Welcome back to Witching Hour: the show that looks at what's exciting, delighting, intriguing, and frustrating us as we make work, work alongside parenting. It's Ready or Not's loose little sister coming to your ears every Monday. In today's episode, Loz's best mate Chrissie (who works in education at The Memo) kindly steps in for Lu to cover the following: We look at Deloitte’s women at work report and the bits that we’re finding interesting. (Deloitte)Supporting your loved one to breastfeed...

When Hande Cater made the decision to go back to working five days a week alongside her relatively new role as mum, she noticed that she was in a bit of a grey area: most mothers she knew worked part time or inside of the home and most full time workers were not parents. Or if they were, they were likely to be the secondary caregiver. And as we know, that's normally the dad. There weren’t many people around her who balanced five days of paid work with the 24 hours a day, seven days a week...

Welcome back to Witching Hour: the show that looks at what's exciting, delighting, intriguing, and frustrating us as we make work, work alongside parenting. It's Ready or Not's loose little sister coming to your ears every Monday. In today's episode, we're covering the topic we wish we didn't have to: Australia's problem with men's violence towards women, including: The feminist talk with Rosie Batty, Catharine Lumby and Fiona Jenkins and the Hedley Thomas talk Lu attended at the Sorrento...

Ellen Hooper is a people and culture expert. She's a a passionate speaker and media commentator and she's currently writing a parenting book. She's been interviewing a lot of dads. In fact, she's become a bit obsessed with dads and their voice and opinions in the conversation of how we rebalance the mental load of parenting. She's full to the brim with incredible advice and lived experience when it comes to career and motherhood and 50/50 parenting, and she's deeply passionate in educating...

Welcome back to Witching Hour: the show that looks at what's exciting, delighting, intriguing, and frustrating us as we make work, work alongside parenting. It's Ready or Not's loose little sister coming to your ears every Monday. In today's episode, we cover: A longer than usual intro on Posie's bottle refusal, Loz's new job contract and us both feeling like we're well and truly in the thick of it.Childcare benefits have up to 425% return on investment.Plus, we answer one of our listener’s...

After bouncing between jobs that didn't quite bring the career passion and satisfaction that we're meant to chase after in our twenties, when Liv Brown was pregnant with her first baby, she thought that motherhood was going to be her thing. But while she loved her boy, she needed a creative outlet too, and so she started posting about fashion and styling on her Instagram account, Rattle style. She wasn't necessarily targeting mums, but helping mothers find their style and new uniform when it...

Welcome back to Witching Hour: the show that looks at what's exciting, delighting, intriguing, and frustrating us as we make work, work alongside parenting. It's Ready or Not's loose little sister coming to your ears every Monday. In today's episode, we cover: Four Ridiculously Smart Reasons to Slow Down at Work (The Muse)How having a baby in your 20’s became the new ‘teen pregnancy’ (news.com.au)What the devastating attack in Bondi last week has made us stop and reflect on--- THIS WEEK'S...

Natasha Heger had been with the company she worked at for 10 years before she went on parental leave, and just the day before she was originally due to return, she was made redundant. What followed was a longer than anticipated break from the workforce and a search for a new role, but this time, not just as Natasha, but as mum, too. Not one to settle for any old role - which is such a common experience for mothers who feel like they don't have much choice - she was set on finding a workplace...

Welcome back to Witching Hour: the show that looks at what's exciting, delighting, intriguing, and frustrating us as we make work, work alongside parenting. It's Ready or Not's loose little sister coming to your ears every Monday. In today's episode, we cover: 10 Impressive Questions to Ask in a Job Interview (The Cut)No Parent Can Make Home-Cooked Meals All the Time (The Atlantic)And from the Ready or Not Instagram community, your answers to our Instagram poll all about screen time and...

I often wonder to myself, what did mothers do before incredible people like Hello Darling co-founder Bridgette Gale were open enough to share their stories? Where did they find comfort? Where did they see themselves? This episode has so much, it's difficult to know where to begin - starting a business at 21, working with the likes of Em Rata, miscarriage, postnatal anxiety and depression, intrusive thoughts, returning to work after two weeks, moving across the country with a four-week...

Welcome back to Witching Hour: the show that looks at what's exciting, delighting, intriguing, and frustrating us as we make work, work alongside parenting. It's Ready or Not's loose little sister coming to your ears every Monday. In today's episode, we cover: We discuss the “let them” theory – very topical given our chat about the mental load two weeks ago and our poll today.Women say they're being routinely delayed or denied epidurals when giving birth because of "mistaken" beliefs about...

When Minna Dubin wrote about mum rage for The New York Times, her words went viral. In opening the article, she writes: 'the rage lives in my hands, rolls down my fingers clenching to fists. I want to hurt someone. I am tears and fury and violence. I want to scream and rip open pillows, toss chairs and punch walls. I want to see my destruction — feathers floating, overturned furniture, ragged holes in drywall.' Even recording this, I'm nervous to admit that I resonated with this so deeply...

There's no Witching Hour episode today due to the public holiday. Instead, Lu is checking in very briefly from bed to let you know that our Go To Guides are now out in the wild, and to get honest about how much longer it took us to finish them than anticipated. But, wowee are we proud of the final result! We really believe in these guides and we hope you love them: readable, beautiful, well-researched guides that tackle the sort of topics we wish we had access to, all in the name of...

Content warning: this episode discusses pregnancy, fertility and abortion. When Michelle Battersby announced her pregnancy to her Instagram followers, there was no pretty picture with two lines, no ultrasound, no baby bump. Instead, she shared something deeply personal. Something that, as a founder who is often looked to for career inspiration, she felt compelled to be open about. And that was that she’d previously had two abortions for her career. We know that the mental load of family...

Welcome back to Witching Hour: the show that looks at what's exciting, delighting, intriguing, and frustrating us as we make work, work alongside parenting. It's Ready or Not's loose little sister coming to your ears every Monday. In today's episode, we cover: At Bogota’s Care School for Men, men learn how to step up to do their share of housework and child care - from changing a diaper to styling a ponytailTo celebrate the launch of our upcoming postpartum planning guide, Lu asks Loz all...

I had a business coaching session with mother and My Daily Business founder Fiona Killackey last year, and in one short hour, she rocked my world. So, I had to get her on the show. And listening back to this interview on the other side of pregnancy, she’s rocked my world all over again.  This episode has so much: losing parents as a young mum, her husband’s reflections on what the other mums thought about him at the playground, IVF, pregnancy loss, being a part of the sandwich generation –...

Welcome back to Witching Hour: the show that looks at what's exciting, delighting, intriguing, and frustrating us as we make work, work alongside parenting. It's Ready or Not's loose little sister coming to your ears every Monday. In today's episode, we cover: Why stepping away may be your best leadership move yet (read the piece here)Lily Allen shares her thoughts on career and motherhood on the Radio Times Podcast What our listeners wish they knew about breastfeeding, postpartum planning,...

Leonie Akhidenor is a property developer, relationship coach and the host of Parenthood, a podcast that explores the parenting experience from all angles. She's also a mother who has faced both pre and postnatal depression, as well as the profound identity shifts and emotional struggles that can come with motherhood. Through her podcast, Parenthood, Leonie explores the greatest challenges parents are facing today, with a focus on hearing from both sides of a relationship. Here, Leonie talks...

Welcome back to Witching Hour: the show that looks at what's exciting, delighting, intriguing, and frustrating us as we make work, work alongside parenting. It's Ready or Not's loose little sister coming to your ears every Monday (except for today, because yesterday was a public holiday in Victoria!). In today's episode, we cover: The increasing Importance of a best friend at workThe Skim State of Women Report for 2024 comes out in a few weeks, so before it does, we’re revisiting some of...

Cat Webb wouldn't quite call herself the maternal type and motherhood wasn't exactly something that she dreamed of. But, she wanted a family, so she knew she had to go through the former to get the latter. And, I think it's fair to say that going through it is exactly how Cat would describe it. As you're about to hear, she found the first year of her son's life challenging and she took some time to find her groove in motherhood. As the founder of Good Times Pilates and with three popular...

Welcome back to Witching Hour: the show that looks at what's exciting, delighting, intriguing, and frustrating us as we make work, work alongside parenting. It's Ready or Not's loose little sister coming to your ears every Monday. In today's episode, we cover: The Workplace Gender Equality Agency have published employer gender pay gaps for the first time, Self help vs Leadership – the way we market books to women and men And your thoughts on these damning gender pay gap reports.--- THIS...

Welcome back to Postpartum Diaries! This week, Lucinda's doula and friend Charlotte Squires (aka The Living Doula) joins her to talk all things postpartum, going from one to two, conversations to have with your partner before postpartum and returning to work, and her best tips for caring for a new parent. Then, Charlotte becomes the interviewer and asks Lucinda all about her postpartum reflections! --- THIS WEEK'S PARTNER This episode of Ready or Not is brought to you by MUMMA MILLA:...

Welcome back to Witching Hour: the show that looks at what's exciting, delighting, intriguing, and frustrating us as we make work, work alongside parenting. It's Ready or Not's loose little sister coming to your ears every Monday. In today's episode, we cover: Sleep impacts women’s workplace ambitions more than men, research shows (Women's Agenda)Live from London: Loz on travelling without kids and returning to paid workAnd with our community's help, we answer a listener's question about...

Welcome back to a regular episode of Ready or Not! Part 3 and 4 of the Postpartum Diaries will return next week, but for this week, we're taking a break to bring you a regular Ready or Not interview with a brilliant person: midwife & mother of two Lauretta Hamilton. Lauretta suffered severe HG during both of her pregnancies, to the point where she had to take time off paid work and as a midwife, she admits that she felt like a failure in early motherhood. In this episode, she talks...