Work. Love. Body. Future Women

In 2020, the lives of Australian women changed irrevocably. With insight, intelligence and empathy, Jane Gilmore, Santilla Chingaipe and Emily J. Brooks explore this through the lenses of work, love and body, and ask: Will the Australia of tomorrow be more equal than the one we were born into? Or will women and girls remain left behind?

While our country was shrouded in smoke in the early months of 2020, Australian women went about their daily business. They worked, studied, cleaned, did school runs, made meals. And they postponed looking after themselves because life got in the way.

Then, in March, Australians were told to lock down. For all the talk of equality, it was primarily women who held the health of our communities in their hands as they took on the essential jobs to care, to nurse and to teach, despite an invisible danger. One year later, women across the country would march on behalf of those who were not safe in workplaces and their own homes.

Never before has change been thrust so abruptly on modern Australian women - 2020 impacted our working lives, relationships and our health and wellbeing. And as a growing number of women agitate for change, it is time to demand what women want. So where do we go from here?

One thing is very clear: the future is now, and it is female.

Jamila Rizvi is Chief Creative Officer for Nine's Future Women and a bestselling author for adults and children. She is an opinion columnist for the Nine newspapers and hosts two podcasts, The Weekend Briefing and Anonymous Was A Woman. Jamila has advised governments at the highest levels on gender equality, child care, media and employment. She was named in the Australian Financial Review's 100 Women of Influence and is a 2020 Women and Leadership Australia award winner.
Helen McCabe is founder and managing director of Future Women. She began working in radio and television in Adelaide before moving to the Canberra Press Gallery with the Seven Network. In 2004 Helen was appointed Night Editor of The Australian newspaper, and later Deputy Editor of The Sunday Telegraph, and also spent six years as editor in chief of the Australia Women's Weekly, winning a number of industry awards including editor of the year. She is one of the few women to deliver the Andrew Olle lecture on journalism. Helen is active in the not-profit sector holding a series of board roles and also held senior executive roles at Nine before launching Future Women in 2018.