The festive season is not just about partying or being with family, it can also be a very stressful and fearful time. Samantha Page, Executive Director of Family Relationship Services Australia, talks about the spike in domestic violence that occurs over the holiday season. And Jacqui Phillips, National Director of Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR), talks about the 'Locked Up and Locked Out' campaign.

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CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, Muriel Bamblett talks about her life's achievements, challenges and inspiration. Muriel has already received numerous awards and medals for her leadership and work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. Recently she was announced as a finalist for the 2011 Australian Human Rights Medal.

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The contraceptive pill became available in Australia in 1961. At the time, ours was only the second country in the world to permit it as a form of contraception. Today we'll be hearing speakers from an event held in Melbourne to mark The 50th anniversary of The Pill in Australia – An Incomplete Revolution. Mary Crooks, Executive Director of the Victorian Women's Trust, and Dr Louise Keogh from the Centre for Women's Health, Gender and Society, will explore the history and impact of The Pill.

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In May this year Fair Work Australia ruled that social and community services workers were underpaid and that this was partly due to gender. This month PM Gillard announced $2 billion of support for equal pay in this sector. Lisa Darmanin from the Australian Services Union and feminist Eva Cox discuss this development.

They should have this in every court is a recent evaluation of the NSW Women's Family Law Support Service.Catherine Gander from the NSW Women’s Refuge Movement speaks about the uncertain future of their highly successful service.

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Street harassment might be considered at the lower end of the spectrum, as far as sexual assault is concerned, yet women face it constantly in public spaces. Although there is little data on incidences, anti-street harassment campaigns are taking off over the internet with sites like HollaBack! and Stop Street Harassment turning the tables on male harassers.

We take a look at the movement in the US with author/activist Holly Kearl, and Safe Delhi campaigner Kalpatha Viswanath discusses Delhi's status as one of the worst cities for street harassment.

We also hear a personal perspective on hoon harassment of street workers in Newcastle, and vox pop young women about their experiences, from car-tooting to arse-grabbing. Plus, some unique 'hoon haiku' from the mouths of revheads through the pens of poets (read by Laura Jean McKay).

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Nina Funnell talks about #mencallmethings a hashtag that's gone viral on Twitter, bringing attention to misogynist vitriol online. 3CR Presenter Rhiana Whitson interviews Sam, a participant in Occupy Melbourne, to find out how the movement is faring after the strong opposition from Lord Mayor Robert Doyle and the police enforced eviction from Melbourne's City Square. And author Leslie Cannold talks about her Book of Rachael, in which she imagines what life would have been like as the sister of Jesus.

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This week, Professor Larissa Behrendt delivers the 2011 Hamer Oration.

Larissa Behrendt is the Professor of Law and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney. She delivered this year's Hamer Oration on Good Government, an annual public lecture founded by the Hamer Family Fund with the Centre for Public Policy at the University of Melbourne.

In her lecture, 'Under The Radar: Indigenous Governance', Professor Larissa Behrendt discusses aboriginal disadvantage, and challenges the dominance of failing policies that demonise aboriginal cultures and self-determination.

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The Feminist Futures Conference held in May 2011 was the initiative of the Melbourne Feminist Collective, a group dedicated to reigniting a broad-based feminist movement in Melbourne. But was the conference able to reignite the passion, or did it raise more questions about collaboration and unity than it inspired?

This week we hear from Needa Monshat and Alexia Staker of the Melbourne Feminist Collective as they discuss ‘The Future of Feminism: Collaborative action and moving beyond internal divisions’. This is part of a special seminar run by Melbourne Free University.

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On the program this week we're talking about mental health and suicide.

According to Lifeline Australia, suicide is the leading cause of death for women aged 15 to 34 and for men aged 15 to 44. We hear from Kerry Dawson, a Lifeline trainer, about why it’s so important to talk about suicide.

In any given year, approximately 20% of Australians aged 16 to 85 years experience a mental illness, and 45% of all Australians experience mental illness at some point in their lifetime. Launched in 2006, the Better Access initiative provides funding through Medicare rebates, for people to access therapy up to 12-18 times a year. But starting from 1 November, the federal government is planning to significantly cut access to these services. So on the show we also hear some personal stories (available on betteraccess.net) from women whose mental health has significantly benefited from being able to get help through the Better Access initiative.

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Death Row in the Deep South
Producer: Elanor McInerney
Broadcast: Friday 7 October

Officially, Australia has a long-standing opposition to capital punishment. The Federal Government abolished the death penalty in 1973, and in early 2010 passed laws that ensure the death penalty can never be re-introduced by any state or territory in Australia. Obviously, this is not the case in the United States, and our guest today spent time in Louisiana working as an intern in a capital defence office for the anti-death penalty organisation, Reprieve. Her name is Lizzie O'Shea. She's a lawyer from Melbourne, and spoke at the New International Book Shop about her experience of capital punishment in the deep south.

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Publishing is a powerful means to inspire others. On this week's program we speak to two Australian women who have been motivated to start their own publications.

Our first guest is Susan Hawthorne from feminist publishing house Spinifex Press, who never imagined they would still be publishing twenty years after their first publication. We also speak to Marvette Logan who has just launched the third edition of Evie Magazine, a lifestyle magazine that aims to represent and cater to Indigenous women.

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Originally broadcast on 5 August 2011

On this week’s program on cycling and bike safety we hear from Isabel Ross in Geraldton in Western Australia about her efforts to encouraging cycling. Tracey Gaudry talks about the Amy Gillett Foundation’s bike safety campaigns and Marilyn Johnson shares her PhD research on cyclist and motorist collisions.

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Palestine is expected to apply to the United Nations for full membership on September 23. This week, we hear again from Anna Baltzer, a Jewish American woman who grew up with a positive view of Israel as a peace-seeking democracy, but has since become an activist for Palestinian human rights. She’s the author of Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories and in late 2010 spoke in Melbourne as a guest of Australians for Palestine.

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Women often think they’re receiving equal pay, getting the same pay rises, the same rewards, and the same opportunities. Often they aren’t.

Equal Pay Day marks the date on which women’s annual earnings reach the same as men’s in the previous financial year. Equal Pay Day 2011 was held on the 1st of September, so this year women had to work 63 days extra to earn the same as men. This discrepancy has remained roughly the same since 1980. Women are still fighting to be paid fairly despite evidence that closing the current gender pay gap of 17.2% would result in clear social and economic benefits.

On this week’s show we hear from Bridgette Engeler Newbury the Marketing Director of BPW Australia, Sandra Cook the Deputy Chair of economic Security4Women and Nareen Young the CEO of Diversity Council Australia about what they’re doing to achieve equality for women.

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On this week’s program, Women & Superhero Comics

We hear Karen Healey's keynote address to a recent conference at Monash University, Tights and Tiaras: Female Superheroes and Media Cultures. Karen Healey is an author of young adult fiction, and wrote the feminist comics blog, Girls Read Comics (And They're Pissed).

Women read many varieties of comics and form a large part of the audience for science fiction and fantasy films and books. But superhero comics like those produced by DC and Marvel have a great gender disparity in their readership. Karen Healey takes us through some of the feminist criticisms leveled at superhero comics and their depictions of female characters, how these criticisms are received by superhero comic fans and publishers, and the spaces women have created to foster a passion for comics.

Many thanks to conference convenor Dr Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario and Audio Visual Technician David Sheehy at Monash University for making the recording of Karen Healey's keynote available to Women On The Line.

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Literacy is recognised as a basic human right by the United Nations and for many of us it is an ability that we take for granted and use without a second thought. But according to an Adult Literacy and Life Skills survey carried out by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, nearly 20% of Australians fall into the lowest literacy category. So what does it mean to be literate and what impact can low literacy skills have on your quality of life?

This week Dr. Roslyn Neilson from Speech Pathology Australia discusses literacy, and Diana Rigg talks about the literacy program she has trialled in remote community schools. Also, 3CR presenter Charlotta Lomas speaks with researcher Nicole Curby from Monash University about a new oral history project that aims to investigate the truth behind generational stereotypes and uncover some fantastic Australian life history.

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Biking seems to be reaching new heights of popularity as more people realise the health and economic benefits. The fact that it looks like so much fun and that it’s currently pretty fashionable means we are seeing extra cyclists on our roads. Do you think enough is being done to ensure that it’s a safe experience?

On this week’s program on cycling and bike safety we hear from Isabel Ross in Geraldton in Western Australia about her efforts to encouraging cycling. Tracey Gaudry talks about the Amy Gillett Foundation’s bike safety campaigns and Marilyn Johnson shares her PhD research on cyclist and motorist collisions.

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This week, Naomi Klein, the activist and author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine, turns her attention to the environment.

At the World Social Forum held in Dakar in February, Naomi Klein spoke to a workshop of climate activists mobilising for next year's United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development – the Rio Plus 20 Earth Summit in May 2012. Climate activists are concerned that governments and corporations will use the Rio Plus 20 meeting to promote geoengineering as a means of mitigating climate change, rather than taking the necessary steps to reduce carbon emissions and live sustainably on the planet. The term geoengineering covers a range of large-scale climate manipulation proposals such as ocean fertilisation to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, dispersing sulphur aerosols in the stratosphere to create global dimming, whitening clouds to improve their reflectivity, or sending small mirrors out into space to reflect the sun. These methods are hypothetical and unproven, but for fossil fuel proponents and those daunted by the prospect of serious action on climate change, they excite eager interest. At the World Social Forum, Naomi Klein talked about overcoming appeal of geoengineering and working towards a successful Rio Plus 20.

Her talk was recorded by 3CR's Elena McMaster, who attended the World Social Forum as a Friends of the Earth campaigner.

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If you go looking for women's sport in Australia, you might not get very far if you rely on the media for information. On any night of the week and in the daily newspapers, women's sport is lucky to make a mention. In 2006 the report About time! Women in sport and recreation in Australia was presented to the Senate. The findings painted a disheartening picture with dismal media support and coverage for women's sport being identified as one of the key problem areas. Other problem areas included the lack of women in sports leadership roles, inadequate funding and very little promotion of professional sportswomen as role models. Six years after the report – has anything changed?

On this week’s show we speak with Janice Crosswhite, President of the Australian Womensport and Recreation Association to find out about the current state of women's sport in Australia. And we also speak with New Delhi silver medalist, javelin thrower Kim Mickle about her career as a young female athlete.

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In recognition of recent NAIDOC week celebrations this week’s program features the voices of Indigenous female prisoners from within the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre. They speak to 3CR Indigenous broadcaster Shiralee Hood as part of 3CR’s Beyond the Bars project.

Beyond the Bars crosses live throughout NAIDOC week to Indigenous women and men in the Victorian Prison System. During the broadcast they communicate with their families and loved ones, share stories, opinions and poems and are given a voice – a chance to speak and be heard.

Now in its 10th year, Beyond the Bars has won several awards including the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Radio Award in 2004 and the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia Contribution to Indigenous Broadcasting Award in 2009. Highlights of the broadcast will be compiled into a CD and launched later this year. For more information check out 3cr.org.au.

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Sexual harassment and sexual assault are issues that can have an impact on all women of all ages, cultures and social backgrounds at any stage of their life. Two reports that have recently been released suggest that young women are very reluctant to make a disclosure of an incident, despite experiencing higher than average encounters of sexual harassment and assault at university and in the workplace.

On this week’s show we speak with: Courtney Sloane, National Women's Officer from the National Union of Students about the results of the ‘Talk About It' survey; Dr Antonia Quadara from the Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault explains the many barriers to disclosure that women grapple with after experiencing sexual assault or harassment; a young women gives us insight into the experience of lodging a complaint of sexual harassment in the workplace and Sophie Buchanan from the Refugee Council of Australia explains the barriers to disclosure that female refugees and asylum seekers face.

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In this week’s show we profile two fighters, literal and figurative. We start our journey at the famous Fitzroy Stars Aboriginal Gym on Gertrude Street, just around the corner from the 3CR studios in Melbourne, where we catch up with current world IBF bantamweight boxing champion Suzie Ramadan. Then we make our way out to the blockade at Ballert Mooroop Koori College, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, where Dorothy Bamblett tells us about efforts to stop the Education Department from repurposing more than two thirds of the school grounds.

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Despite the increased representation of women in politics since the 1990s, the media continues to provide gendered political reporting of female politicians. We’ve all heard or read things about female politicians that would never be said about male politicians, and this was especially noticeable when Julia Gillard became Australia’s first female PM. On this week’s program we speak to Charlotta Lomas about her Masters thesis on why this reporting is gendered and how it has changed over time. How the media portrayed Lara Giddings becoming the Premier of Tasmania at the beginning of 2011 is the focus of her study.

The media has also played an interesting role in the SlutWalk movement, preferring to focus on the controversial nature of the word and what participants might be wearing, rather than acknowledging the core reason behind the protest – to end the blaming of sexual assault survivors. One of the Melbourne SlutWalk organisers, Clem Bastow, spoke about this to 3CR’s Dale Bridge.

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Australians are giving more of their time to paid work, but what makes for a good job, and what does work mean to us? Do we love our jobs? And how can we get our jobs to better love us back? Professor Barbara Pocock is the Director of the Centre for Work + Life at the University of Adelaide, where she’s extensively researched people’s relationships to their jobs. She delivered some findings in a Foenander Lecture, ‘What Makes For Meaningful Work in the 21st Century?’

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Now that the initial media hoo-haa about the Labor Government's 2011 Budget has died down, Women on the Line takes a closer look at some of the particulars. The general media consensus on Treasurer Wayne Swan's Budget called it ‘as tough as tofu’. But how will it affect people on the ground?

We spoke with CEO of Environment Victoria Kelly O'Shanassy, Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council CEO, Sheryl Lawton, and Sonia Randhawa, journalist and director of the Malaysian centre for independent journalism.

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This week Women On The Line goes online - we assess the current state of play for women working in information technology, and we start in the 1800s with Louisa Lawson and her feminist newspaper The Dawn.

From 1888 to 1905, The Dawn was published once a month, and at the peak of its success employed a staff of ten women. It publicised women's wrongs, fought their battles and pursued suffrage. It also offered household advice, fashion, poetry, and short stories. It's widely recognised as a significant publication but when Donna Benjamin went looking for copies on The National Library of Australia's online database, she was dismayed to find there were no plans for its digitisation. She tells us about her campaign to Digitise The Dawn and getting more women involved in open source software through the Ada Inititiative.

Also joining us is Sarah Stokely, an online media activist based at the Australian Centre For Social Innovation, who tells us about the current environment for women in web based technologies.

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On this week’s program we consider whether Australia really is the ‘lucky country’ for young Australians.

New research from The Smith Family questions whether children are able to reach their potential regardless of their background. The report, “Unequal Opportunities: Life chances for children in the ‘Lucky Country’”, looks at social mobility between generations and equality of opportunity as key indicators essential for our country’s progress. The Smith Family says the report demonstrates an urgent need for action to change the status quo for those living in disadvantage. We speak to Wendy Field, The Smith Family’s Executive Director of Participation, about the main factors influencing the life chances of Australian children.

We also hear from mother of 3, Sophie Aitken, who is so appalled at what she sees as the Victorian Governments discriminatory promotion of Christianity through Special Religious Instruction that she has taken her case to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. She claims the Education Department segregates children on religious grounds and discriminates by forcing children to ‘opt out’ rather than ‘opt in’ if they want religious education. She has recently been joined by the Australian Education Union’s Victorian branch. They have passed a resolution calling for Special Religious Instruction during school hours to be scrapped.

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The death of Osama Bin Laden this week has been celebrated as a victory for the US in its War on Terror. America's 2002 invasion of Afghanistan was launched in response to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, to unseat the Taliban government that had provided Al Qaeda and Bin Laden sanctuary. For nearly a decade, the direct consequences of this course of action have been disastrous for the people of Afghanistan and form part of a cycle of violence that continues there today. So on this week's program, we listen again to a voice from inside Afghanistan.

Malalai Joya is a social activist and women’s advocate who was elected to the Afghan National Assembly in 2005. For her, the language of human rights and democracy that has accompanied the war in Afghanistan has provided a mask of legitimacy to warlords in Afghanistan’s parliament, but offered little support to democracy activists inside Afghanistan. Though she is renowned internationally as an outspoken voice for her people, within Afghanistan she has survived five attempts on her life. Her experience illustrates the dangers modern Afghanistan presents to advocates for democracy and women’s rights. I spoke to Malalai Joya in 2009.

You can support Malalai Joya's work and contribute to her safety by making a donation to the Defense Committee for Malalai Joya.

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This week we acknowledge the 20th anniversary of the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody. Since the Commission handed down its final report in 1991, 269 indigenous people have died while in police custody - including Veronica Baxter, an indigenous transgender woman who died in March 2009 while incarcerated in an all male prison. We speak to to Sally Goldner from Transgender Victoria about some of the issues faced by transgender, intersex and gender diverse prisoners. We also hear from Louise Hicks and Annette Vickery from the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service.

A key finding of the Commission report was that Indigenous people did not die at a higher rate, but were grossly over-represented within the criminal justice system. The report made 339 recommendations of which only a fraction have been fully implemented across the country. What's more, the rates of incarceration of Indigenous people continue to rise – especially for women. Indigenous people constitute 2% of Australia's population yet at the time of the Royal Commission they were 14% of the prison population. That figure is now 26%, and even higher for women at 29%. So what's gone wrong?

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In recent weeks we've been told that PM Julia Gillard is determined to introduce gambling reforms – a poker machine pre-commitment scheme and the restriction of daily withdrawal limits on ATMs near gaming machines. These proposed changes have received strong support from the broader community, yet public condemnation from Clubs Australia in the form of expensive TV advertisements.

While problem gambling isn't just about poker machine use, it has dominated recent public debate and here in Australia we have the highest number of pokies in the world. Electronic gaming machines are also to blame for the increasing feminisation of gambling, with 64 per cent of users being female.

We hear from those directly connected to and affected by gambling: Rosemary Hambledon, Manager of the Regional Gambling Help Services at Relationships Australia in South Australia; Ann, a woman who has personally struggled with gambling; and Samiro Douglas, the CEO of Victoria's WIRE Women's Information.

24/7 Gambling counselling, information and referral

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On the show this week we discuss misconceptions about Aboriginal identity in light of the Andrew Bolt racial vilification case, we consider the French burqa ban that went into effect on April 11 and we talk about ethicist, activist and writer Dr Leslie Cannold’s new novel.

Nine prominent members of the Aboriginal community have put the Herald and Weekly Times, and its columnist Andrew Bolt, on trial for racial vilification. Their case is based on two blog posts and two articles that Bolt wrote in 2009 on the Aboriginal identity of people with fair skin. The applicants are seeking a declaration that the four articles were unlawful under the Racial Discrimination Act. Melbourne's Federal Court recently heard eight days of legal argument, which concluded on April 7. Josie Atkinson, an indigenous broadcaster and educator from the Kangan Indigenous Education Centre, talks to us while the case awaits judgement.

A French law banning facial veils in public places went into effect on April 11. Women with burqas covering their faces now risk a 150 Euro fine and mandatory lessons on being French. To discuss controversies over the burqa, we hear from Dr Nasya Bahfen from RMIT University.

And Dr Leslie Cannold talks about her new novel, The Book of Rachael, which imagines the life of Jesus’ sister.

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This week we take a look at Indigenous resistance, the fight for country and autonomy. We feature some current struggles and past victories.

On 8 March 2011, a blockade went up at the Lake Tyers community in East Gippsland, Victoria. It was established to prevent a state government appointed administrator from gaining access to the community - in response, the government has withdrawn services. We hear from Leanne Edwards, a Gunnai/Kurnai woman from Lake Tyers about the blockade. We also delve into the archives to hear from Eileen Wingfield and Nina Brown about the Irati Wanti campaign of successful resistance by the women of Coober Pedy in South Australia to the federal government’s attempts to impose a nuclear waste dump on their land.

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On the program this week we hear from four female comics in the lead up to Australia’s biggest and best comedy festival - the 25th Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Although the number of hilarious and successful female comics is growing in Australia, the reality at stand-up comedy nights around the country is of lone female performers who often have their gender unnecessarily highlighted in their introductions. So while their gender doesn’t automatically define what or how they perform, they are still judged according to it and sometimes have to battle the misconception that women can’t be funny.

Female comics are a diverse bunch and on the show this week harpist Linda Beatty discusses bridging the worlds of cabaret and comedy, straight-to-the-point and deadpan Geraldine Hickey points out the support networks that female comedians have organised for themselves, retro circus performer Anna Lumb hints at the burlesque and slapstick in her shows, and physical comedian Tessa Waters talks about falling down and bruising.

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The activist and author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine turns her attention to the environment.

At the World Social Forum held in Dakar in February, Naomi Klein spoke to a workshop of climate activists mobilising for next year's United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development – the Rio Plus 20 Earth Summit in May 2012. Climate activists are concerned that governments and corporations will use the Rio Plus 20 meeting to promote geoengineering as a means of mitigating climate change, rather than taking the necessary steps to reduce carbon emissions and live sustainably on the planet. The term geoengineering covers a range of large-scale climate manipulation proposals such as ocean fertilisation to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, dispersing sulphur aerosols in the stratosphere to create global dimming, whitening clouds to improve their reflectivity, or sending small mirrors out into space to reflect the sun. These methods are hypothetical and unproven, but for fossil fuel proponents and those daunted by the prospect of serious action on climate change, they excite eager interest. At the World Social Forum, Naomi Klein talked about overcoming appeal of geoengineering and working towards a successful Rio Plus 20. Her talk was recorded by 3CR's Elena McMaster, who attended the World Social Forum as a Friends of the Earth campaigner.

►Listen or download ♫

Street harassment might be considered at the lower end of the spectrum, as far as sexual assault is concerned, yet women face it constantly in public spaces. Although there is little data on incidences, anti-street harassment campaigns are taking off over the internet with sites like HollaBack! and Stop Street Harassment turning the tables on male harassers.

We take a look at the movement in the US with author/activist Holly Kearl, and Safe Delhi campaigner Kalpatha Viswanath discusses Delhi's status as one of the worst cities for street harassment.

We also hear a personal perspective on hoon harassment of street workers in Newcastle, and vox pop young women about their experiences, from car-tooting to arse-grabbing. Plus, some unique 'hoon haiku' from the mouths of revheads through the pens of poets (read by Laura Jean McKay).

You can participate in the first International Anti-Street Harassment Day on March 20, 2011.

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This week Women On The Line goes online - we assess the current state of play for women working in information technology, and we start in the 1800s with Louisa Lawson and her feminist newspaper The Dawn.

From 1888 to 1905, The Dawn was published once a month, and at the peak of its success employed a staff of ten women. It publicised women's wrongs, fought their battles and pursued suffrage. It also offered household advice, fashion, poetry, and short stories. It's widely recognised as a significant publication but when Donna Benjamin went looking for copies on The National Library of Australia's online database, she was dismayed to find there were no plans for its digitisation. She tells us about her campaign to Digitise The Dawn and getting more women involved in open source software through the Ada Inititiative.

Also joining us is Sarah Stokely, an online media activist based at the Australian Centre For Social Innovation, who tells us about the current environment for women in web based technologies.

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All governments and most organisations in Australia state that violence against women is unacceptable. They realise such violence has significant personal, social and economic costs. Despite this, we still live in a country where around 1/3 of women experience physical violence and almost 1/5 experience sexual violence over their lifetime. Although individual states and territories have strategies in place, it's only now that we finally see a national plan to reduce violence against women and their children.

On this week’s program we consider how this recently launched national plan to reduce such violence fails to be as inclusive as it could be. We hear from Hannah Harborow, Amnesty International Australia’s campaign manager, about how the plan came to fruition. Then Kate Gauthier, Chair of ChilOut talks about the conditions facing over 1,000 children currently held in immigration detention centres, and Cheryl Sullivan, project officer at the Victorian Women and Mental Health Network, speaks about mixed gender psychiatric wards and the risks that these wards pose for women.

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On today’s program, people are pushing their way back to the centre of major news events. It turns out Middle East politics are not just a game between western powers and regional elites - there are populations to reckon with. Likewise, Australia’s refugee policies don’t just provide the government and opposition with rhetorical tit for tat - they actually involve devastated families. And Australia wasn’t immune to the Global Financial Crisis – it really happened to thousands of people who lost their jobs.

We’ll hear from Elisabeth Wynhausen about her book, The Short Goodbye: A skewed history of the last boom and the next bust. Dr Sally Totman, Senior Lecturer in International Studies at Deakin University, hopes that western powers will realise that the future of Egypt has something to do with the will of the people of Egypt. And in a week when funerals were held for asylum seekers killed when their boat crashed on rocks off Christmas Island last year, we hear from Sophie Peer of the Refugee Council of Australia.

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Last year the United Nations decided to scrap UNIFEM, the largest gender equality body, and instead incoprorate it into one super entity - UN Women. With ex-Chilean president Michelle Bachelet at its head, the agency represents a potentially powerful (and funded) champion of gender equality and empowerment for the world's poorest.

But what went wrong with UNIFEM? And, despite being one of the Millennium Development Goals, does gender equality get a look-in on UN mechanisms like the Security Council?

This week we hear from three actors in this process. UNIFEM Australia director Julie McKay will explain the ins and outs of the new body. Maria Butler from the independent UN monitoring group PeaceWomen talks about UNIFEM and civil society's (often thwarted) efforts to promote women's roles in peace and security. And Suneeta Dhar, director of New Delhi feminist NGO Jagori, on the future of their formerly UNIFEM-funded projects.

The program also includes excerpts from the UN Radio archives.

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For years now, we’ve been bombarded with panicked information about a so-called obesity crisis that we’re told is one of the greatest health threats of our time. At the same time, people of size are ridiculed on reality TV shows such as The Biggest Loser. But what’s the other side to this story and what’s the connection between the weight loss industry, the medical industry and the media? We’ll be exploring the world of fat activism and fat pride.

We speak to Kelli-Jean Drinkwater, an independent filmmaker, activist, and performer from Sydney who’s making a documentary about the fat pride movement. We’ll also hear from Dr Jenny Lee, a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Victoria University in Melbourne, who also uses performance to celebrate diverse body sizes and shapes.

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28 January 2011: Rainbow Rights

21 January 2011: Delusions of Gender

14 January 2011: The History of the Disability Rights Movement

7 January 2011: Who Makes the News?

31 December 2010: Gender Equity in the Workforce