Kristine Ziwica

Kristine Ziwica

Kristine Ziwica is a Melbourne-based columnist and consultant who has 20 years' experience working in Australia, the United States and the UK on human rights and gender equality campaigns.
Crikey •

The silence is deafening after 10 women killed in just 20 days. It's time to shout about it

On the first day of December last year, I went for my usual walk around the local park to find a scene that has become devastatingly common in Australia. The night before, police had descended on a house overlooking the park where a 51-year-old woman was found dead in her garage after sustaining significant facial injuries. Later that day, homicide detectives arrested a 52-year-old man and the media reports included this painfully familiar line: “The pair were known to each other.” And so the s
The Sydney Morning Herald •

Triumph of the Persisterhood: New laws will make women safer at work

Just over a year ago, writing for this masthead, I attempted to give voice to women’s collective rage – correction, their downright fury – directed at the Morrison government for failing to legislate all the recommendations from Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins’ Respect@Work inquiry into workplace sexual harassment. Now I’m back – but this time I have a much happier task.
Crikey •

The right's woman problem is bigger than 'single young females' and they know it

As a one-time "promiscuously” educated young woman who is now an “older and wiser”, married, home-owning mother of two, I suddenly find myself of great interest to the Liberal Party, in particular the head of its aligned think tank, the Menzies Research Centre. The Australian columnist Nick Cater and I aren't known to each other, but I nonetheless feel uniquely qualified to respond to his notion that "single young females" are the biggest threat to parties on the right.
The Age •

Is it the end of the #GirlBoss era in Australia? That wouldn’t be all bad

Earlier this week, news broke in this masthead that the corporate feminist behemoth Business Chicks was either shutting down or scaling down. For more than a decade, the women’s networking group has been at the forefront of a dominant strain of rah, rah, you go girl, #GirlBoss feminism in Australia. The fact it is in trouble, and laying off staff, is not insignificant. I would argue it’s the end of an era – and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. That said, for the avoidance of doubt, I take n
the Guardian •

We cannot squander this moment. Australia must tackle the structural issues behind women’s inequality | Kristine Ziwica

“From the early months of the Covid pandemic women have borne the brunt of the economic consequences of the pandemic, largely through their roles as paid and unpaid carers,” Australia’s finance minister and newly minted minister for women, Katy Gallagher, reminded us just last week at the G20 Women’s Summit. “We cannot waste this opportunity to learn from the experience of Covid and shape the care economy for the better in the future.” Had I attended the summit, I probably would have risen to m
Women's Agenda •

Perhaps we should rebrand Senator Jane Hume to Minister for Women’s Economic InSecurity

Today, I am rather vexed (again) about Senator Jane Hume. Just over a year ago she was sworn in as Australia’s very first, dedicated Minister for Women’s Economic Security. After the devastating impacts of the pandemic on women’s economic security, in particular on their ability to work and save, many warned that it could set women back a generation. The Morrison government’s decision to dedicate a new ministerial portfolio to the issue of women’s economic security seemed like progress.
Load More Articles