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‘Gina Rushton On The Importance Of All About Women In An Election Year’ also appeared in .

It鈥檚 been thirteen years since the festival was first held at the Opera House to celebrate International Women鈥檚 Day, and has since grown as the premier place to discuss gender, justice and equality in Sydney. For acclaimed journalist, author and podcaster Gina Rushton, the opportunity to get together and discuss these difficult ideas is one she appreciates.

鈥淓very year I hope that some of these discussions become a little more redundant and irrelevant,鈥� she says to City Hub. 鈥淏ut unfortunately, a lot of them are actually more relevant than ever in 2025. So I think it can feel really nice to be in a space where you鈥檙e surrounded by people who are also thinking about this stuff, and wanna talk about it. It鈥檚 always a really nice vibe.鈥�

Since her previous appearances at the festival in 2023, Gina has been rather busy. She rewrote much of her excellent book The Most Important Job In The World for an international release as The Parenthood Dilemma in the US and UK, and launched the podcast series The Dilemma.

In each of these works, Gina investigates the many conflicted adults (including herself) have around bringing children into the world, while drawing extensively on her background as a journalist covering reproductive justice and rights. At this year鈥檚 festival, she鈥檚 poised to bring her years of research and unique expertise to these topics that are alarmingly pertinent to everybody.

鈥淚 think that in Australia, we can become a little complacent when it comes to reproductive rights,鈥� she says of the topics at All About Women this year. 鈥淚 do think what鈥檚 happening in the US has really reinvigorated people here to think about this stuff and talk about it. This year鈥檚 panel on fertility is coming at a good time with an election on the horizon, and people are thinking about the kinds of policies that come into play when you鈥檙e thinking about whether or not you wanna become a parent.鈥�

Gina continues: 鈥淓verything I read shows men are thinking about this stuff as well, they鈥檙e just not talking about it as much for various reasons. They鈥檙e not under as much pressure about their fertility, but these things affect them and impact them just as much.鈥�

All About Women panels set to feature a diverse array of people

Gina鈥檚 set to appear as a panelist on The Baby Boycott, which discusses the ethics of bringing potential children into the world, and is the host of two others: Your Body, Whose Choice?, which’ll delve into the current state of abortion rights globally post Roe v. Wade, and Matresence, where she’ll speak to Lucy Jones about the physiological and psychological changes that come with motherhood. Though she admits it鈥檚 much easier to be a panelist than a moderator, she鈥檚 looking forward to the conversations that these panels will spark.

鈥淚t鈥檒l be great, it鈥檚 a really interesting mix of people,鈥� says Gina. 鈥淚鈥檓 really looking forward to talking to Avani Dias in The Baby Boycott, she鈥檚 a gun reporter. It鈥檚 a real mishmash of people; we鈥檝e got people with lived experience of abortion, we have a woman who鈥檚 trying to get women into the Liberal Party, so I鈥檓 really curious what her take on it is, given Peter Dutton鈥檚 told his party room they can鈥檛 talk about abortion.鈥�

In the face of rising conservatism across the globe that can feel deeply frightening, Gina says that there鈥檚 still plenty of room for feminism in the 2020s. 鈥淲e鈥檙e in an interesting moment, because there鈥檚 been a bit of rhetoric that discusses feminism as though we鈥檙e in a 鈥榩ost-feminism鈥� era. I don鈥檛 think that we are; it鈥檚 hard when there are competing and intersecting challenges.

鈥淢ost people I know are feeling like there are multiple remaining battles to be had for feminism, but feeling just as much that there鈥檚 a housing crisis and a climate crisis that are also happening at the same time,” she continues. “I think that the future of feminism is something that can hold all of those issues together.鈥�

takes place at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday March 8th and Sunday March 9th. Catch Gina Rushton at The Baby Boycott and Your Body, Whose Choice? panels on Sunday.聽