2020 is coming to an end, and what a year it has been. Here at the Power to Persuade and the Women’s Policy Action Tank we have responded to the onset of COVID-19 by following the policy implications, bringing our readers research and analysis using a range of lenses. The pandemic has made explicit long-standing weaknesses and we have explored many foundational issues as well. There have also been some pieces that celebrate policy wins.

As always, before our hard-working moderators and policy whisperers take a year-end break, we are providing you with some summer reading. In today’s blog we summarise our most-read pieces, and also recommend a few pieces that we felt didn’t get the attention they deserve.

Women’s Policy action Tank – most read

The Women’s Policy Action Tank is a partnership between the Power to Persuade and Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand, providing a gendered analysis of government policy. This year 50 commissioned pieces were published, reflecting a generous sharing of time and expertise by the authors and providing an important contribution in the policy space.

The most-read piece on the blog this year, with well over 2500 reads, was a critical analysis provided by economist Leonora Risse, placing a gendered lens over the impacts of the pandemic on female-dominated industries: Undervalued and unseen: Australia’s COVID-19 frontline workforce. Two other pieces in our most-read list also addressed the gendered effects from the pandemic. The first, authored by Frances Davies and reflecting the Action Tank’s partnership with the National Foundation for Australian Women, provided an analysis of the stimulus payments - The COVID-19 payment stimulus measures: How will they effect women? The second piece provided important insight into how the pandemic was differentially impacting on mental health across Australia, and was provided by the Women’s Mental Health Alliance: COVID-19 and mental health impacts: Women are at greater risk.

The remaining two pieces in our top five were not specific to COVID-19 but clearly hit a nerve. The first was the thoroughly-researched piece from Abigail Lewis - What happens to girls in high school? And rounding out the top 5 was an explanatory piece by Susan Maury providing backgrounding information on the gendered nature of disadvantage - Poverty in Australia 2020: What does a gendered analysis reveal? An honourable mentions goes to Madeleine Ulbrick’s piece which garnered 6th place in readership - ‘A man’s home is his castle. And mine is a cage:’ A feminist political economy analysis of economic abuse in Australia

Power to Persuade – most read

The Power to Persuade is a unique forum where the policy process is examined through the interactions of government, academia, the for-purpose sector and the private sector. As such, pieces span a wide range of policy issues. This year, three of the top five pieces from the Power to Persuade also directly address the pandemic. The first was a piece of critical importance contributed by the Group of 8 University Taskforce which provided a framework for effective response: COVID-19 Roadmap to Recovery: A report for the nation. The second piece, from Meera Varadharajan, looked at the policy implications around school closures for professionals who often felt disregarded during the pandemic response: Teacher well-being and COVID-19. And the pieces addressing COVID-19 are rounded out by a second piece from Abigail Lewis: It’s a scary time to hold a temporary visa. We need answers too.

Rounding out the top 5 was a highly popular piece from Jane Chen that elevates the importance of words: Let’s throw out the language of ‘vulnerability’. And finally, a beautiful piece from ‘Georgia Lee’ called The politics of kindness – or, if only you loved the guys on Manus like I do. Honourable mention goes to the 6th-place piece from Jeff Thompson for Report from the disability sector: postcodes, profits and prophets meaning uneven outcomes for people with disabilities.

Not to be missed

There’s always a few pieces that for whatever reason did not get the attention we felt they deserved. If you’ve looking for some deep-dive reading, we suggest you check out these pieces you may have missed. From the Action Tank, first amongst these is an insightful piece from Summer-May Finlay addressing the inaction on the Uluru Statement from the Heart - Holding back justice: Co-design, constitutional recognition and collaborators. Another important piece was the open letter penned by Terese Edwards and Cassandra Goldie to Senators Marise Payne and Anne Ruston on what the reductions in the Coronavirus payments will mean for single mothers - Dear Senators: For many of us the pandemic is a blessing. A global population study that found links between gender equality and suicide rates was shared by Tania King – Providing the big picture on gender equality and suicide rates. Another critically important piece, particularly at this point in time when the government is expanding the use of the Cashless Debit Card (CDC) provides evidence of some of the many harms the card carries with it, and is authored by Zoe Staines, Greg Marston, Philip Mendes, Shelley Bielefeld and Michelle Peterie: Compulsory cashless welfare programs harm women and children.

Carrying on from the theme of the CDC, the Power to Persuade ran a piece exploring how it intersected with the pandemic response, authored by Shelley Bielefeld, Susan Tilley, Priya Kunjan and Elise Klein: Cashless Debit Card expansion under COVID-19. And important and hopeful piece as Australia builds back from this year was shared by Megan Weier and Isabella Saunders on creating indicators for social progress – Beyond the economy: Measuring social progress in Australia. In a similar vein, Jeremiah Brown shared practical principles for social and economic inclusion: Economic dignity as a guiding principle for the economy. Finally, Sue Olney provided analysis on how the surge in unemployment is changing stigma around people who rely in income support: Will COVID-19 kill the ‘lifters and leaners’ welfare trope?

It sometimes feels in the policy space that there is not enough to celebrate, but if you are looking for some ‘feel-good’ reading, check out these pieces:

550 reasons to smile: Why single mothers are so happy these days, by Terese Edwards
Big little victories: Changes to payment suspension in employment services, by Simone Casey
50 words in Australian Indigenous languages, by Allyra Murrah, Nick Thieberger, Jill Vaughan, Kobe Atkinson and Rachel Nordlinger
Silver linings: What are the ‘keepers’ from 2020? By Susan Maury

Have a safe and healthy summer and we will meet back here in February 2021 with new challenges, new content, and rigorous discussion.

The editors, Power to Persuade and Women’s Policy Action Tank

Closing the book on 2020