Explore every episode of the podcast Feminist Acts
Dive into the complete episode list for Feminist Acts. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.
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Title
Pub. Date
Duration
#5 - Parliament: What If Women Wrote The Rules?
23 sept. 2026
00:42:41
What would Parliament look like if it was remade by and for women?
Australia's first female parliamentarian was told Parliament was "no place for a woman". Her name was Edith Cowan. She got elected and helped change the laws governing women’s lives.
But within the chambers of Parliament itself, little has changed.
Whether it's long stretches away from family, or the shouting matches of Question Time, Parliament still operates by rules designed around men’s lives.
In this episode, we take on a political system that needs to change.
What if two people could share one MP’s job? What if Parliament made room for caring responsibilities, shared power and a different way of doing politics?
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why getting more women elected is only part of the battle for better laws
What trailblazing women who broke into politics and law can teach us about changing the rules
How job-sharing MPs could open Parliament to more people and challenge the idea that power belongs to one person
Guest:
Professor Kim Rubenstein, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Business Government and Law, University of Canberra; Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney; Honorary Professor, ANU.
Hosts:
Becky Batagol, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Monash University
Kate Seear, Professor, Deakin Law School, Deakin University
Take action today:
The book is free! The provisions are drafted. Take them to your parliament. Adapt them for another jurisdiction. Or start your own feminist legislation project.
Two people want to share the job of MP for Higgins. Is it constitutional? By Anne Twomey, April 22 2024, The Conversation (Kim is preparing a response to this analysis in some forthcoming articles with an alternative view to Professor Twomey and the link will be provided when it is available).
Kim’s project Australian Women Lawyers as Active Citizens documents how women with law degrees have used the skills and experiences from their individual broader life experience, together with their law degree and various forms of practice, to have an impact on others in society as a form of active citizenship in the civic sphere more broadly.
This podcast was funded by Monash University through the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise).
In this episode, we're using toilets as a lens to explore feminism, trans and gender diverse inclusion. In parts of Australia, local councils have introduced trans bathroom bans. Australia's National Construction Code only specifies male and female facilities.
Gender diverse and trans people are forced to share toilets meant for people with a disability or compelled to use the wrong toilets. They face gender inequality that is made worse by other forms of discrimination. Meanwhile, women are still queueing, still doing caring work in bathrooms, still going without menstrual products and still using toilets as a sanctuary from male violence.
So how do we navigate this highly sensitive issue? We rewrote the regulations so nobody loses access and everyone gains.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why toilets have become a flashpoint in the global culture war (and what North Carolina's bathroom bill cost the state in lost business)
What an "all gender" facility actually looks like, and why it doesn't take anything away from women
Why public toilets are civic infrastructure, and what happens when we stop investing in them
Guests:
Dr Sean Mulcahy, Research Fellow, Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University
Professor Nicole Kalms, Department of Design and Founding Director of the XYX Lab, Monash University
Hosts:
Becky Batagol, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Monash University
Kate Seear, Professor, Deakin Law School, Deakin University
Take action today:
The book is free! The provisions are drafted. Take them to your parliament. Adapt them for another jurisdiction. Or start your own feminist legislation project.
Sean also raised evidence (from Morgenroth and colleagues in 2024) to suggest that opposition to inclusive sanitary facilities can be motivated by prejudicial attitudes towards trans people rather than concerns about women’s safety
Sean also referred to a study by Chaney and Sanchez in 2017 which showed that inclusive sanitary facilities are perceived to be safer by gender and racial minorities
On the idea of a radical redesign of toilets suggested by Nicole, this 2021 piece by Megan Tyler advocates for a rethinking and radical redesign of public toilets to genuinely foster inclusion and takes into account the inequalities that women and girls face around the world
Australia's Constitution has no right to equality. It has no bill of rights. And our last attempt at constitutional change (the 2023 Voice referendum) failed.
So we set our sights on 2048. We've re-written the Constitution for a Women's Constitutional Convention 20+ years from now.
Our proposal includes a new preamble and a constitutional right to equality.
It also includes quotas across Parliament, the Ministry, the courts and the public service, so that no single gender can ever hold more than 60% of the power.
The result is a Constitution built for everyone who lives under it.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why Australia's Constitution doesn't have a bill of rights (and what that means for you today)
What the "Q word" is, why it's so controversial, and why we need it
What the failed 2023 Voice referendum taught us about Australia's appetite for constitutional change
Becky Batagol, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Monash University
Kate Seear, Professor, Deakin Law School, Deakin University
Take action today:
The book is free! The provisions are drafted. Take them to your parliament. Adapt them for another jurisdiction. Or start your own feminist legislation project.
#2 - You can change unfair laws today. Here's how.
13 août 2026
00:29:52
Despite decades of law reform, there are still countless laws that discriminate against women, non-binary, trans, and gender diverse people. So we decided to rewrite the law.
We got together with 45 of Australia's leading legal minds: academics, lawyers, judges and activists.
We set them to work for 7 years.
The result? 16 redrafted Australian laws, fully rewritten with the help of a parliamentary draftsperson, and ready to be introduced to any parliament that wants them.
We've created something that can make people's lives better, in Australia and around the world.
And the best part? All these laws are rolled up into one easy-to-use guide - and it's completely free to download. (See below)
In this opening episode, you'll meet the team behind this project: Becky, Kate, Jamie and Heli.
You'll learn:
The 16 areas of Australian law we have rewritten, across criminal, civil and constitutional law.
How to use the book if you're an MP, policymaker, law reformer, academic or activist anywhere in the world.
How a feminist legislation project differs from a feminist judgments project, and why that distinction matters.
Our hope is that lawmakers, academics and activists in Australia and around the world stop critiquing the law and start writing it better.
Take action today:
The book is free! The provisions are drafted. Take them to your parliament. Adapt them for another jurisdiction. Or start your own feminist legislation project.
Associate Professor Becky Batagol, Faculty of Law, Monash University
Professor Kate Seear, Deakin Law School, Deakin University
Associate Professor Heli Askola, Faculty of Law, Monash University
Dr Jamie Walvisch, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Western Australia
The Feminist Legislation Project: Rewriting Laws for Gender-Based Justice
Edited By Becky Batagol, Kate Seear, Heli Askola, Jamie Walvisch Published by Routledge Copyright 2025
Resources:
Critical Judgment Projects: The online repository of the growing Feminist Judgments Projects and Critical Judgments Projects from across the world https://criticaljudgments.com/
#1 - 'Did you bring it on yourself?' We changed a law that blames victims.
13 août 2026
00:39:53
When someone applies for compensation after being a victim of crime, you'd think the system would be on their side.
In Western Australia, the law has a different idea. It allows the assessor to reduce a victim's compensation based on their "behaviour, condition, attitude or disposition."
In other words: did you bring it on yourself?
It's victim-blaming, written into law. It disproportionately harms women, LGBTQIA+ people, trans people and First Nations communities.
So we rewrote section 41. It's ready to be introduced into WA Parliament, and any other parliament that wants it. The result? A compensation system that asks one question: What harm have you suffered?
In this episode, you'll hear from Kate and Jamie, the authors of the law reform. They're joined by commentator Professor Jenny Morgan from Melbourne Law School, who thinks they should have gone even further.
You'll learn:
What a crimes compensation scheme is (and why for many victims it's the only acknowledgment they ever get).
How section 41 quietly re-runs the old "she provoked me" defence inside a system that's meant to help victims heal.
Why this law disproportionately harms women, LGBTQIA+ people, trans people and First Nations communities.
What Jenny Morgan learned abolishing the provocation defence in Victoria, and why feminist law reformers can't afford to walk away once a law changes.
Guests:
Dr Jamie Walvisch, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Western Australia
Professor Jenny Morgan, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne
Hosts:
Associate Professor Becky Batagol, Faculty of Law, Monash University
Professor Kate Seear, Deakin Law School, Deakin University
Take action today:
The book is free! The provisions are drafted. Take them to your parliament. Adapt them for another jurisdiction. Or start your own feminist legislation project.
The law has failed women for too long. We're done waiting for someone else to fix it.
Welcome to Feminist Acts. Every episode takes a different area of Australian law and rewrites it to improve the lives of women, trans and non-binary people.
In this series you'll hear deep-dives from legal experts who have completed law reform proposals, ready to be introduced into any parliament that wants them.
These laws have been rewritten and they're all in our book, which is completely free to download.
We're looking forward to having you on this law reform journey.
Hosts:
Becky Batagol, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Monash University
Kate Seear, Professor, Deakin Law School, Deakin University
The Feminist Legislation Project: Rewriting Laws for Gender-Based Justice Edited By Becky Batagol, Kate Seear, Heli Askola, Jamie Walvisch Published by Routledge Copyright 2025