Ideas at the House

Having wives allowed millions of men to do their best work, with their minds and schedules uncluttered by meal planning and school pickups. But even though women are now freer than ever to pursue their own ambitions, relatively few men are volunteering to take over the bulk of the domestic labour. Crabb’s new book, The Wife Drought, peers into the gap that was left when “housewife” stopped being a job description, and explores how our ideas about work/life balance and parenting must still evolve beyond the choice to either bring home the bacon, or stay at home to cook it.Annabel Crabb is one of Australia's most popular political commentators and the host of Australia's first dedicated political cooking show, ABC TV's Kitchen Cabinet. She writes for ABC Online's The Drum and has worked extensively in TV and radio. She is a columnist for the Sunday Age, Sun-Herald and Canberra's Sunday Times and won a Walkley Award for her 2009 Quarterly Essay on Malcolm Turnbull. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘They shriek, they rage, they cheer, they despair, they exult, they scream, they laugh, they cry!’ News Limited blogger Tim Blair was not talking about State of Origin spectators, but his poll to find ‘this nation’s most unhinged hysteric’ from among his list of ten ‘frightbats’, a group of opinionated female journalists and commentators. The frightbats themselves mostly laughed off the insults, and competed in good humour to get the most votes.But what does it mean if women can still be dismissed as crazy, emotional, or “hysterical” when they express strong opinions or simply raise their voices? Three women of ideas discuss being trolled, insulted and not taken seriously, and the long history of demonising women with opinions.Elizabeth Farrelly is a weekly opinion columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald, an Associate Professor in the Australian Graduate School of Urbanism at UNSW and author of several books, including Glenn Murcutt: Three Houses (1993), Blubberland (2007) and Caro Was Here, her first fiction, for children (2014). She won many awards for writing and for design, and has a background in science, philosophy, literature, city planning and architecture.Clementine Ford is a freelance writer, broadcaster and public speaker based in Melbourne. She is a Writer and Contributor for Daily Life and writes on feminism, pop culture and social issues.Jane Caro is a renowned journalist, broadcaster and author. She has appeared on ABC television's Q&A, as a regular panelist on The Gruen Transfer, and at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas. Jane has worked in the advertising industry and lectured in advertising at the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at the University of Western Sydney. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Esther Freud’s own childhood was an unusual one - as the daughter of painter Lucian Freud and the great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud, this may not be surprising. Her first novel, Hideous Kinky, draws on her childhood memories of living in Morocco with her sister and their bohemian mother; her newest book, Mr Mac and Me, is the story of a young boy finding an unlikely friend in Scottish architect and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh. With meticulous skill and a sharp eye for the big moments we only recognise in hindsight, Freud gets her young narrators, as they puzzle out the messiness of family, relationships, and growing up. Our childhood is our past, and Freud shows how delving into it can bring a searching light to the question of how we end up the people we are.Esther Freud was born in London and trained as an actress at the Drama Centre. Her first novel, Hideous Kinky about two children accompanying their mother in 1960s Morocco, was shortlisted for the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and later made into a film starring Kate Winslet. She is the author of seven other novels and her most recent book is Mr Mac and Me. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scrutiny of Australia's Muslim community has only increased in recent years. Australian women who wear Islamic head coverings have been subject toharassment, but we’ve seen the spontaneous solidarity of #illridewithyou in the wake of the Lindt Café siege. For Muslim women, episodes of community concern about their rights sit alongside racist stereotyping. Listen to Muslim women discuss their own priorities: how to fight sexism within Islamic communities; what happens when Islamophobia meets everyday sexism; and how society reacts to Muslim women taking their place in public life.Randa Abdel-Fattah is a Muslim of Palestinian and Egyptian heritage. She is a writer, passionate human rights advocate, and a spokesperson on issues relating to Palestine, Islam or Australian Muslims. Her articles have been published in The Australian, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and Le Monde (France).Susan Carland is a PhD candidate at Monash University, where she is researching the way Muslim women fight sexism within the Muslim community. In 2012 she was named on the 20 Most Influential Australian Female Voices list by The Age. She has also been named on the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World list, and as a “Muslim Leader of Tomorrow” by the UN Alliance of Civilizations. She is well known for her role on the SBS comedy panel and sketch show Salam Cafe, where she is a founding member and presenter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The arrival of women in the workplace has changed the way society functions – whether we’re talking about jobs and career, bringing up kids, or relationships. Research tells us that while women’s responsibilities have shifted to include paid work, their male partners still don’t share equally in the work at home. In fact, men are often stuck at the office, expected to be the ‘ideal worker’ and to have fewer family demands on their time. Can men break this cycle? Do they want to? And will their workplaces let them?Annabel Crabb is one of Australia's most popular political commentators and the host of Australia's first dedicated political cooking show, ABC TV's Kitchen Cabinet. She writes for ABC Online's The Drum and has worked extensively in TV and radio. She is a columnist for the Sunday Age, Sun-Herald and Canberra's Sunday Times and won a Walkley Award for her 2009 Quarterly Essay on Malcolm Turnbull.Richard Glover is a presenter for ABC Radio, journalist and author of of twelve books, including George Clooney's Haircut - and Other Cries for Help - a collection of his comic pieces as featured on ABC radio's Thank God It's Friday. His weekly humour column has been published in the Sydney Morning Herald for over twenty years.Graeme Russell is a consultant on work/life, fatherhood, gender equality, flexibility and organisational change. He was previously an Associate Professor in Psychology at Macquarie University and is recognised as a leading international researcher on fathers and families. His books include First-time Father: The Essential Guide for the New Dad.Brigid Schulte is a staff writer for The Washington Post and the author of Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time, a New York Times bestselling book on time pressure and modern families. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Beyoncé is one. So is Daniel Radcliffe. The only woman in federal cabinet says she isn’t. At some point in the last few years, we began talking about public figures “coming out” as feminists. Others affirm their belief in “gender equality”, but don’t find value in the F-word itself. With so many conflicting ideas about what a feminist looks like – or, more crucially, what a feminist does – anyone curious about the modern women’s movement can have a hard time separating the signal from the noise. Is “feminism” a political agenda, a social identity, a set of behaviours, a lifestyle choice, a Twitter mob or a branding exercise? This vital, varied panel will flatten common stereotypes, and delve into what feminism really means – and can achieve – in 2015 and beyond.Clementine Ford is a freelance writer, broadcaster and public speaker based in Melbourne. She is a Writer and Contributor for Daily Life and writes on feminism, pop culture and social issues.Roxane Gay is the co-editor of PANK. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Time, The Los Angeles Times, and many others. She is also the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, Bad Feminist, and Hunger, forthcoming in 2016.Germaine Greer is a writer and academic and is best known for her work as a key figure in modern feminism. Her ideas about gender and sexuality have provoked controversy since the release of her 1970 book The Female Eunuch. Her other works include Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility, The Change: Women, Aging and the Menopause, The Whole Woman, and Shakespeare's Wife.Celeste Liddle is a proud Arrernte woman, feminist, trade unionist and vegetarian. In 2012, Celeste started her blog Rantings of an Aboriginal Feminist and since then has developed a career as a freelance opinion writer with her work being published in The Guardian, Daily Life and Tracker, amongst others. Celeste has also frequently provided guest commentary on such channels as ABC radio, NITV and the National Indigenous Radio Service.Tara Moss is a novelist, journalist, blogger and TV presenter. Since 1999 she has written 9 bestselling novels, published in 18 countries and 12 languages. Her first non-fiction book, The Fictional Woman was published in May 2014. She is a long-term advocate for the rights of women and children and is UNICEF’s National Ambassador for Child Survival.Anita Sarkeesian is a media critic, blogger and the creator of Feminist Frequency, a video web series that explores the representations of women in pop culture narratives. In particular, her work highlights issues surrounding the targeted harassment of women in online and gaming spaces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The global conversation about women’s lives has opened up, women’s voices are heard more than ever before, and social media has brought a huge range of public conversations to life. But when you can reach more people, there are more people to offend, and discussions are often curtailed by capital-O Outrage; a Twitter mob can descend on an unwitting provocateur in minutes. There are still some things that women want to say at home, at work and online that they know to keep to themselves if they don’t want to be trolled, or written off as whingers. Talking about the most intimate fears and insecurities, accusations of “playing the gender card”, “first-world problems”, jokes made ‘too soon’ – why are some topics still too hard to talk about, and what are women losing by keeping them to themselves.Randa Abdel-Fattah is a Muslim of Palestinian and Egyptian heritage. She is a writer, passionate human rights advocate, and a spokesperson on issues relating to Palestine, Islam or Australian Muslims. Her articles have been published in The Australian, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and Le Monde (France).Larissa Behrendt is a Eualeyai/Kamillaroi woman. She is the Professor of Law and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney. She is the author of the novels Home and Legacy and her most recent book is Indigenous Australia for Dummies.Jane Caro is a renowned journalist, broadcaster and author. She has appeared on ABC television's Q&A, as a regular panelist on The Gruen Transfer, and at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas. Jane has worked in the advertising industry and lectured in advertising at the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at the University of Western Sydney.Mia Freedman is the co-founder and Content Director of the Mamamia Women's Network. She is an author, TV and radio commentator, podcast host, mother of three and writer for MWN websites Mamamia, The Glow, The Motherish and Debrief Daily. She is the former Chair of the National Body Image Advisory Group and in 2014 she was named by the Australian Financial Review as one of Australia's 100 Most Influential Women.Tara Moss is a novelist, journalist, blogger and TV presenter. Since 1999 she has written 9 bestselling novels, published in 18 countries and 12 languages. Her first non-fiction book, The Fictional Woman was published in May 2014. She is a long-term advocate for the rights of women and children and is UNICEF’s National Ambassador for Child Survival.Anita Sarkeesian is a media critic, blogger and the creator of Feminist Frequency, a video web series that explores the representations of women in pop culture narratives. In particular, her work highlights issues surrounding the targeted harassment of women in online and gaming spaces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A father drives his car across a highway and into a dam, his children in the back seat. They drown, he walks away. A writer sits through the trial of this ordinary man for the murder of his three young sons, and from this tragedy, Helen Garner creates a compelling story of Australian life and death: her new book, This House of Grief. What happened behind that wheel? Can it be explained or understood?As the legal process grinds on, she knits together a story of love, death and sadness that is impossible to resist. One of Australia’s most determined, compassionate storytellers examines why we can’t look away from what unfolds – and asks whether we should look away at all.Helen Garner has published many works of fiction including Monkey Grip, Cosmo Cosmolino and The Children's Bach. Her fiction has won numerous awards, including the Melbourne Prize for Literature. She is also one of Australia's most respected non-fiction writers, and received a Walkley Award for journalism in 1993. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fighting forces have been some of the last all-male workplaces. The Australian Defence Force will remove all gender restrictions on combat roles from 2016 onwards, but there are no women in the senior leadership group, and of all personnel serving now, women are only about 14%. Women have gradually infiltrated the ranks, but the hurdles have been high: from scandals about the treatment of women, to the particular challenges of work-life balance.In 2013, a speech by the Chief of Army, Lieutenant General David Morrison went viral as he stood firm against outdated attitudes to female personnel. But what is it really like to be a woman in the military? How difficult is it for women to become soldiers or sailors or pilots? What motivates women to join, and what does their service mean to them?Major Charmaine Benfield's most recent command position was as the Officer Commanding of the Logistic Support Company within the Combat Service Support Battalion in the 1st Brigade, Darwin. Her operational experience includes Operations Officer of the Force Support Unit - Seven in the Middle East in 2012-2013 for which she was awarded a Commendation for Distinguished Service.Catherine Fox is one of Australia’s leading commentators on women and the workforce. She is co-chair of the Westpac/Financial Review 100 Women of Influence Awards and is on several advisory boards, including the Defence Force Gender Equality Advisory Board.Commander Cath Hayes has served in the Navy for 23 years, she is a maritime warfare officer and air warfare specialist who has served in a variety of Command, leadership and staff roles ashore and at sea. Currently the Commanding Officer of ANZAC Class Frigate HMAS Toowoomba, in 2014 Commander Hayes was the first women to Command an Australian warship on operations in the Middle East.Wing Commander Fleur James was a member of the first contingent of air traffic controllers to deploy to Mogadishu, Somalia in October 1993. In recent years, she has had two six-month deployments to Dili, East Timor and Kabul, Afghanistan and assisted Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick with her Review into the Treatment of Women in the Australian Defence Force.Alex Shehadie is the Director of Cultural Reform in the Australian Defence Force at the Australian Human Rights Commission. Previously she was the Director of the Review into the Treatment of Women in Australian Defence Force. She was recently named in The Australian Financial Review's 100 Women of Influence for her work in this area. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everyone knows something needs to be done – but when facts are twisted to fit agendas, complex processes dumbed down for pop-science clickbait and research funding decimated, how on earth do we talk about how to save the earth? Legendary American marine biologist, Sylvia Earle speaks with environmental journalist and educator Simran Sethi about the environmental crises looming ahead - from the bottom of the oceans to the topsoil - and how to inspire people to get stuff done.Simran Sethi: Named “the environmental messenger” by Vanity Fair & a top ten eco-hero of the planet by the UK’s Independent, Simran Sethi is a journalist and educator focused on environmentalism, sustainability & social change. She is writing a book on the loss of biodiversity in our food system, is a visiting scholar at the Cocoa Research Centre in Trinidad, and is also an associate at the University of Melbourne’s Sustainable Society Institute in Australia.Sylvia Earle is an oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer. Earle has led more than a hundred expeditions and logged more than 7,000 hours underwater, including leading the first team of women aquanauts during the Tektite Project in 1970. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.