The Women's Agenda Podcast

Tarla and Angela cover a diverse range of stories this week! First, to the wins: including Sam Neill's masculinity and the New York initiative giving parents a night off.We share the reality of birth trauma in Australia and what more can be done to support women's health overall.Plus, we venture (again) into the women-and-AI discussion, following the Prime Minister's AI speech this week.In the second half of the pod, Women in Digital CEO Holly Hunt joins the podcast for a critical conversation on the women and AI, including concerns about women's jobs being at risk.You can learn more about Holly Hunt here.Plus check out our latest stories (and daily news coverage) on Women's Agenda, where you can also subscribe to our lunchtime daily news update.This week's discussed stories include:Zohran Mamdani's latest policy recognises what modern parents really needStrong and caring: In praise of Sam Neill's masculinityThere is no 'bouncing back' from childbirth trauma without knowledge and resourcesOnly one woman on Australia's highest-paid CEO list as top boss pockets $48 millionAI could fast unwind our women’s workforce participation rate. We need more than historical reassuranceAI could fast unwind our women's workforce participation rateFurther show notesBirth trauma. Check out the Australasian Birth Trauma Association for more information, plus PANDA's National Helpline (1300 726 306), and the National Continence Helpline (1800 33 00 66).Sam Neill. Died 13 July 2026 in Sydney, aged 78; survived by four children and eight grandchildren. Family noted the death was sudden and unexpected, following pneumonia after he'd recently been declared cancer-free.Anthony Albanese's AI speech. Delivered Wednesday 15 July in Sydney. Office of AI within PM&C; faster approvals; data centres to underwrite new energy generation; mandatory standards legislated by early 2027 via national cabinet; copyright pushback.The DEWR figures are all from AI and Employment in Australia, and covered in the story linked above.

We talk all things women's longevity with Dr Ginni Mansberg! A no-BS conversation on the things women need to know, and those that we don't. Dr Mansbery is a GP of more than 30 years who has built a reputation as one of the most trusted, plain-speaking voices in Australian women's health. She specialises in menopause, midlife health and disease prevention, and was voted Australia's most trusted healthcare professional in 2022. She's been a resident GP on Channel 7's Sunrise and The Morning Show, the host of Embarrassing Bodies Down Under and SBS's Medicine or Myth, and co-host of the podcast Unleashed. Ginny's also the bestselling author of six books, including The M Word. Her latest, The Women's Longevity Handbook, cuts through the biohacking hype to ask a more useful question for women: not how to live forever, but how to add life to the years we've got. The Women's Agenda Podcast is produced by the 100% female-owned and run Agenda Media. Check out our website and subscribe to our lunchtime daily news update.

We talk through the biggest stories of the week! The wins -- we explore the historic $1m gift for miscarriage support, the six-month paid parental leave milestone (and the case for not going back!) And on discussions -- we look at how Meta keeps deleting Australian LGBTQ+ accounts, "AI-first" layoffs hit women's jobs first, and the grey-market peptides putting women at greater risk. This week's stories include: Historic $1 million gift to turbocharge Pink Elephants' miscarriage supportAustralia just hit the six-month paid parental leave milestone. We're not going backWhen 'simply being seen becomes political': Meta's crackdown on Australian LGBTQ+ accountsThe hidden risks of grey-market peptides – why women face greater dangerThe Women's Agenda Podcast is produced by Agenda Media, publisher of Women's Agenda. Learn more here.

This week, who gets excused and who gets judged!We look at the wins: A doctor turned patient, and a founder's AI women's health platform raises $4 million, and a World Cup that's been a genuine, underdog-loving joy. Then, we unpack Karl Stefanovic's platforming of the far-right extremist Tommy Robinson on his podcast and the fallout that ensued. Plus, we look at the French TV host who called footballer Jérémy Doku's plan to attend his baby's birth "disgusting", and why, from Virat Kohli to Cricket Australia's own paternity policy, we should be well past this. And we dig into the "brilliant leader" notion, following yet more investigations and headlines surrounding one of Australia's best-known founders. This week's discussed stories include:Doctor-turned-founder behind Ovum raises $4 million to scale AI women's health platformKarl Stefanovic's attention-grabbing antics hit new heights with far right extremist interviewTV host apologises after calling footballer Jérémy Doku's plan to attend baby's birth 'disgusting'Australian Federal Police human exploitation taskforce investigating Richard WhiteSubscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and head to womensagenda.com.au for the full stories.

Top stories from the week! Pauline Hanson is abolishing things, everywhere, wants monoculturalism, claims the gender pay gap is a myth etc. Plus, how 12 hours risked reproductive rights in Australia.River Ahmad becomes the first Afghan woman to summit Mount Everest, and how Cape Verde's goalkeeper Vozinha out-classed a US$60 million masculinity spectacle.Have you heard of career minimalism? We unpack the latest workplace trend and why it's fine, for some people.This week's discussed stories include:River Ahmad, the first Afghan woman to climb Everest, dedicates historic achievement to women and girlsA goalkeeper wept, a fighter sledged Michelle Obama. Only one of these men showed strengthBasically, Pauline Hanson wants to abolish a bunch of thingsAn alarming 12 hours of efforts to restrict reproductive health in AustraliaJane Fonda, Julia Roberts take on Trump at free speech concert in NYCSubscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and head to womensagenda.com.au for the full stories.

This week, two genuine wins and a look at who we blame when the going gets tough.A blood-stained front page across three South African newspapers turned period poverty into front-page news — and went global. Brittany Higgins was named Executive Director of Vida Fund, stepping into a leadership role as the organisation gears up for 2028. We unpack "masculinism" — the force Helen Lewis says is uniting the right against women — and ask whether Australia is catching the same trend. Tarla takes on one comedian's irresponsible anti-immigration rant. This week's discussed stories include:Blood-stained front page sparks global conversation about period povertyBrittany Higgins appointed Executive Director of Vida Fund as organisation ramps up gender equity campaign'Masculinism' unites the right in the US against women. Is Australia experiencing the same trend?Dave Hughes loves a rant. This anti-immigration one is his worst yet.I spent 20 years as a political staffer. Here's why toxic workplace culture is so hard to fixSubscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and head to womensagenda.com.au for the full stories.

Sarah Wilson has built a career on telling uncomfortable truths, including about sugar, anxiety, and about how we're living. Her new book, I Eat the Stars: How to Live Fully and Beautifully in a Collapsing World, goes further than anything she's written before. It argues we are already inside systemic collapse and experiencing the same pattern every complex civilisation before us has followed. The way through is to stop performing hope and start experiencing the world around us./ In this conversation with Angela Priestley, Sarah explains what "collapse" actually means, why women may be uniquely placed to lead through it, and what she calls "fierce mother energy" — the antidote to the "fierce toddler energy" of the men currently running the world. She also tackles the question every parent is asking: how do we talk to our kids about this? It is, against all odds, a hopeful listen.I Eat the Stars is out now in Australia and New Zealand via Penguin, with global release on 16 June 2026.The Women's Agenda Podcast is produced by Agenda Media, publisher of Women's Agenda. Sign up to our free daily news update here. Thank you to this week's sponsor of the podcast, The Women in Leadership Summit. You can find out more about the event and here. Our partner's message: Leadership isn’t built in a single moment - it’s built through momentum. In partnership with UN Women Australia - The Women in Leadership Summit is coming to a city near you this September. Australia’s Queen of Comedy, Celeste Barber, headlines a lineup of leaders worth clearing your calendar for. Forget the one-off event - this is a leadership journey, designed to build momentum before, during and after the Summit. Every ticket also directly supports UN Women Australia's work advancing women's economic empowerment, leadership and safety. Find out more and register at australia.womenleadersummit.com. 

Antoinette Lattouff went from award-winning journalist to the unwilling face of one of Australia's most consequential press freedom cases — and a verb. In her new book Women Who Win, she reframes what winning actually means for women and what it costs, weaving in her own story of being sacked three days into a gig at the ABC and taking the ABC to court.Antoinette joins the pod to share why she claimed the win before the verdict came down, the loneliness of being the first, and the two years she spent in fight-or-flight while navigating the case. She outlines some of the inspiring and gameschanging stories of women presented in her book. You can learn more about Antoinette's book here. The Women's Agenda Podcast is produced by Agenda Media, publisher of Women's Agenda. Subscribe to our free daily news update here.

We wrap a week of wins and the giant gap in who says they're supporting women and who actually is. Women and girls are driving a record philanthropic boom in Australian sport, with more than $22.8 million directed into their programs last year. Melbourne writer Su Dharmapala's debut novel is heading to the big screen as a women-led rom-com, twelve years in the making. But in the week since the Federal Budget, five women and two children have been killed, while the Prime Minister insists he's "throwing everything" at the crisis. Schools are being blackmailed by cyber criminals using sexually explicit AI deepfakes of students. And EY has quietly walked back its once-celebrated paid parental leave policy, introducing a penalty for staff who resign within a year of returning.We also explore this week's much-discussed issue of women urging other women to use AI. This week's discussed stories include:Women and girls record philanthropic boom in Australian sportMelbourne rom-com about Sri Lankan community heads to big screenFive women, two children killed since Budget. But PM claims they're 'throwing everything' at the issueSchools are being blackmailed with explicit AI deepfakes of studentsAfter years of progress, EY is taking a step backwards on paid parental leave