Julia Gillard, former Australian PM: The backsliding of gender equality

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Mar 6, 2026

Julia Gillard, former Australian prime minister and chair at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, reflects on rising conservative attitudes among young men. She explores the roles of online culture, pornography and anti‑woke backlash. Discussions cover the trad‑wife trend, pressures on women in leadership, and how AI and social media shape gender norms.

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ADVICE

Stop Treating Equality As A Zero Sum Game

Avoid framing gender progress as zero-sum and emphasise that equality benefits everyone.
Gillard argues movements must show how gender equality improves outcomes for men to counter resentment and 'anti-woke' backlash.

INSIGHT

Traditional Stereotypes Also Harm Men

Traditional gender stereotypes also constrain men, producing harmful norms about physical strength and career choices.
Gillard highlights that these stereotypes deter men from caring professions and narrow life options for many.

INSIGHT

Trad Wife Content Is Often A Fantasy Of Escape

The trad wife trend often reflects a fantasy of escape from modern pressures rather than genuine desire to return to 1950s domesticity.
Research found young women consuming trad content usually don't actually want that life; it's relief from juggling work and family.

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“One of the things that was going to combat gender inequality in our world was that sense of progress and then to see in the research that actually the younger generation is more conservative on these questions than people my age, that deeply troubled me.”

Lucy Hockings speaks to Julia Gillard former Australian PM and chair at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, King’s College London about new research on equality.

Having worked her way to the top in the male dominated world of Australian politics, Julia knows about sexism and misogyny. She famously called it out in a speech against opposition leader Tony Abbott in 2012 and has always been a proponent of equality for women. But 14 years on and research from the organisation she now leads finds that more and more young men want a traditional wife that obeys her husband and that’s not too independent*. So what has gone wrong?

Lucy and Julia unpick the research and analyse the factors behind this backsliding, and they also discuss Julia’s time as Australia’s first ever female head of government. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky and former New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Lucy Hockings Producer: Clare Williamson Editor: Justine Lang

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*31% of Gen Z men (born between 1997 and 2012) agree that a wife should always obey her husband and one third (33%) say a husband should have the final word on important decisions, according to a new global study of 23,000 people in 29-countries conducted by Ipsos UK and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s Business School, King’s College London.

(Image: Julia Gillard Credit: Vicki Couchman for King’s College London)