The Gender at Work Podcast

Language is often the medium through which exclusion, stigma and invisibilisation of certain groups, experiences and identities is normalised and justified.   This podcast discusses whether and why language and terminology matter, how new words and frames can be created in diverse cultural contexts to claim power, presence and voice, and analyses the hijacking of progressive feminist language by c...

Social power and injustice are often expressed and experienced through inclusion and exclusion.   This episode explores what constitutes inclusion or exclusion, who are the most excluded groups and identities, and how diverse constituencies are connecting to challenge their marginalisation.   The role of creative people in raising awareness about exclusionary politics is also explored. Participant...

Various narratives, social norms and political agenda underlie the criminalisation of people based on their gender identities, sexual expression, reproductive choices or occupation (such as sex work).  This podcast explores the impacts of this approach not only on these groups, but on societies as a whole, and the nature of resistance to criminalisation. Participants for this episode are: Aruna Ra...

It's almost 25 years since the landmark women's conference held in Beijing in 1995. What did women achieve at Beijing and what are some of the key new and unfinished feminist agendas? In this podcast Joanne Sandler, the former Deputy Director of Unifem and current senior associate G@W starts us off by tracing some of the intentions, magic and results from Beijing. Then we discuss the new and unfin...

There is no greater time than now, when we are experiencing a tremendous pushback against women's rights and women's rights defenders, to search for new and powerful ways to express ourselves and advocate for change. In this episode, we meet  three powerhouse artists and activists: former Ford model and philanthropist, Monica Watkins, Australian singer-songwriter Jess McAvoy, and no-bounds visual...

In 2015, Gender at Work founders and podcast hosts Aruna Rao and David Kelleher, along with Gender at Work Senior Associate, Joanne Sandler and Knowledge Strategist, Carol Miller, collaborated to write a book that has proven to be a must-read for feminists. Gender at Work: Theory and Practice for 21st Century Organizations is a culmination of four activists' dedication, experience and thought lead...

This week, David and Aruna speak with three powerful change makers collaborating to form the UN Girls' Education (UNGEI) initiative to end school-related gender-based violence in Sub-Saharan Africa. Leading the initiative is a trifecta of development practitioners, action-oriented researchers and behavior change experts – Nora Fyles (Head of Secretariat for the UN Girls' Education Initiative), Mad...

From Oxfam to the United Nations, allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct have rocked the humanitarian sector. In episode 07 we speak with Hendrica Okondo, who has 20 years of experience in humanitarian contexts within UN organizations; Robin Yaker, who has worked for the International Rescue Committee and Raising Voices; and Sarah Douglas, who is the deputy chief of peace and security at UN Wo...

How do you define toxic masculinity and misogyny, and how do they contribute the violence in our socities? That's the question we aim to answer in this episode. We spoke with Marisa Tramontano, who teaches theories of gender and masculinity, and Pablo Castillo-Diaz who is a Policy Specialist at UN Women, and studies the link between violent extremism and misogyny internationally. Marisa explains h...

In this episode, we examine the impact the #metoo movement is making  on college campuses and policies. We spoke with students, faculty, and associates from UC Santa Cruz, the University of Sussex, Makerere University,  and The YP Foundation in India  to explore the meaning of the hashtag, and it's repercussions in a global context. Join us for this powerful episode packed with personal insight an...

In this episode, we travel to the Vaal---a semi-rural area in South Africa, whose violent past still haunts it. We take a look at Letsema, an innovative community wide effort to combat gender based violence, and negative social norms around women and the LGBT community. We talked to Nina Benjamin and Nispho Twala from the Labor Research Service in South Africa, and found out why the Vaal can be su...

In our third episode, hosted by Aruna Rao and David Kelleher , we would like to share a discussion on Fredric Laloux's popular book, Reinventing Organisations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage in Human Consciousness,  published in 2014. In his book, Laloux discusses the evolution of organisational structures and he labels each type by a different color. The focus of the...

"I was so busy thinking about strategy, I never thought about self-care…I was told to swallow my tears, and so many women are told this. I don't have the space for self-care. It is impossible to be a black woman alone." - Yasmin Thayna, Brazilian filmmaker and activist at the 2016 AWID Forum In this episode on Feminist Activism and Self Care hosted by Aruna Rao and David Kelleher, we're joined by...

Feminists Rethinking Transformation , the Gender at Work Book Club's new podcast series, is part of our ongoing effort to hold intimate conversations about rethinking and regenerating our strategies and practices to transform the world, build cultures of equality and end patriarchy. Our first podcast is an informal conversation over dinner with women's rights and gender equality scholars and activ...

Gender at Work has been active now for almost 20 years and we have made contributions to thinking and practice on challenging and changing discriminatory social norms and deep structures of inequality to advance gender equality. Currently, we are witnessing many changes in the contexts where we work including increasing inequalities, and myriad new challenges, that may render some of our approache...