta and Instagram must put the rights of women before profit”, adding “there is an epidemic of misogynist abuse taking place in women’s DMs.”

Difficulties also persist for women to access and record evidence of abuse through the platform. Participants who had previously blocked abusive users could not access the full “requests” dataset.

Researchers claim that such challenges mark a broader problem in the quest to address widespread harassment online where death threats, abuse, and unsolicited videos and images are regularly sent without recourse. Amber Heard also reported receiving “error” messages when trying to download her own data, condemning Instagram’s reporting function as “not user friendly, not intuitive, not common sense based.”

Meta’s head of women’s safety, Cindy Southworth refuted “many of the CCDH’s conclusions” but said the company agreed “the harassment of women is unacceptable”.

“That’s why we don’t allow gender-based hate or any threat of sexual violence, and last year we announced stronger protections for female public figures,” she said.

This latest research follows a leak last year which showed Meta had withheld its own research on the harmful effects of Instagram for two years, including stats surrounding the damage to mental health that the social platform poses to teenage girls. 

Journalists at the Wall Street Journal reported seeing a slide from an internal presentation given within Facebook in 2019, with the company acknowledging that it “makes body image issues worse for 1 in 3 teen girls.”

Despite this, Meta’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg declared last year that social media had positive mental health impacts for its users, while head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, said that he was aware of research that suggests its effects on teenagers’ mental health was probably “quite small”.

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