a woman’s place is in the ‘economy’

Welcome to A Woman’s Place – a podcast where Cathy Hunt AM (co-founder of the WOW movement in Australia) talks to women from all walks of life, on issues important to them today. In this series Cathy is exploring the range of different ways women are tackling the issue of economic security, why it is important to them and finding out what they are doing in their work to address the gender imbalance.

Topics will include: valuing women’s work, financial education and literacy, women investing in women, the stories of women business founders, women changing their work places of the better, childcare, dealing with financial control and abuse, retirement and superannuation and policy responses that are working to change things for the better. Cathy also explores the importance of understanding your personal ‘money story’ as a key to financial well being and asking all interviewees to share financial and other resources which they have found useful which can be found here with all episodes as they are published. We hope you enjoy!

Hosted by Cathy Hunt 
(Executive Director of WOW Australia)

Episode Seven – Seri Rankin OAM: Women Investing in Women

Seri Renkin is the Co-founder and Executive Director of The Dea Network, an organisation focussed on building a community of empowered Australian women ready to align their wealth with their values and drive systemic change through investment. A seasoned executive, non-executive director and changemaker with over 20 years’ experience across social finance, venture philanthropy, and impact investing. Seri has held numerous leadership roles, including as Head of Social Investment for one of Australia’s largest private trusts, CEO of the ten20 Foundation, and Founding Director of Social Ventures Australia’s Melbourne office. In 2020, she was awarded the Order of Australia medal for her service to communities and non-profit organisations.

Abacus Wealth Partners – Financial Archetype Quiz 

https://abacuswealth.com/quiz/

Activate Your Money – Janine Firpo

https://activateyourmoney.net/

Episode Six – Jessica Chew – Would a Universal Basic Income Help Women?

Explores whether a Universal Basic Income could significantly improve women’s economic security and freedom in Australia.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicacychew/
Website: https://jessicacychew.com/
Basic Income Australia Website: https://basicincomeaustralia.com/

The website also contains a detailed policy proposal for implementing a UBI in Australia: https://basicincomeaustralia.com/policy/

Zoe Staines, Senior Lecturer (Sociology, Social Policy, Criminology) at the University of Queensland has just published a new book entitled Securing Women’s Economic Security, Safety, and Freedom: The Role of Universal Basic Income in Australia. It is available here

Episode Five – Mary-Anne Anderson – Women Investing in Women – Part One

 Mary-Anne Anderson has been a small business operator since the 80’s including some years of experience as a solo-founder.  Joining the global SheEO community (now Coralus) in 2018 as an Activator and discovering the still persistent obstacles women face in accessing capital to grow their enterprises, she decided to dive in and do something about it. Amali Capital was created to be supportive, catalytic, non-dilutive, non-extractive, low documentation and flexible, to work with the capital requirements of women founders and their enterprises, in partnerships towards systems shifts.

Resources: https://www.coralus.world/ A community of change makers working on initiatives, projects and businesses making transformational impact.

Christine Castley is a nationally recognised leader in social impact, belonging, and cultural inclusion. Until recently the CEO of Multicultural Australia, she has led complex reform across government and community, including in housing, domestic and family violence, youth justice, and social cohesion. A former senior public servant and now Chair of the Australian Multicultural Council, Christine also serves as a Board Member of Queensland Theatre and the Residential Tenancies Authority. She brings deep experience in how policy and systems can both empower and exclude, and how we build for equity across gender, culture and class.

A mother, a migrant and the first in her family to go to university, Christine is passionate about creating pathways to opportunity—particularly for women and communities sidelined by structural inequality. She brings a practical, grounded lens to leadership and believes that economic empowerment is not just about jobs—it’s about dignity, agency and justice.

For information on financial services:

https://www.multiculturalaustralia.org.au/

Key resources and lifeskills education, including, financial literacy. For example, a range of lifeskills resources like SBS Life in Australia resources - https://www.sbs.com.au/audio/collection/life-in-australia/s3qcrlyn0

Information, support and access to address financial hardship – example, through micro-credit and finance and no interest loans – e.g., https://goodshep.org.au/services/nils/

Episode Three - Carol Vale – Journeying Together

An empathetic and visionary leader, Carol Vale is a Dunghutti entrepreneur, Supply Nation’s Indigenous Businesswoman of the Year 2024, and CEO and co-founder of Murawin, a national consultancy, specialising in Place Strategy, Research & Evaluation, & Social Impact & Engagement. Working tirelessly to deepen Murawin’s clients understanding and engagement with Indigenous communities, culture, and Country, Carol advocates for Indigenous people, so their interests, knowledge and ambitions are represented, respected, and realised.

Alongside her work at Murawin, Carol is a fixture on the National and International speaking circuit and a fierce advocate for First Nations women’s empowerment through business. Carol founded the Tiddas in Business program to pass on skills, knowledge and experience to other Indigenous women, building their capacity as business owners and entrepreneurs, empowering them, their families and communities through self-determination and economic independence.

Carol’s business https://murawin.com.au/

Half The Sky https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_the_Sky

Coralus - https://www.coralus.world/

Queensland Indigenous Business Network - https://qibn.com.au/

Jackie Huggins – Sister Girl – Reflections on Tiddaism, Identity and Reconcilition

The Practice of Adaptive Leadership – Alexander Grashow, Marty Linsky and Ronald Heifitz

Episode Two - Pascale Helyar-Moray OAM - Rich Woman, Poor Woman

Pascale Helyar-Moray is a multi award-winning entrepreneur who uses innovation as a means to solve big-picture problems. With a focus on gender equality and superannuation, backed by extensive experience in financial services, leadership and entrepreneurship, Pascale has founded, and advised startups, taking a number of them through to exit. She is the founder of Grow My Money, a world-first platform enabling users to turn their shopping into mortgage or superannuation savings. Prior to her startup life, Pascale held senior marketing roles at JPMorgan Asset Management, BT Financial Group and BNP Paribas. Passionate about gender equality, Pascale served as Director of Communications for the Australian Gender Equality Council. For her services to business and to women’s affairs, Pascale was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day 2024 Honours List. She has just released her first book, ‘Rich Woman, Poor Woman’.

A Woman’s Place
is in ‘The House’… 

1. Jonty Bush 
Jonty Bush is the Member for Cooper, with a 20-year career in helping people navigate government and social services. Her background is in criminology, motivated by the homicides of her sister and father. This led her to focus on community safety and victims’ rights, including her role as CEO of the Queensland Homicide Victims’ Support Group and the development of the “One Punch Can Kill” campaign. She holds a Master of Criminology and Criminal Justice from Griffith University and has worked in various governmental roles. Elected in 2020, she now serves on parliamentary committees related to crime, corruption, and legal affairs.  

3. Sandy Bolton
Sandy, elected as the Independent Member for Noosa in 2017 and now in her second term, views her role as diverse, serving both her constituents and the broader Queensland community. She has addressed key local issues, such as improvements to Beckman’s Road, Six Mile Creek bridge, the Noosa River, and the decommissioned TAFE site. On a larger scale, she successfully advocated for crossbench resource equity, supported the inquiry into Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD), and hosted forums on education and employment. Her successful hospital transport pilot program led to a state government initiative. Sandy emphasizes partnerships and regularly shares project updates through Noosa 360.  

A Woman’s Place
is on the Stage

This second series recorded to acknowledge the depth of talent appearing at this year’s Brisbane Festival, celebrates women artists. Although we are beginning to see more and more women and non binary artists represented on stage today, we rarely hear about the journey that has led them there: what brought them to the performing arts, what is driving them, and how they are using the opportunity to communicate with audiences on the issues important to them.

Hosted by Cathy Hunt 
(Executive Director of WOW Australia) 

Series. 2 – A Woman’s Place is on the Stage…