Big employers love touting their flexible work options!

That is, until it comes to the more powerful leadership positions.

Only 13.2% of workplaces in Australia have designed management roles that can be done part-time, despite nine in ten employers talking up flexibility.

Women are promoted at higher rates than men in middle management, but then the senior jobs are nowhere near as accommodating of those with caring responsibilities.

Have you had this experience, getting ‘good’ flexibility in middle management only to find senior roles suddenly can’t make it work? Let us know.

Here’s Madeline Hislop’s full report on the latest findings of BCEC’s analysis of the WGEA dataset.

Search ‘breast cancer diet’ and you’ll find plenty of strong and convincing plans but there’s little if any evidence backing the majority of it, according to a new study today.

Good news; Wage rises across female-dominated sectors like health, disability and community services will be funded through $630 million in Federal funding announced today, following the FWA decision.

And Celine Dion’s triumphant comeback is incredible in the face of her pain and loss of physical capacity from battling Stiff Person Syndrome. Dr Susie Falk shares this ode to Celine’s courageous return, as one of 1 million women living with an autoimmune disease in Australia.

ICYMI: Why women founders should ask how three male founders chasing a $44 billion valuation got so far.

Angela Priestley

Founding Editor & Publisher

The Key Quote

That would be appalling, repugnant, and that is why we need to be looking at every possible lever to ensure that is not live streamed, if indeed it goes ahead.

Ted O’Brien

Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Ted O'Brien has urged to government to act to ensure Australians cannot view the proposed live streaming of a US execution. The US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the execution of mass shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be available for the public to watch in December. "That concerns me deeply. We cannot have young Australians watching an execution," O'Brien says. The government's independent online safety regulator has warned it doesn't have the powers to block the live stream.

On Women's Agenda Today

The Key Figure

24.7 million

The amount of people projected to develop dementia per year by 2050, almost double the 11.4 million diagnoses in 2023. This concerning data, led by the University of NSW’s Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), projects higher rates higher rates among women and in low-income countries. Co-author Professor Henry Brodaty, the CHeBA co-director and this year’s Senior Australian of the Year, said the study proved investment in dementia prevention was urgent. “Twenty-four million new cases of dementia every year would place enormous pressure on individuals, families, health systems and economies around the world,” Brodaty said.

The win

Izzi Batt-Doyle, a runner from Adelaide, has broken the Australian women's marathon record in Chicago

Her time of 2:20:38 took 46 seconds off the existing record, held by Jess Stenson. Batt-Doyle, who was paced by her fiancé Riley Cocks, finished sixth in the women's race at the Chicago Marathon behind winner Hawi Feysa of Ethiopia. It also lowered the 31-year-old's own personal best by two minutes and 21 seconds. "I'm very, very happy. I feel a sense of relief, because it's something I really felt I could achieve and it's been on my mind the past couple of years," Batt-Doyle said.

On The Women's Agenda Podcast