All About Women

EACH YEAR, SYDNEY Opera House programs a day of talks and panel discussions on issues that affect women today – whether it’s excelling in traditionally male fields of work, tackling the pay gap or surviving domestic violence. All About Women returns with a line-up of kickass feminists ranging from one major Hollywood star to war correspondents, scientists, comedians and academics. The big headliner is Academy Awardwinner Geena Davis. The Thelma &

Louise star launched the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media in 2007, which aims to increase the presence and representation of women in film. Scientist Carmel Johnston will be talking about life on Mars, drawing on her experience living in recreated conditions in a research centre in Hawaii. Trigger warning: the most controversial pair of speakers on the line-up is award-winning Icelandic writer Thordis Elva and the Australian who raped her when she was 16, Tom Stranger. Elva was raped by Stranger while in a relationship with him and the two have made their story public in the book South of Forgiveness. Together, they will discuss the aftermath of rape and the pathway they have taken to forgiveness. The line-up also includes This American Life contributor and The

Guardian columnist Lindy West, Daily Life columnist and author of Fight Like a Girl Clementine Ford, Syrian correspondent and Middle East Editor for

Newsweek Janine di Giovanni, and South London performer and co-founder of Touretteshero, Jess Thom.