A Podcast of One's Own with Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard, the only woman to have served as Prime Minister of Australia sits down for insightful, moving and thought-provoking conversations with some of the most interesting people from around the world working to advance gender equality – whether that's by actively dismantling gender-based barriers, or by being inspirational trailblazers in their field. We'll bring you stories from the worlds of business, entertainment, media, sport and many more, shining a light on people doing amazing things that you might not have heard about, and learning more about those we already know and love. Julia presents a podcast in her role as Founder and Chair of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership (GIWL). GIWL is a world-leading research institute working to advance gender equality within workplaces, communities and societies. The podcast is produced by the GIWL team at the Australian National University, Canberra, with support from our sister institute at King's College London. Earnings from the podcast go back into the Institute, supporting the work we do to advance gender equality in Australia and the Asia Pacific, and beyond. To stay up to date with the Institute’s work go to giwl.anu.edu.au and sign up to our updates, or follow us on social media @GIWLANU. You can also find @APodcastofOnesOwn on Instagram. The team at A Podcast of One's Own acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples listening today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
In this special episode recorded live at the 2026 Hay Festival in Wales, Julia Gillard sits down with Thangam Debbonaire to discuss their roles as judges for this year’s Women Prize.
Julia is chairing the judging panel for the Women's Prize for Fiction, while Thangam is the chair of judges for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction.
In this entertaining conversation the pair take listeners behind the scenes of judging one of the w...
In this very special episode of Julia’s Book Club, Julia Gillard and Sarah Holland-Batt discuss the work that inspired the name of this podcast.
Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own was originally delivered as two lectures at Girton College, Cambridge almost a hundred years ago.
Despite the passage of time many of the themes and ideas Woolf explores in this short but weighty book remain startlingly relevant today.
Ju...
Former AFLW player and gender equality advocate Akec Makur Chuot has lived an extraordinary life.
Born in South Sudan, she spent her early years in a refugee camp in Kenya before moving to Australia at age 11. She went on to become the first African woman drafted into the inaugural season of the AFLW, the national professional league for women’s Aussie rules football, helping to shape the game from the very beginning.
In this...
In the first Book Club episode of 2026 Julia Gillard and Kathy Lette delve into The Names, the hit debut novel by British author Florence Knapp.
The story begins in 1987 when a woman named Cora arrives at the registry office for what at first glance seems like a simple task: naming her newborn son. But for Cora it is a deeply complicated decision. Her husband expects her to follow family tradition and name him Gordon; she likes ...
In this special episode recorded live at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London, Julia Gillard interviews author and broadcaster Caitlin Moran.
They delve into her hippy childhood, how she found her voice, the future of feminism and her book What About Men.
The event also launched the latest GIWL research into global attitudes towards gender equality, produced in conjunction with IPSOS UK.
<...To kick off our new season, Julia sits down with award-winning playwright and former criminal defence lawyer Suzie Miller.
Suzie’s work sits at the intersection of law, storytelling and social change. Before becoming one of the most influential voices in contemporary theatre, she spent years working inside the justice system as a criminal defence lawyer – an experience that would later shape many of her plays.
She is best kno...
In the final episode of 2025 Julia Gillard and Kathy Lette look back on their favourite books of the year.
In a candid and funny chat they also discuss writing memoirs, the upcoming release of Kathy's new book, Julia's role as Chair of the Women's Prize for Fiction and their plans for the holiday season.
Show notes:
Kathy Lette's new novel The Sisterhood Rules will be published in Australia on February 3, 2026 and in the U...
This month's episode of A Podcast of One's Own is a little unusual because you'll hear from two guests, who are unaccustomed to the limelight as they work in the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office which is one department of the UK’s national security community.
They're also both mums and in a long term job share.
They talk to Julia about the stereotypes and misconcept...
Kelly T. Clements has made it her life’s mission to help people who have been displaced by war, violence, famine and other catastrophes.
Kelly has served as Deputy High Commissioner of UNHCR (The United Nations High Commission for Refugees) since 2015.
In this episode Julia Gillard and Kelly discuss her 30 year career that’s taken her to conflict zones around the world.
They delve into the devastating cutbacks to foreign a...
In this month’s Book Club episode, Julia Gillard and her co-host Sarah Holland-Batt explore Highway 13 by internationally acclaimed Australian author Fiona McFarlane.
The award-winning book is a series of loosely connected short stories focusing on the lives of everyday people who have all been affected by a single serial killer in a small Australian town.
Paul Biga is arrested and charged over the brutal murders of at least ...
In this episode Julia Gillard sits down with former New Zealand Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern.
Jacinda was just 37 years old when she was elected Prime Minister, and a few months later became the second leader in history to give birth while in office, when she welcomed her daughter Neve.
This year Jacinda published her memoir - A Different Kind of Power - an aptly named book for someone who always pushed back against ste...
In a special Book Club episode, Julia Gillard sits down with Global Institute for Women’s Leadership Chair Professor Michelle Ryan to discuss The Book of Guilt by New Zealand author Catherine Chidgey.
The Book of Guilt is a deeply unsettling exploration of autonomy, identity, and morality.
It’s set in an alternate England in 1979 – where Hitler’s assassination in 1943 led to a negotiated peace and a chillingly different traje...
When Katherine Bennell-Pegg was in high school, she was asked to write down three career options to pursue. She wrote down one - astronaut.
Last year, she not only fulfilled that ambition but she made history in doing so, becoming Australia’s first female astronaut and the first person to qualify as an astronaut under the Australian flag.
For this episode, Julia met Katherine at the Australian Space Agency in Adelaide, where ...
In this month's Book Club episode, Julia Gillard and her co-host Kathy Lette discuss Tell Me Everything, the latest novel by Pulitzer Prize winning author Elizabeth Strout.
Tell Me Everything is Strout's 10th novel, and it returns readers to the fictional town of Crosby, Maine - where several of her novels have taken place. It also features many of the characters from her previous books, including Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridg...
In this live event recording Julia sits down with the UK's Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities Bridget Phillipson.
In a wide-ranging conversation, they reflect on her journey from a working-class upbringing in Sunderland and running a domestic abuse refuge, to becoming a Cabinet Minister in the first Labour government for 14 years.
The pair discuss the state of gender equality today, t...
In this Book Club episode, Julia Gillard and her cohost Sarah Holland-Batt dive into Audition, the latest novel from Katie Kitamura.
Audition follows an unnamed actress as she rehearses a play that blurs the lines between performance and personal history. When a mysterious young man appears, claiming to be her son, she’s drawn into a spiral of uncertainty that challenges her sense of self and reality.
Together, Julia and Sara...
Cheng Lei was riding high in a successful career as a news anchor in China when her life changed in an instant.
Lei is a Chinese born Australian citizen and mother of two, who spent more than three years detained in a Beijing prison after being wrongly accused of illegally supplying state secrets.
In this emotional and candid conversation, Julia and Lei delve into her early life in China and then Melbourne, her ex...
In this month’s book club episode Julia Gillard and Kathy Lette discuss Fundamentally, by Nussaibah Younis.
It’s the British author’s debut novel and it follows the story of Nadia Amin - an academic disowned by her mother and dumped by her long-term partner, who accepts a job with the United Nations in Iraq to rehabilitate ISIS women so their home countries will take them back.
While struggling to get the program off th...
In this episode of Julia's Book Club, Julia and co-host Sarah Holland-Batt delve into Theory & Practice by Australian author, Michelle de Kretser.
Short-listed for the Stella Prize, the seventh novel from the Miles Franklin winner tells the story of a first generation immigrant from Sri Lanka living in Melbourne in the 1980s.
The young academic is writing a thesis on Virginia Woolf, who this podcast is named in honour of,...
In this special episode, we take you inside Julia's first ever Australian live recording of A Podcast of One's Own.
Recorded in front of an audience at the Australian National University in Canberra, home to the Global Institute for Women's Leadership, Julia is joined on stage by one of Australia's most respected journalists, Leigh Sales.
The pair discuss Leigh's incredible career achievements, preparing for Prime Ministerial...
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