Rae Cooper on What Women Want at Work

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

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

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

In today's chat, we speak about:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• The power of collective action and professional peers.

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