We are proud to launch The Women’s Advocate, a new podcast from the Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances (AAWAA), a space designed to explore beneath the surface of policy, advocacy, and daily life for women and girls in Australia. Our aim is to create a record—nuanced, searching, and unafraid—of what is happening to women’s sex-based protections and rights, and why it matters so profoundly. The podcast is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and you can listen to it and learn more about it, below.
A purpose beyond headlines
Our ambition is to hold open a space where difficult realities are named, uncomfortable evidence is examined, and the lived experience of Australian women is approached with intelligence. We hope listeners will recognise our insistence on clarity and seriousness — bridging the gap between policy debate and what ordinary women encounter when laws, institutions, and norms are shifting beneath our feet.
What makes it different?
On The Women’s Advocate we dissect legal changes, policy manoeuvres, and the social realities of erasure and advocacy fatigue, asking, How do these shifts play out for women and girls on the ground? How are sex-based protections and rights defended, or undermined, in institutions, communities, and the courts?
‘Local Action’, our sub-series, draws attention to the work of prominent feminist advocates in Australia, showcasing the messy, the persistent, and the often thankless. These stories are honest accounts of facing opposition, isolation, and sometimes personal or professional risk—the kind of experience too often left out of public debate.
The voices behind the podcast
Our host, Emma, from Far North Queensland, brings years at the coalface—organising, facing down policy double-speak, and working to build bridges between theory and grassroots action. Her approach is searching and honest, shaped by a refusal to be lulled by easy narratives. Emma’s insight is amplified by regular co-hosts and guests: Amber, with her roots in Western Australian feminism and hard-won strategic skill; Lucy, whose background encompasses both advocacy and direct service in New South Wales; Luci, with her Canberra-sharp analysis and commitment to policy truth-telling; Sue, bringing her expertise from the coalitions and Queensland frontline; and Martine, with her unflinching engagement in political challenges in WA. We hope to showcase more women’s voice in episodes to come.
Each woman contributes distinctive knowledge—from campaigning to legal reform, data analysis to survivor support; our conversations interrogate what is at stake and why words, evidence, and solidarity matter.
What you will hear
Expect episodes that centre complexity, context, and facts. We examine:
- The legal mechanics (and human impacts) of sex discrimination reforms
- The dynamics of women’s sport, health care, and data—where statistics and lived realities often collide
- The power structures behind lawmaking, consultation, and exclusion
- First-hand accounts of loss and resistance, grounded in detail, not anecdote
- Facing institutional capture, policy gaslighting, and the cost—personal and collective—of dissent
When you listen, you will hear women standing their ground in tribunals, sports grounds, classrooms, local clubs, and internal party debates. You’ll hear about efforts that failed, or changed direction, and about the mundane courage that sustains advocacy when public attention has moved on.
Where to listen, and why it matters
The AAWAA podcast is available on major platforms Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and, of course, here on our own website. We hope this will be a quiet resource for those looking to understand what principled, strategic advocacy requires.
Every episode is built with care, unwilling to gloss over setbacks, uncertainty, or the exhaustion that marks genuine social change work. Our thanks go to the many women who shape these discussions, and to the community that shares, listens, and keeps challenging us to go deeper.
We hope this series stands as both witness and catalyst: a record of where we are, and a tool for those ready to think critically, connect, and act. If you find value here, please let others know —because real advocacy is sustained by understanding, rigour, and collective distribution.
Please like, share, and subscribe.
