The Women's Agenda Podcast

One day since American voters handed Democrats control of both the House and the Senate, Angela Priestley speaks with Liuba Grechen Shirley, founder and CEO of Vote Mama, the organisation that backs Democratic mums running for office at every level, from local school boards to the US Senate.

Vote Mama endorsed more than 200 candidates this cycle. As of this week, 180 of them have won, a 95 per cent strike rate, up from 70 per cent in 2024. Among them: pediatrician Annie Andrews, who flipped South Carolina’s Senate seat against Lindsey Graham’s sister; Peggy Flanagan, who will be the first Indigenous woman in the US Senate; and Denise Powell, who flipped a House seat in Nebraska.

Vote Mama candidates also helped flip state legislatures in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Liuba founded Vote Mama after her own 2018 run for Congress, where she won the right to use campaign funds for childcare.

In this conversation, she unpacks what happened on Tuesday night, why mothers running openly on their lived experience are now winning in places they never have before, what the Republican side is blaming for the rout, which races her candidates lost and why, and what Australian women thinking about running for office can take from it.

The Women's Agenda Podcast is produced by the 100% female-owned and run Agenda Media. Get out free daily news update here.

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We unpack the week that was, inspired by the grace and dignity of Dr Helen Haines, her husband Phil Haines and Governor-General Sam Mostyn.

Plus, our conversation with Dr Kayla Steele, a Clinical Psychologist for UNSW at the Black Dog Institute, and why "overwhelm" describes much of the mood of women in Australia. Kayla discusses the value of movement, connection, and friendship on mental health, and also why the Black Dog Institute and UNSW are studying the impact of IVF on mental health.

If you are currently having IVF, have had IVF or are supporting someone through their fertility treatment and you'd like to share your experience, check out more on eligibility for the study here. The survey closes on the 29th November 2026.

Stories discussed this week include:

• As Helen Haines fights for her life, the warnings women in politics have been making become painfully clear
• Jacqui Lambie's vaginal prolapse isn't the joke. Pauline Hanson's internalised misogyny definitely is
• Women are advised by AI to prioritise flexibility, while men are pushed towards higher salaries

If today raised anything for you, support is available: 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and head to womensagenda.com.au for the full stories.

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This weekend marks World Menopause Day! We speak with Mary Caustas to learn more about her own peri and menopause experience, and why she founded UnPause to help women feel more informed and supported through this stage of life.​

Mary is a comedian, actress and founder. She came to television fame in the 1980s for her portrayal of the iconic Greek-Australian character Effie Stephanidis in the comedy series Acropolis Now, winning a Logie Award for Best Comedy Performer.

The Women's Agenda Podcast is produced by Agenda Media, publisher of Women's Agenda.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Justice Navi Pillay was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her efforts to promote peace and international law. We're re-releasing this phone interview we recorded with Justice Pillay in November 2025, just as she was about to be awarded the Sydney Peace Prize.

Justice Pillay is a trailblazer for human rights and women in law, and has delivered historic judgements on sexual violence and genocide.

She is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and was recently Chair of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Justice Pillay shares so much in this interview, including how she cultivated a career in South Africa's apartheid, her relentless pursuit of justice, and some really important lessons on hope.

The Nobel Committee called Justice Pillay one of the great defenders of international legal principles in our time, and said it wanted to remind the world that peace requires justice.

The Women's Agenda Podcast is published by the 100% women-owned and run Agenda Media. Check out more on the stories discussed today at Women's Agenda, where you can also sign up for our free daily newsletter. Keen to support our work? Become a Women's Agenda Member.

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Dr Elise Stephenson joins Women's Agenda to unpack the gendered risks of AI, and why they're so urgent right now.

Speaking with Angela Priestley, the conversation moves from how AI reinforces existing inequality (rather than inventing brand-new problems) to the most immediate real-world risks for women and gender-diverse people in workplaces today.

Elise also outlines how AI could reshape relationships, abuse, and gender norms over time, including the role of LLMs and AI companions in subtly entrenching unhealthy dynamics.

Then, we move on to the risks to democracy, including those playing out right now, especially impacting women's participation: the harassment, disinformation, and AI-generated abuse pushing women out of public life and politics, and the question of who is funding and coordinating those attacks.

Finally, hope! Elise outlines what a feminist approach to AI actually looks like in practice, and closes with a clear call to action on Australia's guardrails and why it matters who is in the room when AI decisions get made.

This conversation comes as Elise has also just published Space XX: Gender, Power and the New Space Race. See our published extract on how women astronauts were once seen as a liability, but research suggests they could actually have an edge.

The Women's Agenda Podcast is produced by Agenda Media, publisher of Women's Agenda. Subscribe to our lunchtime daily news update here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our wrap of the biggest stories this week! As always, the wins: Hélène Huby raising a record $450 million for her European space company, the biggest round ever for an EU firm led by a female founder, and Australia cracking the top ten on the World Economic Forum's global gender equality rankings for the first time.

Then, we dig into Ed Sheeran's claim of "neutrality" after Macklemore was dropped from his tour, then onto the HYROX incident and our obsession with pushing through and much more.

This week's discussed stories include:

• Australia's record 8th place on gender equality is still no time for complacency
• Ed Sheeran claimed neutrality, then made the most political call of his career
• The HYROX poo incident exposes our obsession with pushing through
• The Sweeney ad isn't about sport, it's about who gets to profit from women's bodies

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and head to womensagenda.com.au for the full stories.

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This week at Women's Agenda: the women quietly holding the system together, and the men billing it.

We start with two wins: the boys' school principal with a strong message on violence against women, and the federal government finally taking aim at social media algorithms — a decent step forward, if not yet done and dusted.

Then we unpack ICAC evidence that a consultant was paid $10,000 a month for a "mum's perspective" and the twenty-something men with big dreams of transforming the right of the Liberal Party. We look at the invisible, unpaid — and overwhelmingly female — workforce propping up Australia's underfunded public schools through P&Cs. And, on a lighter note, our take on the Raygun documentary,

This week's discussed stories include:

• Sydney mothers raise $3.5m to fund Australia's first neonatal MRI machine
• Australia is taking aim at social media algorithms. Could it help protect women and girls?
• A consultant paid $10k a month for a 'mum's perspective', and '20-something guys dreaming big': ICAC delivers again
• The invisible workforce propping up Australia's public schools through P&Cs

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and head to womensagenda.com.au for the full stories.

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Women's Agenda speaks with George Megalogenis about his new book Three Shocks: Who We Are Becoming in the 21st Century.

The book traces how politics has failed to keep up with a changing Australia, including via one key shock -- that professional women are now the largest segment of the workforce, replacing blue-collar men.

The three shocks have redefined politics in Australia and will continue to do so.

Women's Agenda will be back with the usual Weekly Wrap next week!

The Women's Agenda Podcast is produced by Agenda Media, publisher of Women's Agenda.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All the wins and the biggest conversations from the week that was.

A record crowd at the SCG, a celebration of Dolly Parton who was so much more than the hits she created -- and she created a lot of brilliant hits.

Then into a discussion on our three biggest stories: why are people throwing sex toys onto WNBA courts for a second season?

Plus the comments blaming girls for "gin under their coats" when it comes to bad cultures at schools.

And we look into the 400 jobs that have just been lost at KPMG's Australian office, where workers are paying the price for alleged misconduct at the top.

This week's discussed stories include:

• Dolly Parton wrote the working woman's anthem. We'll always love her
• Sex toys thrown again: the epidemic of attacks on women's sport seen in the WNBA
• Angus Taylor's wife Louise Clegg blames drunk teens and cavalier parents. The culture of Scots? Not so much.
• Almost 400 jobs go. The cost of KPMG's alleged misconduct and a culture that failed

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and head to womensagenda.com.au for the full stories.

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This week on Women's Agenda, the highs of the women's game and the very deep lows following the actions of men.

Plus, all the language that skirts around the issues to protect reputations

Still, there were the wins! Deborah Mailman becoming the first Aboriginal person inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame, and the AFLW roaring back with big double-header crowds (and six matches around men's grand final weekend).

Then we unpack the Sydney Swans scandal, and the language that reflexively protects footballers. Jacqui Lambie leads the fight against the government's $5,000 cap on veterans' allied health -- and what it means for women veterans and the 2,500+ women in a military sexual-violence class action.

And to cap it all off, the alarming new University of Melbourne research finds nearly one in three teen boys believe equality for women has "gone too far".

This week's discussed stories include:

• Scots and Swans: The private school and the footy team with bigger responsibilities than reputation management
• Deborah Mailman becomes first Aboriginal person inducted into Logies Hall of Fame
• The Sydney Swans scandal proves we still care more about footballers than the victims
• One in three teen boys believe giving women equal opportunities has gone too far

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and head to womensagenda.com.au for the full stories.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.