In this episode, we mark International Women’s Day with a special pod looking at women in leadership, from the boardroom to the front bench.  From business to politics to higher education, women are still hugely under-represented in the upper echelons of a range of sectors. While many have made a clear case for the benefits of gender diversity in terms of organisational performance and culture, women still face significant barriers which are preventing them from reaching the top in their fields. So why is this, and what can be done to bring about much-needed change? On this week’s pod, our panel - Julie Hare, Professor Sharon Bell, Sophia Hamblin Wang and Caitlin Figueiredo - talk about the bold changes that are needed in order to disrupt the status quo.Professor Sharon Bell is Dean of the College of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University.Sophia Hamblin Wang is the Chief Operations Officer of Mineral Carbonation International, a technology platform that transforms carbon dioxide into building materials and other valuable industrial products.Caitlin Figueiredo is the founder of Jasiri and is an Australia Global gender equality activist. She was named 2018 ACT Young Australian of the Year and was recognised on the Forbes under 30 list for her work on parliamentary gender equality through the Girls Takeover Parliament Program.Julie Hare is Editor of BroadAgenda, part of the 50-50 by 2030 Foundation at the University of Canberra.Dr Sue Regan is a Lecturer at Crawford School of Public Policy. In February 2020, Sue also became Policy Manager at Volunteering Australia.Policy Forum Pod is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Subscribe on Android or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to podcast@policyforum.net. You can also Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum or join us on the Facebook group. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.