The survey, funded by the Department of Social Services, the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) and managed by the Melbourne Institute, found that in the four weeks leading up to this year’s survey, almost one in five women reported working when they were physically unwell, while 16.8 per cent of employed men said they worked while feeling physically unwell. 

Roughly the same number of women reported working when they were mentally unwell, while just 11.1 per cent of men did the same. 

Those with a moderate or severe disability or in poor mental health were also much more likely to work when unwell. 

The 18th Annual Statistical Report of the HILDA Survey is a nationally representative longitudinal study of Australian households, following the lives of more than 17,000 Australians each year since 2001. 

Collecting information on many aspects of life in Australia, including household and family relationships, income and employment, and health and education, this year’s survey revealed some startling trends for women. Here, we look at a few of them. 

Working conditions

Men were less likely than women to be primarily working from home, the latest study found. In 2019, a mere 3.5 per cent per cent of people worked entirely from home, and 6.5 per cent worked at least 50 per cent of the time from home. In 2021, the figures shot up to 17.7 per cent and 24.3 respectively. 

The industries with the highest number of people mainly working from home are financial and insurance services, information media and telecommunications. Meanwhile, those working in retail, hospitality, education and arts were less likely to be working from home. 

The study also found a link between the number of employed parents and their use of formal child care. Unemployed mothers were less likely to seek formal child care. Unemployed fathers also lead to a decrease in using child care services, however the percentage reduced was much lower. 

The study concluded that the reason for these associations could either be that full-time employment could lead to the use of formal child care, or that having access to formal child care can be a precondition to seeking full time paid employment. 

The number of women in paid employment has also risen, especially in the group aged 65 to 69, where currently, one in four are employed.

Roughly 40 per cent of women aged between 18-64 are now employed full-time, while the proportion of men in that age group continue to be largely employed full time (70 per cent).

The gender pay gap is also slowly shrinking. In 2016, women earned just 78 per cent of what men earned. The latest study showed that now, women earn approximately 86 per cent of what men earn — still an extremely problematic figure. 

The average earnings made by a woman has also risen, though not to the heights of men. In 2021, the average female earning rose to 75 per cent of male average earnings, an increase from 2001 of 66 per cent. 

Marriage

Fewer Australians are now deciding to walk down the aisle compared to a few decades ago. The percentage of women who were married in 2001 was 54.5 per cent. In 2021, that number dropped down to 48.2 per cent. 

More women are now opting to be in de facto relationships. Between 2001 to 2021, the percentage went from 8.9 per cent to 14.3 per cent. Similar figures were found with men. 

The largest cohort of Australians who have decided to waive marriage are those aged between 25 to 34. Generally, less people are partnering up in conventional, romantic relationships. 

Between 2002 to 2004, 31.1 per cent of men and 26.8 per cent of women self-identified as being in a romantic relationship. Between the 2014 to 2016 period, that figure dropped to 26.7 per cent of men and 23.7 per cent of women. 

When it comes to self-assessed relationship satisfaction, women aged 40 to 59 reported lower relationship satisfaction than their male counterparts. 

Last year’s HILDA study already charted a growing number of Australians drifting away from living with their intimate partner. Dr Esperanza Vera-Toscano, an economist and senior research fellow at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, attributed the “qualitative shift in our understanding of family” to a progressive framework of thinking.

“We need get used to the fact that the traditional pathway of meeting someone, having a relationship that ends up in marriage and children, has changed,” she said. “There are other situations that need to be brought into the picture. It’s important we understand them.”

Loneliness and psychological distress

Those aged between 15-24 now encompass the highest portion of lonely individuals. In the period between 2001 and 2009, the greatest proportion of lonely people were those aged 65 and older. 

The study’s co-author Dr Ferdi Botha, said “There is a clear trend of younger people becoming lonelier and feeling more isolated as time goes on.” 

“If there aren’t actions taken or policies implemented to intervene, we may see loneliness and psychological distress increasing in the younger generations and this may lead to lower mental and physical wellbeing and other wider societal issues,” he said in a statement. 

“Loneliness increased in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, but for young people, there is a longer-term trend increase apparent. It may be that this is partly connected to growth in smart phones and social media use.” 

People in the youngest age cohort (15-24) also reported the highest average distress scores, with 42.3 per cent of them reporting they were psychologically distressed in 2021. Women aged 15 to 24 reported higher levels of distress than older women in the 35 to 54 and 65 and over age category, showing that the average psychological distress levels declined with age. 

Overall, women also reported higher levels of psychological distress. Between 2007 to 2021, the prevalence of psychological distress among women increased by roughly 63 per cent. In 2021, almost one in three women said they were in distress, compared to 22.7 per cent of men. The study measured participants’ psychological distress by asking them questions such as, “In the last four weeks, about how often did you feel tired out for no good reasons? Nervous? Hopeless? Depressed?”

Use of prescription drugs in Australia

More women are using strong painkillers than men, the latest study found. Almost thirty per cent of women reported using strong painkillers or pain-relievers with opioids in them, and 14 per cent reported using tranquillisers and/or sleeping pills. 

The strong painkillers may include Tramadol, Fentanyl, Oxycodone, morphine, codeine products such as Panadeine Forte. 

According to the study’s authors, most respondents were using the strong painkillers only infrequently, “…suggesting they are primarily used for temporary relief from pain, anxiety or sleep issues.” 

“However, it is crucial to acknowledge that these drugs have potential negative consequences, such as addiction, overdose and harmful interactions.” 

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She is conventionally attractive, skinny and white. She has long hair, delicate feminine features, barely-there make up. She’s often dressed in white, or pink. She is doll-like in her mannerisms. 

She produces TikToks and Instagram reels glorifying “traditional” (that is, patriarchal) norms of being: she openly submits to her husband and proudly takes care of the home. She loves doing housework and baking bread. She loves sharing cooking tips because she’s very good at cooking and food preparation – she spends all day in the kitchen and in the garden, where she grows her own tomatoes. She raises chickens – she’s a salt-of-the-earth kind of woman. She is committed to a pastoral way of life, making everything from scratch because this gives her a sense of power and control. 

Her white babies run around at her feet in their denim overalls, their blonde hair glittering in the sun. Her husband is tall, white, surfer-bro-like. In her world, rugged = wholesome, and wholesome = good. Her image is a moral stance. And it goes without saying, she is categorically against feminism.

She is the Tradwife (Traditional Wife) — an online female persona that’s been resurrected by influencers of late. These women produce aesthetically pleasing content that glamourise domesticity. Hello 1950s! But 1950s without the ugliness of reality (ie. rape within marriage was still perfectly fine back then). 

Being conventionally beautiful gives her the avenue to promote these lifestyles. She has basically co-opted Instagram’s biggest currency (hot privilege) and ran with it. 

Adhering to strict gender roles gives her a lot of pleasure. She likes to don out marriage advice, like “don’t go to the gym without your husband” and “be submissive and let your husband lead the family.” 

As one journalist called it, it’s a “Little House On The Prairie fantasy” — one where “super gender-essentialist performance” is capitalised. These women are not fools. They monetise their posts, accepting sponsorships and using their platforms to sell homemade goods. They espouse the idea that the husband is the bread-winner (capitalist labour) while the wife is the bread-maker (unpaid labour), but hide the fact that they participate in the capitalist market with their content-making. 

The Tradwives trend is not entirely new. In 2017, Anne Helen Petersen wrote about female celebrities who were “embracing the ‘new domesticity’, defined by consumption, maternity and a sort of twenty-first-century gentility.” In her book Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud, Petersen identified these women as Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Alba, Blake Lively, Gwyneth Paltrow, among others. 

The latest Tradwives trend is similar to cottagecore, a popular aesthetic and design style in the second decade of the 2000s which embraced a rural ideal of the old English vintage lifestyle. (It’s still around — in 2023, several celebrities were still dishing out its vibe). 

Like cottagecore, Tradwife is firmly tied to far-right ideologies. It neglects the violent history of settler colonialism and prefers to focus on a “dreamy form of escapism” where women are rewarded for physical beauty and compliancy to a patriarchal set of hierarchies. 

Popular Tradwives include 26-year old American Estee Williams, Canadian YouTuber Gwen Swinarton, Australian influencer Jasmine Dinis and Abigail Roth.

Many of these women started off as influencers or models, posting Instagram-perfect posts of themselves several years ago before jumping on the Tradwives trend. In the case of Abigail Roth, the anti-abortion conservative commentator is actually the sister of Ben Shapiro, the radically far-right shock-jock who recently featured in a rap song to extoll his anti-woke politics.

Estee Williams, one of the most popular tradwives of late, speaks regularly to the media about her lifestyle choices. Last year, she told Piers Morgan that she puts her family before herself.

“You see self-love promoted everywhere – women are leaving marriage far more easily than men and are doing it because they think there is something better out there for them,” she said. “Marriage is a bond and it’s a sacred bond – you have to protect that at all costs, and I think part of that is putting your partner’s needs before your own every single day.”

Williams’ videos include “Tips to attract masculine provider men”, “How I make homemaking fun”, “What we Practice in our marriage” and “Dress up for your husband”. 

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Is this all harmless fun? Or dangerous anti-feminist rhetoric that can be used to advance a sinister political agenda?

As some experts have already pointed out, tradwives often use the language of men’s rights activists, promoting harmful patriarchal conditions placed on the different genders. 

Dr Julia Ebner, an Oxford University researcher and author specialising in radicalisation and extremism believes that tradwives want to “return to traditional power roles and exaggerated notions of masculinity and femininity”.

Dr Ebner’s 2020 study of tradwives found that up to 30,000 women in the U.K describe themselves as Tradwives, who openly make misogynist statements, such as “women’s highest value to men is her sexual value, and she’s most valuable when she’s in her sexually pristine state.” 

According to Dr Ebner, tradwives are part of a much larger misogynist online community that all share a hostility towards feminism, liberalism and contemporary gender roles. What could be the appeal? 

“Confusion about changing notions of masculinity and femininity has pushed men and women into fundamental identity crises,” Dr Ebner suggests. “…the idea of going back to old-fashioned gender roles can be appealing to men as well as to women. Was it all easier back then? With well-defined roles and behaviours on both sides?” 

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Far right social media influencers believe so. They are selling the idea that concrete gender roles is the way to go. Never mind that many of them are fuelled by alt-right, Christian fundamentalist and white nationalist ideologies. If it looks pretty, we want it. 

Should we be worried? Does it pose a threat to feminism, especially at a time when abortion and reproductive rights are being stripped back across the world? 

Salon journalist Amanda Marcotte believes the “toxic fantasy” of the tradwife “…preys upon men, especially young men, by selling them a silly fantasy as reality.” 

“[tradwife content] helps sell the central, lucrative fantasy to credulous audiences: That female submission is a woman’s natural desire, one that’s being stolen from them by sinister feminist forces,” she wrote. “[It] definitely appeals to men who are eager to hear a woman ramble on about how feminism is bad.” 

Psychologist Mark Travers also thinks its dangerous, quoting “extensive psychological research” which revealed that “the surge in tradwife content and adherence poses significant threats to feminism and gender equality, given its concerning roots in the alt-right.”

“The problematic nature of the tradwife identity extends beyond gender roles, occasionally aligning with overtly white supremacist content or hashtags—signalling allegiance to hate groups,” Travers explained in Forbes. 

According to academics Kristy Campion and Kiriloi M. Ingram, Australia’s far-right tradwives population are active across X and Tik Tok, Instagram and YouTube. But is it something we should be worried about? 

One columnist from The Cut believes the the tradwife content is simply “highly staged.”

“It’s a complete fiction… without any of the violent and kind of disturbing parts of that narrative [of pretending that it was the 1950s] and making, you know, like, a contemporary fiction out of it,” Kathryn Jezer-Morton said. 

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The Dads Action Plan for the Early Years is a national strategy that hopes to support fathers in taking an equal share of parenting, addressing the fundamental role of fathers in parenting and the challenges they may face, such as harmful stereotyping and inadequate specific male-parent support. 

Among many recommendations, it is recommending 12 weeks of federally-funded paid parental leave for fathers and non-birthing parents, doubling the current leave reserved for non-birthing parents to four weeks and introduce concurrent leave.

The group behind the initiative, including comedian and podcaster Hamish Blake, Bluey voice actor David McCormack, Australia’s Local Hero of 2023 Amar Singh, and Red Wiggle Simon Pryce — hope to change the landscape for working fathers. 

Blake, who hosts the popular podcast, How Other Dads Dad, said the current generation of fathers yearn to be more engaged with their children, but do not always know where and how to get support. 

“Something like this helps make that more possible for more dads, and I reckon that’s a massive, long-term good thing for everyone involved,” he told AAP. 

“Becoming a dad can be a pretty overwhelming time for a lot of guys, and in my experience this generation of dads really want to be more engaged, but perhaps don’t always know where and how to get support. Something like this helps make that more possible for more dads, and I reckon that’s a massive long term Good Thing for everyone involved.”

Amar Singh with his family

Blake, who was crowned Australian Father of the Year in 2023, has made it his mission on his podcast to encourage men to talk openly about parenting, fatherhood and “how to be a good dad” — interviewing other celebrity dads on his show, including Australian Test Cricket Captain, singer songwriter Ben Lee, comedian Dave Hughes, and former Socceroo captain, Craig Foster. 

Amar Singh, founder of Turbans 4 Australia, told APP, “It’s good for family values to have both parents there and with the flexibility to take care of the kids, be around them more, nourish them and create that bond.”

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The Dads Action Plan for the Early Years has laid out a five-point action plan, making a series of recommendations, including more affordable and accessible childhood education, better education and support to fathers to be active and caring parents, and a significant boost in male early educators.

Several organisations across the country have already pledged their allegiance to the national strategy, including Playgroup Victoria, The Parenthood and Dads Group, an organisation that promotes positive parenting for men.

Jay Weatherill, director of the Minderoo Foundation, and the director of the campaign said the plan is “as much about changing social norms as it is about money as well.”

In a statement released this morning, Weatherill explained that “For too long access to childcare and kindergarten has been seen mostly as a women’s issue, but this does not reflect the reality of modern families.”

“Dads know that early childhood education is good for their kids – they want them to have the opportunities it provides for their social, cognitive and emotional development, and the lifelong benefits that come with that,” he said.

“On top of that, modern dads want to take a more active and engaged role in parenting but government and employer policies and services have not caught up with that change.”

“So I am really pleased to see these fellow dads coming forward today to call on politicians to do everything they can to make sure children are set up to thrive.”

Georgie Dent, CEO of The Parenthood, believes that encouraging men to be active fathers is not just beneficial for dads, but crucial for children. 

“It’s a step closer to achieving true equality between women and men,” she said. “There are clear benefits from supporting and encouraging men to be engaged, active fathers and take on responsibility for the care and well-being of their young children.”

“It’s good for dads, really important for children, great for families and helps bring women and men closer to true equality.” 

“Dads in Australia take less than 20 per cent of the parental leave dads take globally. This isn’t because Dads here aren’t interested in taking the leave. It’s because our policy settings don’t encourage it. An equitable paid parental leave policy is a game-changer for mums, dads, and children. It gives parents the ability to truly share the care.” 

“This perpetuates the expectation that mothers will assume primary responsibility for caregiving. We need a shift in societal norms, where fathers are encouraged and supported to be active caregivers.” 

Currently in Australia each year, roughly 180,000 families receive government-funded paid parental leave. 

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The SEEK report attributes a shift in the types of jobs that are being advertised as the reason for the gradual fall in WFH jobs advertised. 

As the number of people employed continues to fall however, employers might begin to exert greater pressure to get people to return to the office. And employees might have no choice but to concede, especially since ABS data released last week showed the number of Australians in employment fell by 65,100 last month. 

The industries experiencing the biggest fall in jobs available include finance, IT and media sectors, while jobs in hospitality and tourism increased compared to this time last year. 

SEEK’s senior economist Matt Cowgill believes that with the cooling market, the proportion of jobs advertised with flexible conditions may continue to fall.  

“The cooling labour market likely does mean that employers have a bit more ability to try and bring people back to the office where they can,” Cowgill told ABC. 

In the past year, big companies including ANZ, insurer Suncorp, and electricity retailer Origin Energy have encouraged their employees to return to the office by offering bonuses conditional on being back at the office.

Meanwhile, giants including Google, Meta and Amazon have asked its employees to do at least three days a week at the office, warning them that compliance with that guideline will be considered in their performance reviews.

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Recent trend pieces celebrating former Hollywood A-listers going grey and showing off their faces without makeup has become catnip for those of us who wish to believe the world is becoming a less horrible place for women. 

In part, it is. This so called “pro-ageing” movement ostensibly celebrates the ageing process – but only with women. We don’t see click-bait pieces marvelling at George Clooney’s grey streaks, or Steve Carrell’s salt and pepper beard. Why? Because as men age they just become sexier, we’re routinely told.

Indeed, it’s not lost on anyone that brands promoting the idea that looking your age is aspirational while charging $450 a bottle for lift-firming serum is a mind-bending yet ordinary paradox of existing as a women in today’s society. 

Things have shifted for feminists in recent years; we have always armed our fists against a host of injustices (reproductive rights, gendered violence, pay inequality…just to name a few) and yet when it comes to the idea of beauty (wholesalely created by men) it appears that showing up to a public fashion event at 56 without makeup can be seen as “an act of courage and rebellion.” 

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That’s how Jamie Lee Curtis described Pamala Anderson, who attended Paris Fashion Week a few months ago sporting a “makeup free” look. 

The press went wild. They went wild again last week, when she rocked up to the Fashion Awards in London without makeup. We’ve come to a point in time where articles titled “Pamela Anderson Makes Another Makeup-Free Appearance on 2023 Fashion Awards Red Carpet” can inspire other articles, like Glamour UK’s “Pamela Anderson Going Makeup Free Is Not An Act of Rebellion” and another in Forbes, titled: “Here’s Why We All Need To Pay Attention To Pamela Anderson.” (Answer: “Pamela Anderson, stepping out au naturel is a powerful reflection of the growing desire for authenticity.”)

In August, Anderson was interviewed by a fashion magazine about her stray away from conventional beauty aspirations, preferring to embrace a make-up free lifestyle which she said has been “freeing and fun.”

“I think we all start looking a little funny when we get older,” she told Elle. “And I’m kind of laughing at myself when I look at the mirror. I go, ‘Wow, this is really…what’s happening to me?’ It’s a journey.”

Last week, she told another magazine, “I’ve always been in the [fashion] world and I’ve always been photographed. I can look at the past, but I like to always move forward. I just want to keep on moving forward, keep on doing new things and challenging myself and challenging beauty.”

Anderson described the noise she created when she showed up to Paris Fashion Week with minimal makeup. 

“Everyone was asking me about it,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “ I didn’t know anyone was even going to notice it. But I was doing it for me. I felt like … ‘Am I going to continue this makeup thing for the rest of my life?’ I mean how much more makeup could you put on someone?”

“I just peeled it back. For me, it’s either no makeup — or a showgirl. You know, like something for a character for a film or a photo shoot. Like, I love makeup. I love to play with that. But it’s not an everyday thing and so for these things that I’m promoting and where I’m working, but being me, I just don’t see the need for it.”

She went further in another interview, expressing her wish to coin an alternative description to the word, ‘ageing’. “I like to say the word ‘life-ing’ instead of ageing,” she said in a TikTok interview. “Chasing youth is just futile. You’re never going to get there, so why not just embrace what’s going on? And since I’ve really just walked out the door as me, I feel a relief, just a weight off my shoulders. and I actually like it better.”

Sarah Jessica Parker gave a candid interview in July about “missing out on the facelift”.

“I think about all of it. I ask people all the time, ‘Is it too late?’.” I mean, I’m presentable. I don’t really like looking at myself… I think I’m fine.” 

The 58-year old went on to describe the double standards women face when it comes to ageing. 

“There is so much emphasis put on, especially women – and primarily women – about looks.”

“Even last year when we first went on the air with the new season [of And Just Like That…], there were so many endless articles about ‘ageing’ and ‘ageing gracefully’, and you know, ‘Sarah Jessica’s hair is grey’ – and I was like, first of all it’s not, but who cares? I’m sitting next to Andy Cohen whose head is covered in grey hair and you’ve not mentioned that at all.”

More recently, she told Prevention “It’s important to me that someone is minding my skin versus somebody who is like ‘I can make you younger,’ which is of no interest to me and isn’t a reality.” 

Other female actors have joined this bare-faced movement including Helen Mirren, 78, Andie MacDowell, 65, Michelle Pfeiffer, 65, Jennifer Aniston, 54. Last December, the Herald showcased midlife celebrities “embracing the no-make-up selfie”.

Then there’s the pro-greying champions who’ve spoken out about wanting to let their hair evolve the way nature intended. 

If your whole professional artifice is based on looking reasonably youthful and conventionally put together, then it can’t be dismissed that showing up to a public event without all the conservative trappings of ‘beauty’ is a fantastic and gusty move.

But let’s not forget too that these women are all white, abnormally beautiful and lithely skinny. A win for a few female celebrities does not shift the sexism and ageism ordinary women face. 

We are subjected to more pressure to look a certain way — more of us worry about ageing than our male peers or partners. A recent survey of over 2,000 Americans found that 70 per cent of men report feeling unconcerned with ageing, while just over fifty per cent of women report feeling the same.

The same survey found that while an overwhelming majority of women had no trouble equating old age with beauty, just 65 per cent of men believed in this idea. 

A higher percentage of women than men report changing their hair style and hair colour to look younger. Bottom line is that women spend more money, time and energy to looking youthful, hairless, and pristine. We are more complicit in the pursuits towards extreme beauty ideals that are asked of us under patriarchy. We still live in a misogynistic society – a society that “insists that a woman’s appearance is of paramount value,” as Jia Tolentino write in 2019.

It might be a small victory to see a woman who was once considered the sexiest woman alive to reject the use of makeup. It would be an even bigger victory if such acts signified a larger move away from equating a woman’s worth to her physical appearance. 

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The lawyer, writer, entrepreneur and business leader praised the Albanese Labor Government’s flagship campaign and subsequent efforts towards giving the nation universal early childhood care. 

Nevertheless, with inflation fueling a cost-of-living crisis and working parents struggling to afford childcare, Rudd says we needed this reform “yesterday” as she urged policymakers to move faster.  

Even with her up-close understanding of the complex workings of politics (her father is former PM Kevin Rudd), Rudd said “the empathy I have for policymakers is trumped by the empathy I have for parents every single day.”

A recent poll by The Parenthood found that 85 per cent of two-parent households needed two incomes to make ends meet. This doesn’t leave much room for rising childcare costs for parents of young children,an issue exacerbated in rural and remote areas as 80 per cent of these families live in childcare deserts. And it also highlights the further challenges single-parent households face.

Rudd noted that it is overwhelmingly women who take on the caring responsibilities at home when childcare costs become too high to work into the family budget. Out of all the women in Australia aged 25-40 with young children, just 56 per cent are participating in the workforce. 

Australia ranks 70th for women’s economic participation worldwide, and Rudd said that even the women who are working have to turn down career promotions because they don’t have access to care. These gender barriers are costing the Australian economy $128 billion.

While the government has invested $5.4 billion to increase childcare subsidies, Rudd said much of this money is being swallowed by price-gouging childcare providers. 

“Families cannot wait any longer for the private sector to deliver what the public must,” she said. 

“Parents regardless of political alignment, universally support reform in early childhood education.”

Another piece to the puzzle, said Rudd, is the extremely low pay grade that childcare workers receive, despite having carried our economy through the pandemic and showing up for kids day every day.

Many once passionate childcare educators are having to leave the sector due to low pay and Australia can’t afford to lose them, said Rudd.

Emphasising the clear need for universal early childhood education, Rudd noted that the Productivity Commission identified the crisis in the childcare and education sector as “the most urgent reform needed.”

She also said that global economists praise the reform “as the most successful anti-inflation policies in history”, making the government’s goal of universal, affordable childcare and education “worth fighting for”.

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Last month, the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg made the landmark judgement, changing the previous laws that allowed only mothers to four months of leave, while fathers or partners were given a maximum of 10 days leave. 

Gender equality organisations in the country of 60 million have welcomed the decision that moves to normalise genderless parental leave in a continent where some nations still don’t offer fathers paid parental leave.  

Nkululeko Mbuli, a communications strategist for Embrace, a Cape Town based social group for mothers, is positive about the latest policy change, but thinks “it still shortchanges mothers”.

“Mothers want to be excited but they are concerned about the practical implications,” she said, adding that the judgement doesn’t seek at “building a caring system”. 

She also believes that unemployed individuals and those in volatile employment circumstances are continuing to be left out.

The gender equality organisation Equimundo is also celebrating the latest news. Wessel van den Berg, an officer working within the group’s MenCare campaign (whose mission is to “inspire men around the world – to become more involved fathers, more invested partners”) described the policy in South Africa as “a significant milestone” that “raises the bar on leave for parents in a wonderful way.”

“I’m thrilled our law is becoming more in line with our constitution,” he told The Guardian. 

“The journey is far from over, but this judgment represents a promising step toward a more equitable and balanced caregiving landscape in South Africa.”

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The International Labour Organisation (ILO) charter recommends parental leave (paid or unpaid leave offered by an employer) for both parents. 

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CEO of Media Diversity Australia, Mariam Veiszadeh was named the overall winner of the awards, now in its fifth year. 

The University of Melbourne’s centre for Asian capability, Asialink is a sponsor of the awards that recognise the Most Influential Asian-Australian across a wide range of fields, including  arts and culture, community and advocacy, corporate, education, entrepreneurship, legal and professions, media, public sector, science and medicine, and sport. 

CEO of Asialink Martine Letts, said the awards “shine a light on the incredible leadership talent and potential of Asian-Australians.” 

Mariam Veiszadeh is widely known for her advocacy in diversifying Australia’s media landscape, as well as her work setting up the Islamophobia Register Australia — a collective database of Islamophobic incidents experienced by the public. 

Veiszadeh, who began her career as a lawyer at Westpac, spoke about the importance of workplace diversity and inclusion in 2017 at a TED Talk in Sydney. 

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This week, she told the ABC (a media partner for the 2023 Asian-Australian Leadership Awards) that during the TED talk, she was “the only person on that stage that they hired a security guard for.”

“That was the extent of the risks that I was facing,” she said. 

“It really impacted me. I was physically sick, I had a lot of mental health challenges. It takes a significant toll on you as a person.”

“But I think it also cemented my determination to continue fighting against hatred. So I tried to raise awareness about it. I tried to tackle it head on.”

In 2021, she became the CEO of Media Diversity Australia, a not-for-profit organisation and the nation’s peak advocacy body for diversity and representation in media. 

In October 2022, the organisation partnered with eight inaugural newsrooms to offer them diversity, equity and inclusion expertise to help champion cultural diversity in their workplaces. 

At the time, Veiszadeh said she was “pleased to witness and help drive the palpable push from many newsrooms to have their journalists and commentators reflect the broader community and, by default, the wider national conversation.” 

This week, she told the ABC the organisation is still working tirelessly to create a media landscape that “looks and sounds more like Australia.” 

“That means holding up a mirror to an industry that doesn’t always want a mirror held up to it,” she said.

“My strategy is bringing everyone on the journey, because you don’t drive change through using a sledgehammer. We don’t want to just talk about the media, we want to talk to the media. We want them to be part of the solution.”

Asialink’s CEO Martine Letts said that even when one in five people in Australia have an Asian cultural heritage, only 3 per cent of senior management positions are held by them. 

“It’s not only in the boardroom where this bias exists, it extends across all industries,” Letts said. “There is still a long way to go, and there is a real lack in recognition of and focus on leveraging Asian-Australian grown talent.”

“If overseas markets are more attractive to talent from multicultural backgrounds we risk losing our best and brightest.”

Johnson Partners, a Sydney-based executive search firm affiliated with the Awards, released recent findings which revealed that 93 per cent of board members on ASX-listed companies have either an Anglo-Celtic or European background, while per cent of top CEOs are of white Anglo-Celtic or European heritage.

Jason Johnson, founder and CEO of Johnson Partners, believes that a significant shift needs to happen in corporate Australia’s approach to cultural diversity.

“We need to see a  It is not only the right thing to do but also critical to unlocking the full potential of our economy,” Johnson said.  

“Companies that embrace diversity and foster an inclusive culture will be better placed to navigate an increasingly globalised business environment and increasingly diverse customer sets and stakeholders.” 

Johnson, a former Global Chairman of the Association of Executive Search Consultants, believes that the ‘bamboo ceiling’ is preventing Asian-Australians from taking their share of top leadership positions.

“Our major companies, government departments and universities….[do not] reflect their staff, student populations or customer bases,” he said. 

“The pandemic caused many diversity statistics to go backwards, so we have some serious ground to make up to address the under-representation of diverse leaders.”

Other winners

Lifetime Achievement Award: Ming Long 

As the first woman with Asian heritage to lead a top 200 ASX listed entity, Long is a well-known corporate leader who was appointed Chair of the Diversity Council of Australia’s board in 2021. 

She has held a range of senior executive positions throughout her career, including CEO and CFO roles in both listed and unlisted companies, Chair of AMP Capital Funds Management Limited, and a non-executive director of QBE Insurance (Auspac), CEDO, Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand, and is an advisor on the University of Sydney Culture Council.

Under 25 Rising Star: Rhea Werner

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At just 17, year-old Rhea Werner has been using her platform on social media to talk about body image and mental health. 

In 2021, she co-founded the Body Confident Collective Youth Project, the first, national youth-led initiative supported by researchers from Melbourne University.

Arts and culture: Mindy Meng Wang

Mindy Meng Wang is a Chinese Australian composer and performing artist who specialises in the guzheng — an ancient Chinese zither. She is known for her cross genre collaborations with international artists including Gorillaz, Regurgitator and Paul Grabowsky. 

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This week, she spoke about her latest album collaboration, “Origin of You” which she recorded with fellow Chinese Australian Sui Zhen.  

The album, according to reviewer David James Young, is a musical exploration of their “personal experiences with death, grief, motherhood and diaspora.” 

“Every single time we play this music, it’s a way to help us process these things,” Wang told Young. 

“I want this music to remind people that we all have shared feelings as human beings. My goal in music is to make people realise that we’re inherently the same — no matter your cultural background, how you grieve, how you feel about love, how you feel about your family. If we knew how similar we all were, I feel like the world would be a better place. I want this music to be a sonic hug for people.”

Education, Science and medicine winner: Dr Celina Ping Yu

Having spent her career working towards cultural inclusion, diversity and relationship-building between Australian and Asian academic and business communities, Dr Celina Ping Yu was the clear winner in this category. 

She is the founder of the Global Business College of Australia and since 2014, has been the college’s managing director.

In 2017, she started Edvantage Institute Australia, an international higher education campus of the Edvantage Group, a Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency registered private higher education provider. 

Community & Advocacy/Not for Profit: Marjorie Tenchavez

Marjorie Tenchavez is the founder and director of Welcome Merchant, a social enterprise  supporting small businesses owned by refugees and asylum seekers.

Tenchavez, who is a former finalist for Emerging Leader in Non-Profit at the Women’s Agenda Leadership awards, was also a recipient of the NSW Humanitarian Awards in Business this year. 

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Speaking to Women’s Agenda last year, Tenchavez said many migrants and refugees in Australia struggle to get bank loans “…because of their visa status and/or lack of financial history in Australia.”

“I’ve been in this sector for a long time and there were times when I thought about changing industries but hearing their stories and successes keeps me inspired,” she said.

“It’s really important for me to see them succeed without our help.” 

Legal and Professional Services: Mannie Kaur Verma

As a principal lawyer at Regal Lawyers, Mannie Kaur Verma empowers her clientele, who are mostly migrants, to fight for their rights. 

“This may include demanding a respectful relationship, employee entitlements or justice in a dispute,” she describes on her website. “I place intersectionality at the core of my practice.”

The former Labor candidate for Rowville in Victoria is also the co-Founder of the non-profit organisation, Veera – Brave Girl, an organisation that seeks to educate and empower migrant women to break the cycle of abuse. It also provides a network of resources for vulnerable women to leave violent relationships.

“A lot of women come here on partner visas, so they are dependent on their partners,” she told Women’s Weekly in 2021, when she was nominated for the Women of the Future Awards. “They have no networks. No support systems. No access to resources.” 

Read the full list of winners here. 

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The study looked at companies listed on 12 global stock exchanges to reveal that on average, female CEOs lasted 5.2 years as in their roles while male CEOs had roughly 8.1 years. 

The analysis looked at companies from several stock exchanges, including companies in S&P 500, Nikkei 225, HANG SENG and DAX40. Only companies in the NSE Nifty 50 had women CEOs stay in their roles longer than men.

The study, conducted by executive search and leadership advisory firm Russell Reynolds, used data collected since 2018 to make the latest conclusions. 

Despite the addition of 21 new female CEO appointments in the first three quarters of this year, the number still only makes up 13 per cent of all newly appointed CEOs.

In the FTSE 100, there are currently nine women who are leading companies, though this year, there were no new female CEOs appointed at all. 

The UK head of Russell Reynolds, Laura Sanderson attributes the tenure gap findings to some male CEOs having led companies for decades. 

“While the sample size is too small to be significant, we also need to consider whether the data may support the glass cliff theory,” Sanderson told The Observer. 

The study also found that CEOs who were internally appointed have a longer tenure — on average, they had a 1.8-year longer tenure than those who are externally hired. 

Professor Michelle Ryan, the director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at the Australian National University in Canberra, described the latest research as “robust” and one which “added to the body of work in this area”.

“If women are more likely to take on leadership roles in times of crisis, then it follows that their time is office is likely to be stressful, more heavily scrutinised and shorter in tenure,” she told The Observer.

“This reduced tenure could be for a number of reasons – because there is often higher turnover in times of crisis, because they are judged as not performing well, even though poor performance was in train before their appointment, or because when things start to turn around, men come back into leadership roles.”

The latest research builds on the research Prof Ryan did with her colleagues at the University of Exeter in 2005, which found that women were more likely to be appointed as board members after a company’s share price had done badly.

The phenomenon, called the glass ceiling or the glass cliff, sees women appointed as leaders when an organisation is going through a crisis — meaning their appointments are precarious and more likely to see them not succeed. 

A handful of new initiatives are attempting to turn the tide of these gender disparities, including the government-supported FTSE Women Leaders, which is working to grow the number of women on boards of companies in the FTSE 350 and 50 of the largest private companies in the UK.

Denise Wilson, the chief executive of FTSE Women Leaders described the latest gender tenure gap study as “an important piece of research”.

“From a UK perspective, we have made significant progress for women in almost every metric and measure,” she said. “But the CEO has been the stumbling block where we are struggling to make progress.”

“I think men can enjoy a greater followership – support within the organisation. They can suffer big setbacks and rise again. Women who have been CEOs tend to go off to an alternative career.”

“People tend to line up very quickly under the boss, but when that person is no longer as secure as people thought, that can gather momentum.”

Fortunately, it’s not all doom and gloom. 

On the boards of FTSE 350 companies, the number of females has increased from 9.5 per cent in 2011 to 41 per cent. 

Laura Sanderson from Russell Reynolds believes that “getting more women on boards generally has been working in terms of also getting more women into the CEO succession.”

“One of the things I say to clients is that if you can have a non-exec on your board who could be a potential successor, that’s just good succession planning,” she said.

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The famed author, speaker, activist, and feminist launched her latest book “I Don’t: The Case Against Marriage” with fellow revolutionary Yumi Stynes, untangling the myths of the fairy-tale wedding and happily ever afters that young women are taught to pursue with hungry teeth. 

Ford’s searing and insightful conversation with Stynes was met with a theatre-hall full of nodding heads. 

Attacking the system of the marriage requires one to look into history — something Ford read deeply into to uncover the toxic provider and protector myth at its foundation. 

“All throughout history, leading right up to today, the thing that has infuriated men who rely on patriarchy to give them value and power, that men rely on — is women never looking up and realising that they might have power of their own,” she said. 

“It’s that protector and provider myth. So many of you will have heard men say— “Well you need us to protect you, and provide for you…” 

And you’re like, “Who are you protecting us from?” It’s not sharks. 

“The protection thing is a bit wishy washy for you right now. You’re not doing a very good job of it, lads. And also, what are you providing?” 

“So many women historically were unable to care for and provide for themselves because legally, we weren’t allowed to have any fucking money.” 

Ford noted that in Australia, women weren’t allowed to have bank accounts until 1975.

“There are women in this room, who were adult women in 1975, who could not get a bank account by themselves without the signature of their father or their brother or their husband.” 

She reminded audiences that she is not anti-married people. She is anti-marriage.

“I want to say as well to the people who are married in the room. This is not an attack on you at all. I say that in the introduction, it’s not an attack on individuals. It’s about systems. And it’s about cultural conditioning, and about questioning how and why we come to the choices that we come to.”

“What is different about a marriage that you can’t get in a long term relationship? It is about questioning why we do these things.” 

Ford has written about the harmful stereotypes the patriarchy enforces on both men and women in her previous books, including “Fight Like a Girl” and “Boys will be Boys”. In “I Don’t”, she criticises the way women are made to believe true love is our only reason for being.

“We can say probably pretty factually, that whether or not you buy into marriage yourself, as a young person in the world, and particularly as a young woman, you have been subjected to an onslaught of romantic fairytales and fantasies and myth-making, that largely targets you.” 

“It doesn’t really target men, it doesn’t target men in the same way.”

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“There is an assumption in the world that men will end up married, because when they decide that they’re ready to settle down, of course, there’s a woman there who’s just been waiting for the last 15 years to be picked,” she joked. 

Yet for women — we are taught to pursue a wedding ring like nothing else — a goal that Ford believes is harmful. 

“The biggest predator that risks women’s lives is men,” she said. “That is the statistical reality of it — look at the number of women just in the last week who’ve been murdered by men in this country.” 

“If we create a cultural impetus for women where we say the only way that you can do this thing we say to you is your biological inevitability, your biological responsibility, and also the only thing that you will ever truly be happy in having and in doing…without it, you will always be bereft of emotional satisfaction…then they end up stuck in scenarios where the only way that they can do that thing is to put themselves in a situation where they living with the most dangerous predator, and that is all to serve as patriarchy, and to serve as men living for patriarchy.”

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Beyond that, there’s limited lifestyle choices available to women who don’t necessarily want the things we are told to want, ie. marriage, children. 

“If you’re a woman in your 30s, and you feel in any way, shape, or form that you might want to have a child…what do you do when it starts to feel like time’s running out?”

“My friend says that it’s like women playing a big game of musical chairs. And then the music stops. They’re 35. And they’re like, ‘Well, I guess you’re the father of my baby.’ 

“This is the chair that I’m sitting on. And it’s a bit rickety, but there’s no other chair.” 

“If you don’t want to get married and you are determined to live by yourself for the rest of your life, it doesn’t mean you don’t want to date, it doesn’t mean that you don’t want sex, it doesn’t mean that you don’t wanna fall in love. [A friend] says that the options are so bereft at the moment, especially for women.” 

“Not everyone who can have a baby wants to have a baby. Women are made to feel like somehow [motherhood] is our only purpose in our life…only then will we become a fully realised human being, if we pass another human into the world. We’re like a subway station.”

Ford laments the contradictory messages about relationships women are told everyday — “We’re told that we’ve got to find the soulmate, The One, the best friend…to be with him for the rest of my life. 

“The idea of The One is such a dangerous idea. But then if your relationship breaks up, we’re then told — ‘you’ll find someone else soon’. So…which is it? 

“Is it really, really hard to find a decent person to spend the rest of your life with…or is it just like…get on the apps? It has to be one or the other.” 

Ford told audiences that she co-parents her son with her ex — something she feels “very grateful” for. 

But she doesn’t want women to use the word “lucky” when we’re describing male partners. 

“I don’t want to say ‘fortunately’, because that’s often how women talk about their relationships— I’m really lucky, I’ve been really lucky. I’ve got a good one. It’s like, it’s just we should just not be saying that we’re lucky to have men who treat women like human.” 

Despite the horrors behind marriage and its systemic inequalities, Stynes reminded audiences that Ford’s book is one of clear optimism and hope. 

Hope for a better future for all women. 

She mentioned Alexandra Collier’s book, “Inconceivable”, as a “really brilliant” story. 

“If you’re thinking that you want to have a child, but it doesn’t seem possible for you right now — you can,” Ford said. “It’s not easy, but it’s possible, you can do it by yourself.” 

“There are ways to build community and family with other people.”

“I Don’t: The Case Against Marriage” is out now, from Allen & Unwin.

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The campaign, “Be That Teacher”, features eight public school teachers describing a personal ‘special teaching moment’ that has inspired them to continue to teach. 

The campaign includes 30 second and 60 second videos of each teacher, and posters of them with inspiring quotes.  

The featured teachers conclude their video stories with sentimental reflections, such as the following:

“If life is about creating meaningful moments, you get a meaningful moment every single day in this profession.”

“There is not another profession that touches the human soul as this does.”

“It was my impact that changed how much passion [my student] had for the subject.” 

“You don’t plan to be someone’s idol, but sometimes you are.” 

The PM said the campaign is aimed at “highlighting the wonderful impact that teachers can have,” as well as “to celebrate and value the profession of teaching for the extraordinary profession that it does.” 

“We’ll have stories … across billboards, train stations, bus stops and social media because we want more young Australians to see this and decide to be that teacher, that teacher who changes lives, who provides an inspiration going forward,” he explained. 

“I can’t think of a more valuable campaign not just for young Australians, but for the future of Australia that we wish to create.”

On Tuesday morning, Albanese appeared at Kirrawee High School in Sydney’s south with Education Minister Jason Clare and NSW Education Minister Prue Carr to address the press about the campaign. 

Clare referred to recent surveys which showed that most teachers don’t think that what they do is valued by the community. 

“We need to change that,” Clare said. “This campaign is all about changing the way we as a country think about our teachers, and the way our teachers think our country thinks of them.”

“I want more young Australians to want to be a teacher. To be that teacher, who inspires and changes young lives. Teaching is the most important job in the world.”

The campaign, which will run until April next year, was co-funded by all states and territories and includes a dedicated website with the campaign videos and posters, as well as a simple guide on how to become a public school teacher. 

A portal has also been created for people to submit their own stories about teachers who inspired them. Submitted stories will be reviewed and screened by the Department of Education for potential publication on the website. 

Clearly, a lot of work has been done to recruit new teachers. But will it work?

The Australian Education Union (AEU) President Correna Haythorpe acknowledges teaching as “the greatest profession of all” and that “positive recruitment campaigns are an important part of making teaching more attractive to the high achieving young people we urgently need to become teachers,” yet she admits that other forms of investment is required from the government. 

“Nobody should think this is the answer to a recruitment and retention crisis that has been decades in the making,” Haythorpe said. 

“Public school principals and teachers are doing an amazing job, but they are being asked to do too much with too little.”

“The Prime Minister needs to do much more than launch advertisements. He needs to honour the government’s commitment to end the underfunding of public schools.”

Haythorpe believes that investing in teachers and public schools is the only way to ensure that more teachers are recruited and retained.

She is calling for full funding from the government to give teachers more time and support to meet the varying needs of their students, as well as space to ensure teachers avoid early onset burnout. 

“The number one issue driving teachers from the profession is unsustainable workloads,” she said. “Only 13 per cent of public school teachers say their workload is manageable and one in five leave within three years of entering the profession.”

Haythorpe also called on the Albanese Government to sign funding agreements with state and territory governments within the next 12 months to “put an end to the underfunding of public schools by 2028.”

Speaking to the media at yesterday’s launch, the PM said the government is committed to achieving a pathway to full and fair funding. 

“Next year, you’ll see a new school funding agreement, and that is something we aim to reach with each state and territory government,” he said.

According to Haythorpe, less than 2 per cent of public schools across the country are resourced at 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard — “which is the minimum level governments agreed a decade ago was necessary to meet the needs of all students.”

“By contrast, 98 per cent of private schools are funded at or above the SRS,” Haythorpe said. 

The president of AEU’s Victoria branch believes a retention payment from the state government will be more effective in keeping teachers in the classroom. 

“The shortage of teachers, principals and education support staff is having an impact on Victorian public schools right now, today,” President Meredith Peace said.

“The situation is extremely serious, with students in too many classrooms without a permanent qualified teacher. It is a completely unacceptable situation.” 

Other public figures have weighed in with suggestions, including Co-Founder of North Sydney Independent, Denise Shrivell, who tweeted earlier this week:

“Here’s an idea to attract more people to teaching – improve their wages and working conditions. Will the $10m advertising campaign address this?”

At yesterday’s launch, both Albanese and Education Minister Prue Car attempted to address the issue of teachers’ salaries.

“The truth is that this campaign is never going to aim at teachers being paid as much as engineers or doctors,” the PM said. “What it’s aimed at doing is if you look at a fulfilling life that you have where you’re making a difference, that’s part of the equation as well.”

Car responded by saying that “…teachers are expert professionals, they deserve to be paid like expert professionals.” 

“They are the most important profession in society, hands down. And the way that we talk about teachers is so important, and the way that we talk about it as the model profession, as a noble profession, is so important. So, I suppose that’s our focus.”

“Here in NSW, we have given teachers a massive pay rise. A pay rise they’ve deserved and they were denied by the previous Liberal government for twelve years.” 

Elsewhere, Greens education spokesperson Senator Penny Allman-Payne asked the question — “what awaits these new teachers when they enter the classroom?” 

“A lack of resources and support staff, mountains of paperwork, and a workload that is impossible for many teachers to sustain,” she said in a statement. 

Allman-Payne believes the mass exodus of teachers is caused by  “appalling conditions” and teachers “not being able to do the jobs they love”.

“If the government wants to attract and keep teachers in the classroom it needs to make sure they have the resources and support they need to actually teach,” she said. 

“Every public school in the country must be funded to 100% of the Schooling Resource Standard at the start of the next NSRA, in January 2025.”

Beyond all this, gaining the tertiary credentials to become a public school teacher requires an individual to commit to at least twelve months of study, and undergo up to three months of unpaid work experience.

The PM acknowledges the “lasting legacy on future generations” teachers have — but deliberately looks away from the realities of stepping into the profession, as well as its taxing emotional toll.

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A new survey has revealed that the gender gap in who does the ‘home cooking’ has actually expanded over the past year, with women cooking more meals than men in almost every country.

In 2022, women cooked 8.7 meals per week, on average, more than double the number of meals men cooked, which was four per week. 

The annual The World Cooking Index, analysed by Gallup and Cookpad, examines how often people prepare and eat home-cooked meals around the world, tracking the way various factors such as gender, age and household size influence people’s cooking habits in 142 countries.

The country with the widest cooking gender gap was Ethiopia, followed by Tajikistan, Egypt, Nepal and Yemen. These are countries where women are often struggling with other issues including human rights, parliamentary representation, education and access to healthcare. 

Conversely, the countries where men and women cooked roughly the same number of meals each week are also places with higher awareness of equality between the sexes. 

They include Spain, UK, Switzerland and France. In the US, women cooked about two more meals per week than men. 

Among the 142 surveyed countries, only one emerged where men cooked more, on average, than women — Italy.

Takako Kotake, managing director at Cookpad, said the study observed a growing clarity in the correlation between cooking frequency and various societal factors. 

“Among these factors, the gender perspective emerges as a particularly significant one, impacting crucial aspects of human relationships and overall health,” Kotake explained.

“We encourage a broad audience to explore this dataset, with the hope that it will foster a deeper dialogue about the significance and value of cooking in our lives.”

Andrew Dugan, research director at Gallup, noted that every year since the study started in 2018, the gap narrowed —  until last year. 

In 2022, women continued to cook at about the same frequency, while men started to cook less.

“It’s the first year that the gap actually widened,” Dugan said. 

“What it might suggest is [that] the traditional gender roles are starting to reassert themselves.”

Marital status was also a factor that played a pivotal role in deciding a woman’s cooking habits. On average, married women prepared 6.9 more meals weekly than married men. 

However, people who said they were separated cooked the most, with an average of 8.0 meals per week, followed widowed people, those in domestic partnerships, then divorced people. 

Single people or those who have never been married cooked the least, with an average of 4.9 meals per week.

“The widening gender gap we saw this year underscores the importance of understanding cultural, societal and economic influences on everyday habits,” Joe Daly, managing partner at Gallup said. 

“As we continue to delve into these findings, we aim to supply valuable insights that can inform policymakers, researchers and households about the changing dynamics of home-cooked meals.”

Where you lived also determined how much cooking you did. People living in rural areas or on farms cooked the most, at 6.7 meals per week, while those living in metropolitan areas cooked the least, with an average of 6.1 meals per week.

Finally, income determined how much cooking happened in a household — in 2022, the richest 20 per cent cooked the least at home, with an average of 5.8 meals per week, while the poorest 20 per cent cooked most frequently, with an average of 7.0 full meals each week. 

Read the The World Cooking Index report here. 

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