Since the early 1960s, business leaders have argued that expanding opportunities for women in the workplace would yield positive net results. Although it’s been a long time battle, statistics show that women have not fared as well as their male counterparts in the business and technology sectors. The gender pay gap and women’s employment statistics…
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When a classic movie is remade or rebooted, when a book is made into a movie, when a new Bond, Superman, Spiderman or Batman is selected, there are rumblings of discontent in the fandom. Remember when fans thought Heath Ledger too pretty to be the Joker and Jennifer Lawrence too blond to be Katniss Everdeen?…
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With today’s power and abundance of social media, it’s very rare to discover an artist’s music without already having some sort of preconceived idea about what you’ll think of them. Lana Del Rey’s music has always been clouded for me with the pervasive opinion that she’s a fake. Little criticism about Lana Del Rey’s career…
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Katy Warner’s story, One Hundred and Fifty Seconds, won 1st place in the 2016 Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction. Here is an interview with Katy, plus her award-winning story! * Tell us a bit about yourself. Who are you? I am a playwright, sometimes actor and writer based in Melbourne. I grew up in Perth…
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Jude Bridge’s story, Mother of Invention, won 2nd place in the 2016 Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction. Here is an interview with Jude, plus her award-winning story! * Tell us a bit about yourself. Who are you? I live in Perth and am always thinking of a new story, or play, or song. In a…
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Laura Elvery’s story, La Otra, won 3rd place in the 2016 Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction. Here is an interview with Laura, plus her award-winning story! * Tell us a bit about yourself. Who are you? I’m a writer and PhD researcher from Brisbane. What do you think it takes to win an award-winning story?…
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Laura McPhee-Browne’s story, The Tallest Girl in the World, was Highly Commended in the 2016 Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction. * Tell us a bit about yourself. Who are you? I am a 31 year old social worker who writes short stories, and sometimes other stuff. What do you think it takes to win an…
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Hollywood blockbuster, Now You See Me 2, features a boisterous and strong female illusionist by the name of Lula, a well-established magician standing proud amongst her male cohorts. The coin has flipped and this time the woman in the film is not the sexy assistant donning a sparkly leotard and feathers. Instead she is the…
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If we use pop culture as the barometer for women’s workplace fashion, the 70s is defined by Christina Hendricks’ pencil skirt and cinched waist in Mad Men, the 80s was all about Melanie Griffith’s power suits and shoulder pads in Working Girl while in the 90s, Calista Flockhart’s Ally McBeal wore short skirts much to the shock of Boston’s fictional law…
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Content warning: this article contains mention of rape, rape culture and legal proceedings involving the two Jaws drop in living rooms across the city. Commuters, reading newspapers and getting their news on smart phones, shake their heads in disgust: How did he get away with it? What was the jury thinking? Why did the judge…
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I want to dedicate this to the people who lost their lives in the Orlando massacre. This morning I woke up with my wife’s alarm at six. I remembered that we’d polished off the last of the salad over the weekend, so I threw on my robe and made Emma something fresh for lunch while…
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Content Warning: this article contains mention of rape, rape culture and victim blaming ‘… we should not make the mistake that law can provide the solution to the oppression that it celebrates and sustains’ – Carol Smart in Feminism and the power of law This quote from Carol Smart has been banging around in my…
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Advertising is an industry that is all too easy to dismiss as anti-woman. For decades now, the industry has grown while presenting women as objects to be consumed, all the while limiting opportunities for women who seek careers in the field. The television series Mad Men reinforced the unfortunate status of women in advertising, from…
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In 2009, the Salvation Army capitalised on the discrimination of sex workers through a derogatory promotion for their Red Shield Appeal. After protests and a threat of a “red ban”, the Salvation Army were forced to publically apologise and withdraw their ads about “Rick”, an alleged sex worker they had “rescued” from his industry. Unfortunately…
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