A conversation with my mum, Margaret Redden, about what it was like to grow up, work, and have children as a woman in South Australia in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, and the kinds of inequality women were simply expected to accept.

Show Notes

Books mentioned:

• Storm Boy by Colin Thiele
• Other books by Colin Thiele: Blue Fin, The Fire in the Stone, February Dragon

Film:

• Storm Boy (film adaptation)

Topics touched on:

• Women in teaching in the 1960s–80s
• Temporary teaching status for women
• Lack of maternity leave and having to resign
• Superannuation inequality
• Women’s unpaid labour in farming communities
• Inheritance and farming succession

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

Go for a walk.

Look at what’s named.

Then tell me you don’t see it.

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

A raw conversation about suicidal thoughts, Lifeline, and what it feels like at a granular level to not be okay. 

~~~

In this episode I have a chat with Julia Ridout. (Find out more about Julia here: https://www.instagram.com/chiefencouragementofficeau) 

She’s worked at Deloitte, led major projects, and volunteered as a Lifeline counsellor. She now runs her own business as a Chief Encouragement Officer, helping people and organisations understand themselves and work better together.

But this episode isn’t about titles.
It’s about what it’s like to not be okay.

We talk about calling Lifeline, suicidal thoughts, and why you don’t have to be at breaking point to ask for help. We talk about rumination, coping, and the difference between living in your life and numbing it out.

This episode includes discussion of suicide and self-harm.
We are speaking from lived experience only. This is not medical advice.

When you need support consider contacting the organisations below (if you are not in Oz, Google 'how to get help for suicidal ideation right now near me', people want to help you, there is a plan for how to safely get you to the next moment)

~~~

BOOKS MENTIONED 

'Life Is in the Transitions ~ Mastering Change at Any Age' by  Bruce Feiler

~~~

SUPPORT (Australia)

• Lifeline Australia
 24/7 phone, text, and chat
 https://www.lifeline.org.au/

• Beyond Blue
 Online and phone support
 https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

• MindSpot
 Practical mental health support
 https://www.mindspot.org.au/

MORE 

If you want somewhere to land after this, I’ve written more on Substack.
 
I will never gatekeep support. If you need help, or you’re looking for resources, that will always be available for free.

https://substack.com/@catharineredden

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

Feminism is easy… until it’s your family.

This one’s about the dinner table.

The comments that don’t sit right.

And the moments where you stay quiet.

Recorded in my car by the beach,

       with seagulls who are frankly furious about the lack of chips.

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

Last year, I worked on an egg farm.

7am starts. No lunch break. One 15-minute smoko.

Lifting a tonne of eggs a day. Collecting dead birds.

Driving half an hour each way.

And I was being paid less than the minimum wage.

Not by accident.

Not cash-in-hand.

Legally.

In this episode, I walk through what it’s actually like to work under the pastoral award in Australia, where minimum wage isn’t always minimum, penalty rates don’t exist, and “fair go” starts to look more like a marketing slogan than a reality.

This isn’t a rant. It’s a field note.

From inside a system that most people don’t even know exists.

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

What is period underwear?

What is Prozac?

This episode started as a Q&A.

It didn’t stay that way.

From black “cheek to kidney” netball undies…

to the very real experience of taking antidepressants…

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

I was just ordering a coffee. (Decaf latte, two shots, two sugars, normal milk) 

Instead, I found myself in an unsafe conversation about women, worth, and who deserves what.

This episode is a real-life moment.

No theory. No filters. Just how sexism actually shows up in the wild.

Welcome to Notes From the Field.

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

When I was a kid, I used to sit on the bonnet of an HR Holden and watch my dad play country footy.

I thought I understood the game.

But years later I realised something strange: I had only ever been watching half of it.

In this episode of The C-Word, I look at what happens when women step into sporting spaces that were never originally built for them.

From ill-fitting guernseys and dodgy change rooms to online abuse aimed at women players, commentators and umpires, women’s sport still provokes reactions that go well beyond the game itself.

Along the way we talk about:

• why women’s sport suddenly grows when it becomes visible

• the history of women being pushed out of football despite drawing huge crowds

• why gay women seem to find space in sport while gay men still struggle to come out in the AFL

• and why being a woman in sport can sometimes feel like being a vegan handed a chicken schnitzel.

Technically you’ve been served dinner.

It’s just not made for you.

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

If you’ve ever wondered what a panic attack actually feels like, this episode is a very honest answer.

This episode was recorded while I was recovering from a panic attack. Earlier that morning I found myself lying on the floor of the self-checkout at Woolworths, with a bag full of ice cream, fresh salmon and milk — more worried about getting the groceries home to the fridge and freezer than the fact that I’d been nanoseconds away from passing out in public.

For me, panic attacks don’t look like hyperventilating into a paper bag. They look like shaking at 4am, feeling freezing cold, not knowing where I am for a moment, and sometimes spending hours trying to convince myself I’m just being lazy rather than recognising what’s actually happening.

In this episode I talk openly about living with anxiety and depression as a 54-year-old woman, the strange realities of panic attacks, CPTSD, medication, childhood trauma, and the quiet ways these experiences shape everyday life.

This conversation includes discussion of depression, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, trauma, childhood abuse, medication, fainting and domestic violence, so please take care while listening.

If you’re struggling, please reach out to someone you trust or a support service like Lifeline.

And if you’re listening because you live with anxiety too, I hope this episode helps you feel a little less alone.

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...

This episode of The C-Word with Catharine Redden comes to you from a spare bedroom in Loxton, South Australia. The sound is a little echoey. The ideas are not.

Today is not a rage episode. It’s a recalibration.

Using the Macquarie Dictionary definitions of sexism and feminism as a starting point, I walk through 115 years of legal, cultural and structural change for women in Australia and beyond. From the 1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act to the criminalisation of marital rape in 1992. From the marriage bar to paid parental leave. From my Nana’s life, born in 1910, to the unfinished business of 2026.

This episode asks:

What does it mean when women are not counted in the design phase of life?

What does progress actually look like?

And what is still unresolved?

Feminism is not hostility toward men. It is structural correction. It is generational recalibration in systems that were not designed with us in mind.

This episode is dedicated to my Nanna ~ 

Evelyn Maud Eime (née Smith)

Born 14 February 1910 – Died 2010

Never far from my heart.

Further reading and influences for this episode include 

‘Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men’ by Caroline Criado Perez

‘The Beauty Myth’ by Naomi Wolf. 

I’ll also be writing on Substack about other texts that have shaped my feminism and understanding of structural inequality.

🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me.

Content Note ~
This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material. 
Also, I swear.

Support ~ 
These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself.

Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25)
1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Emergency 000

Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~

The Socials (I'd love a follow) 
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/

Support The Pod
Substack (where I write stuff)
https://catharineredden.substack.com

Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!)
https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden

Credits
Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.

Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley
https://ridleyfarmstudio.com...