All About Women 2019

Overview

Australia's leading festival on gender All About Women is returning to the Sydney Opera House for its seventh season in 2019. This year features an especially impressive lineup of emerging female voices from around the globe, brought together for one day of talks, workshops, panel discussions and live podcast recordings. As usual, the festival will coincide with International Women's Day, taking place on Sunday, March 10.

This year's cutting-edge topics include: 'feminism outside the Western world' with Arab-Australian human rights advocate Sara Saleh; 'female anger and desire' with US author Soraya Chemaly; 'toxic masculinity' with writer Clementine Ford (author of Boys Will Be Boys and Fight Like a Girl); 'problems with wokeness' by UK fashion stylist and cultural commentator Ayishat Akanbi; and 'hip hop feminism' with the US journalist who coined the term, Joan Morgan.

The 2019 lineup has been curated by the Sydney Opera House's Head of Talks and Ideas Dr Edwina Throsby, and includes Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Emily Steel — who investigated the sexual harassment claims against Fox News and Vice News. Steel will talk alongside other heavy-hitters, including Indian activist Sohaila Abdulali, television presenter Osher Günsberg, German philosopher and former war correspondent Carolin Emcke and gender politics author Gemma Hartley.

On January 16, 2019, the festival announced the second half of its lineup, which has a distinctly political edge. A roll call of current and former female politicians from the US and Australia will be taking to the stage — fitting at a time when record numbers of women are heading to Congress in the States. Former Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop, Linda Burney, the first Indigenous woman to be elected to Australia's lower house, and SA Greens Senator, Sarah Hanson-Young will discuss life in parliament for women in a panel titled 'Leading While Female', while Tina Tchen, former Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama, will talk about her career with political commentator Jamila Rizvi.

The podcast hub will return with live recordings of cult shows, including the New York Magazine's The Cut on Tuesdays, Slate's The Waves and The Guardian Australia's The Witch Hunt. Other highlights include an exhibition on 'mental load' by French comic artist Emma and a free public event where attendees will imagine 'a collective feminist future'. Interactive workshops are also on the docket and include carpentry and flower arranging.

Images: Prudence Upton and Yaya Stempler.