Author: Iain Schmidt

In this episode we chat with two singer-song-writers, Keppie Coutts and Ben Romalis about gender issues within the music industry, and the impact the music industry has on gender perspectives. We share insights into some of the everyday microaggressions, and the gendered, racial and age-related obstacles encountered by artists. We discuss how ‘networks’, and the lack of representation particularly in positions of power and influence in the industry work to exclude anybody who isn’t a white man. We discuss gendered stigmas attached to instruments and different genres, before finally taking a deeper look at song lyrics - from Blurred Lines, to grapevines, and the zig a zig ahs.

In this episode, we chat with Dominque Powrie, Managing Director of DDI, about gender equality and leadership. We chat about what makes for great leaders, and how we should be identifying talent, whilst exploring why the best leaders may not necessarily be the ones who end up in leadership roles. We discuss why we still have a way to go to ensure equality in representation of all genders at senior leadership, and how the inherent biases still permeate our processes. Finally, we share practical ways that executives can be allies, mentors, and sponsors, and the significant impact that we can all have to ensure fairer outcomes.

In this episode we chat with Dr Stephen Weller, Chief Operating Officer at Australian Catholic University, to discuss gender inequality within the tertiary education sector. We explore the importance of diverse representation in decision making, governance and policy making, and how change is taking longer than it should be. We examine some of the underlying issues associated with casualisation, flexibility and academic promotions, and how these are providing significant barriers to achieving gender equality.

In this episode we chat with the founder of Accidental Counsellor, Cutty Felton, about mental health, suicide prevention and how to give support to those around us.  We discuss how certain pressures associated with gender can impact our mental health, how trendy 'resilience' training may not actually be the best approach, as well as some straightforward and effective tips for helping other people through difficult times and personal crises.

In this episode we chat with Principal Recruitment Consultant, Kayla Hoye about gender equality within recruitment and selection practices. We look at the unconscious discounting that frequently occurs and disadvantages female candidates. We discuss the effectiveness of blind resumes, the gender language of advertisements, the composition of selection panels, and approaches to reference checking, in order to provide practical strategies for hiring managers to take greater ownership over the inclusivity of the process. You don’t need to wait for People and Culture before you can start fixing the problem.

In this episode we chat with Golnar Adl, Performance and Reward Manager about key gender equality measures, and pay and performance outcomes. Golnar helps us to understand the gender pay gap and the historical reasons for this inequality. We discuss the flaws within performance and remuneration reviews that contribute to greater gender inequality. And what leaders and organisations could be doing to firstly not make the problem worse, and then secondly provide greater transparency and accountability. 

In our inaugural episode, we begin our journey in understanding male privilege by chatting with diversity and research consultant, Dr Linda Peach.  We explore the essence of male privilege and appreciate how this privilege can be further compounded by being white, rich, able-bodied and heterosexual. We compare buying cars, buying drinks, and buying twitter, before honing in on what organisations and men need to be doing better in order to address the issue of gender inequality. Spoiler alert: the answer is not more unconscious bias training.