Studio B

We have been talking about workplace gender equality for decades. What will it take to take the next leap forward?  

Professor Susan Harris Rimmer joins Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) CEO Christine Castley OAM for a candid conversation about where Australia has made progress, where the biggest opportunities now lie and why advancing gender equality may require all of us to challenge some of our own assumptions.

Drawing on one of Australia’s richest workplace datasets, Susan and Christine will explore where our thinking might need to shift.

Have flexibility and care become too readily framed as ‘women’s issues’? Could greater gender equality give both women and men more choices about how they work, care and live? How will a rapidly changing world of work reshape those choices? And do we talk enough about the case for gender equality not only as a matter of fairness or social good, but also as an investment in Australia’s people and economic potential?

Expect a conversation that goes beyond the familiar and asks what a more ambitious (and perhaps different) next chapter for workplace gender equality could look like.

Supported by Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA)

Speakers

Christine Castley

Christine Castley OAM is a values-driven leader whose career spans government and the for-purpose sector, grounded in a deep commitment to inclusion, equity and belonging. Christine is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). Prior to this she was Chair of the Australian Multicultural Council and CEO of Multicultural Australia.She previously spent 25 years in the Queensland Government, including as Deputy Director-General in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and the Department of Housing andPublic Works, where she led major reform across housing and social policy.

Christine also serves on the Boards of the Residential Tenancies Authority, the Queensland Theatre Company,DV Connectand the Queensland Community Foundation.She is known for working at the intersection of people, policy and purpose, bringing together community voice, data and practical delivery to deliver social good, particularly for those in our community experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage.

Professor Susan Harris Rimmer

Professor Susan Harris Rimmer is a Professor at Griffith Law School, Griffith University. Originally from Coonabarabran in New South Wales, she has lived in Brisbane for around 20 years, with periods spent in Canberra.

She completed her undergraduate studies in Arts/Law at the University of Queensland and later undertook her doctorate at the Australian National University.

Susan worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Federal Parliament and the peak body Australian Council for International Development before joining academia Her research career began in the field of women’s rights and gender equality in contexts of armed conflict and post-conflict transition. Over time, her work has expanded to address one of the defining challenges of the present era: how societies manage the profound transitions required by climate change without eroding gender equality gains or human rights protections.