There’s an election in the air

Dear friends,

How are you? It’s Wednesday and I already feel like I am crawling to the finish line of this working week. Covid has well and truly arrived at my kid’s school, so he’s learning at home again for the time being, bringing back some truly horrendous lockdown memories. It’s enough to make parents miss the days of nits – and that’s really saying something!

Beyond my neighbourhood, around the country and the world, it’s been a topsy turvy time as well. Hearts are in mouths as rain ravages northern NSW for the second time in less than a month. To those Future Women living in affected communities, we are thinking of you and hoping desperately that the weather eases soon. Please take very good care.

I won’t dwell too much here on what’s happening in Ukraine but instead point you in the direction of some useful reading. This is a great piece in which four New York Times opinion writers reflect on what it means for the world if this war drags on. Al Jazeera also has this devastating live-tracker on their website that monitors progress on various battlefronts and tracks the human cost of war.

The federal budget was delivered last night by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and included a sprinkling of cash across the nation. The smell of an election is heavy in the air. There was some first class analysis from the ABC’s Annabel Crabb, and we covered off the winners and losers in a series of conversations in the Future Women community, which you can catch up on here.

And if you’ll indulge us, we have some personal news too. Amongst the new initiatives in the budget was funding for Future Women to expand our Jobs Academy program. The Jobs Academy supports unemployed and underemployed women to find a job, transition to a new career, upskill, gain more hours or start their own business. We’re thrilled to be extending that program to another two thousand women over the next three years.

Turning our eyes across the seas to the United States, Hollywood’s night of nights was held on Monday morning our time and has been all anyone is talking about since. There have been more hot takes than you can poke one thousand sticks at. But if you’re still up for reading more analysis, some of those the Future Women team found interesting included this, and this, and this and this, and this.

Some terrible news that has not received the media attention is deserves has been violence against women. Five Australian women were killed by former or current partners during the past week. Reports of these horrific murders coincided with the inquest unfolding into the murder of Hannah Clarke and her children Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey.

Future Women remains vigilant in our reporting and investigation of this issue. Ending family violence and domestic abuse must remain on the political agenda, especially in an election year. The sixth episode of our podcast There’s No Place Like Home has gone live this week, and shares the story of Eleanor, whose abuser weaponised the legal system against her.

Elsewhere in the Future Women community, we have more opportunities to learn and upskill coming your way. Our next three-part instalment of Future Proof 2022 is coming up. It is all about working smarter and how to find balance in a busy world. Specifically it will cover off on negotiating flexible work, establishing boundaries (an important one for workaholics!) and managing your boss’ expectations.

For those on a job hunt, we’re running another webinar on an issue we know impacts many of you: returning to work after a career break. Hosted by Alice Monfries, the Salesforce Job Connections Webinar features Regional Vice President of Professional Service Archana Nandineni and APAC Director of Recruiting Kotomi Davies. They’ll share their own experiences, as well as free training opportunities through Salesforce’s learning platform, Trailhead.

Our next TV Club is all about Inventing Anna, the television show that members voted as the plotline they most wanted to unpack and unpick together. If you’ve already watched and want to read the original magazine article that inspired the show (I certainly did) then you should go here (run, don’t walk). For those hanging out for Bridgerton TV Club, never fear it’s on the way, and you might like this piece on what season two meant to some Indian viewers.

That’s it from me for another week. It’s been a rollercoaster.

Jamila Rizvi
Chief of Content, Community and Online Learning, Future Women